Plato gave the world the oldest remaining written account of Atlantis, in critias, recorded circa 370 BC. By his account, Poseidon, god of the sea, sired five pairs of male twins with mortal women. Poseidon appointed the eldest of these sons, Atlas the Titan, ruler of his beautiful island domain. Atlas became the personification of the mountains or pillars that held up the sky. Plato described Atlantis as a vast island-continent west of the mediterranean, surrounded by the Atlantic ocean. The Greek word Atlantis means the island of Atlas, just as the word Atlantic means the ocean of Atlas. Atlantis was governed in peace, was rich in commerce, was advanced in knowledge, and held dominion over the surrounding islands and continents. By Plato's legend, the people of Atlantis became complacent and their leaders arrogant; in punishment the Gods destroyed Atlantis, flooding it and submerging the island in one day and night.
In a sense, Atlantis actually existed, and was indeed destroyed by the sea in a cataclysmic event, very plausibly lasting a day and a night. Plato's account was wrong in several essential ways, but was derived from correct, if garbled, historical accounts. Plato's writings embodied the now lost words of Solon, a Greek ruler who visited Egypt circa 590 BC. Plato's account of Atlantis was thus a retelling of the story of Solon, who in turn told the stories that he had heard during his trip to Egypt.
In Egypt, Solon heard of the ancient land of Keftiu, a island-nation named for holding one of the four pillars that supported the Egyptian sky. Keftiu was, according to the Egyptians, an advanced civilization that was the gateway to and ruler of all of the lands to the far west of Egypt. Keftiu traded in ivory, copper, and cloth. Keftiu supported hosts of ships and controlled commerce far beyond the Egyptians domain. By Egyptian record, Keftiu was destroyed by the seas in an apocalypse. Solon carried this story to Greece, and passed it to his son and grandson.
Plato recorded and embellished the story from Solon's grandson Critias the younger, translating the land of the pillars which held the sky (Keftiu) into the land of the titan Atlas. Keftiu-Atlantis was Egypt's gateway to the "western" lands (Greece, Libya, and beyond), and was the home of a civilization that held dominion over the surronding lands.
The Theoretical size of Atlantis
Although there are some conflicting reports as to where Atlantis could be or has been, most researchers have concluded that Atlantis was located in the Atlantic ocean. It was so huge, it streatched from what is now the Gulf of Mexico through the Mediterranean Sea. Acording to Edgar Cayce, one of the most famous pyschic of the twentieth century, he stated "In area it can be compared with what is now Europe and Russia.
The north and south poles did not occupy their present positions, nor were the land surfaces now existent then above water except as follows: "The eastern seaboard was the coastal region of Atlantis; the region of the Carpathian mountains and the Mongolian Desert were habitable, as was the northern part of what is now Africa, as was the southeastern portion of Atlantis. The Andean coast of South America were covered by water, while the plains of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona were above sea level.
The Corruption of Atlantis
Again, it is Edgar Cayce who gives us prophesies of the first signs of corruption of the Atlantean civilization. The prophecy is as follows:
Turmoils arose with the mixing of those of pure lineage with those who had not completely thrown off the animal influences. Contempt, hatred, and bloodshed resulted. With this growth of disturbing factors - resulting from the magnification of desires without regard for the rights of others - an effort was made to draw the people back to the worship of one God, by establishing the first altars upon which were made the sacrifices of the field and forest. Rituals and ceremonies were instituted and the sacred fires set, as the shrine of the pure and the means of cleansing for all."
"After the first destruction, the altars were sometimes used for human sacrifice, by those turning more and more away from the original understanding of the Creative Force. Strife, rather than peace, became the common state, and the fact that great understanding of nature's forces had been attained made the destructions all the more terrible. From this time on, though material civilization rose to great heights, there was a growing unrest which brought about the many migrations both to the east and the west."
Some reports say that the Atlanteans were extremely war like and egocentric. They subjugated the ignorant natives of other lands and were at a constant war with the Rama Empire. Some say that was their tragic flaw, that a great war destroyed them. I'll discuss this in the next section.
The Destruction of Atlantis
There are theories about the final destruction of Atlantis. These theories include massive floods, earthquakes, wars, and the earth-crust displacement theory.
The earht-crust displacement theory states that when the polar icecaps acquire too much mass, they shift in one great piece, re-positioning everyting with relation to the poles. This is why Atlantis is usually positioned two thousand miles north, while it is entirely feasable that Atlantis exists under Antarctica.
Edgar Cayce saw a civilization destroyed by their excessive use of explosives to hunt animals. He also saw that before the final destruction, the Atlantean continent had been split into five massive islands by immense earthquakes. The biggest of these was Poseida. Cayce also believed that it was more of a cultural destruction that rocked Atlantis to it's foundation. After many exoduses by Atlanteans, they sought to teach the natives they find, so that their great civilization would not be lost. Cayces says that there are traces of the Atlantean civilization in the Native Americans (who aren't really native Americans, but that's another story...), cities in Egypt, Morrocco, and in Central America.
Another theory involves the supposed Rama Empire of India. Atlanteans, being gods to the primatives at the time, were constantly at war with the Rama Empire. That also the use of nuclear weapons were used in this war. I give as proof this following passage from the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian book: "a single projectile charged with the power of the universe. An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright as the thousand suns rose in all its splendor... an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messanger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas. The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. The hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without apparent cause, and the birds turned white. After a few hours all foodstuffs were infected. To escape this fire, the soldiers threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment."
When Mohenjondaro, a Rishi City, was excavated by archeologists in the past century, they found skeletons lying in the streets as if some great doom had suddenly overtaken them. When the archaelogists took radiation counts, they were the most radioactive skeletons found until the time of Hiroshima. Also, ancient cities in India, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Turkey have been found with brick fused together. There was also black lumps of glass in the streets of some of the cities that turned out to be clay pots that melted under intense heat.
Atlantis - Edgar Cayce
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