Pre-Platonic Writings Pertinent to Atlantis

by R. Cedric Leonard

Scholars the world over have repeatedly declared that ancient sources describing Atlantis are plentiful, "but before Plato - nothing". They make such a declaration because of several reasons. (1) They disregard every record in which Atlantis is not mentioned by name. (2) In their skepticism they disregard records which mention Atlantis by name. (3) They are unfamiliar with the Sanskrit writings of India.

Let us use an example from a hundred years before Plato in which Herodotus, the "father of history," mentions Atlantis by name in referring to the body of water into which it sank. Here is the Greek text of a portion of Clio (History, Bk I, 202) in which the waters outside the Pillars of Hercules is said to be known as the Atlantis Sea.

Greek text from the "History" of Herodotus which mentions Atlantis

"But one of the mouths of the Araxes flows with purity into the Caspian Sea; but the Caspian Sea is by itself, not connected to the other sea. For the sea navigated by the Greeks, also that outside of the Pillars called the Atlantis Sea and the Erythraean, are one and the same." (Trans. by R. Cedric Leonard)

One does not need to be a Greek scholar to recognize the word "Atlantis" in the above Greek text (line 5, 3rd word from the left). Many of my colleagues insist that the phrase should be translated "the sea of Atlas" instead of the Atlantis Sea. While it is true that Atlantis is an inflected form of Atlas, these very same colleagues have never suggested that when Plato speaks of the "island of Atlantis" it would be more properly translated as the "island of Atlas". The island and the ocean were called "Atlantis" because they were named after Atlas (which is what the name "Atlantis" means).

The point here, which cannot be gainsaid, is that Atlantis was known before Plato--so well-known that the sea outside Gibraltar was commonly called the Atlantis Sea in Herodotus' time. It had acquired that name because Atlantis had once occupied that area. We carry the same tradition down when we refer to that same body of water as the Atlantic. While in Europe, I noticed that their maps label the same ocean "Atlantischer," preserving the word "Atlantis" intact.

Herodotus also mentions the Atlantic's other name, the Erythraean. The word in Greek indicates the color red (descriptive of the effect of sunset on the water), and it is this word, not Geryon, that means "red glow of the sunset," Ignatius Donnelly notwithstanding (1882 edition, p. 307). But as we recede further back through time, we learn that the Atlantic Ocean had yet another name.

It is a given that records, dating back before Plato, are going to be hard to find. But even though the pickings are slim, there are remains of such records which have been overlooked by most modern scholars. As we encounter these writings, it should be noted that the older sources often call the Atlantic Ocean the "Western Ocean"; also that Atlantis is represented by various spellings, or is sometimes even unnamed--but it should also be noted that there is no doubt about the identity of either the island or the body of water associated with it.

According to Critias, Solon was given the story by the Egyptian priests at Sais which they had obtained from engraved columns in the temples of Egypt. Manetho, whose writings form the basis of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian history, obtained his famous King-Lists from similar sources. So what about this source?

THE EGYPTIAN WRITINGS

I encountered this first example in a rare book I have in my library written by the noted explorer, Harold T. Wilkins. According to Wilkins (1946) there is a depiction of a great festival on column 8 of the Great Hall of the temple of Rameses at Karnak, with an accompanying text memorializing the loss of a drowned continent in the Western Ocean. The column mentioned cannot be easily dismissed, and is a perfect example of the type of source to which Solon (in Plato's Timaeus) refers.

Plato described Atlantis as being ruled by ten kings before its demise. Egyptian king-lists going back thousands of years before Plato (we will look at one example here) establish four important facts which we should notice. They are:

This last statement will be challanged by scholars, so let's take a closer look at the Egyptian king-lists. One noticable fact is that Manetho (250 B.C.) calls the first series of kings who ruled during the "reign of the gods," Auriteans. This seems to be nothing more than a corruption of the word "Atlantean". Let me explain.

Egyptian hieroglyphics only approximate real sounds: for instance, a hieroglyphic "k" must be used to represent the hard "g" sound. The hieroglyph that Manetho transcribed as r can equally be transcribed as an l. Thus the "Auriteans" of Manetho's king-lists could just as well be "Auliteans": phonetically almost identical to "Atlanteans". This idea obtains credible support from the fact that the ancient Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon (1193 B.C.) calls these very same kings "Aleteans" (Cory, 1826). Isn't it likely that Aleteans=Atlanteans?

Although there are numerous ancient Egyptian king-lists in existence, only a few include the so-called "reign of the gods". These include the Palermo Stone (2565-2420 B.C.), the Turin Papyrus (1300 B.C.), and Manetho's Egyptian Chronicles (250 B.C.). Of these, the Turin Papyrus is the most complete source. (In spite of being told by a museum attendant that it was only "useless rubbish," two famous Egyptologists worked patiently to piece the fragments together: the result became known as the Royal Canon of Turin (Gardiner, 1987; Tomas, 1971, et al.).

The Turin Papyrus (Gardiner, 1987; Smith, 1872) lists ten kings who ruled during the "reign of the gods," complimenting the fragments of Manetho which have come down to us. Most importantly, it confirms Manetho's record. Below is a list of god-kings from the Turin Papyrus, with Manetho's fragmented list alongside:

PTAH. . . . Hephaestus
RA . . . . . . Helios
SU. . . . . . . Agathodaemon
SEB . . . . . Cronos
OSIRIS . . Osiris
SET. . . . . . Typhon
HORUS. . . . . . .
THOTH. . . . . . .
MA . . . . . . . . . .
HORUS . . Horus

So the Atlantean (or, Aulitean) kings have been right before scholars eyes all these years. The Turin Papyrus also records the installation of the next series of kings in 9850 B.C.! This date is so close to Solon's date for the demise of Atlantis that coincidence is virtually out of the question.

THE SANSKRIT WRITINGS

The Sanskrit writings of ancient India contain detailed accounts of Atlantis, and even assert that Atlantis was destroyed as the result of a war between the gods and Asuras (recalling the war between the gods and the Titans). Present day scholars are so steeped in Greek and Roman (western) culture that Indian sources are too often ignored.

A passage in Sanskrit from the Mahabharata

The Vishnu Purana (2000 B.C.), one of the oldest of the Hindu Puranas, speaks of Atala, the "White Island" (Saka Dwipa), which is one of the seven dwipas (islands) belonging to Patala (Book II, chaps. i, ii, and iii). The Purana locates Atala geographically on the seventh (heat, or climate) zone, which according to Col. Wilford (the translator) is 24 to 28 degrees north latitude. This puts it in the same latitude as the Canary Islands just off the North African coast.

At least one "authority" has attempted to identify Atala with Italy, but Italy is not an island. Also, Italy is 38 to 45 degrees north latitude. In addition, I fail to see how the "Western Ocean" mentioned could be the Mediterranean, when the Karna Parva of the Mahabharata clearly describes Africa as comprising that Ocean's eastern coastline. If the ocean mentioned is indeed the Atlantic Ocean, then the west shore of Africa would make up that particular part of its eastern shoreline. Col. Wilford rightly calls Atala, "Atlantis, the White Island" (Wilford, 1808).

Another non-Sanskrit scholar implies that Atala might be one of the well-known northern lands, such as Iceland or Greenland, and that the epithet "White Island" refers to its being covered with snow the majority of the time--even the mythological Hyperborea has been suggested. Unfortunately, this is not the case. According to the Standard Sanskrit Dictionary, Saka Dwipa can also mean "island of fair skinned people." It thus appears that Saka ("white") refers to the islands inhabitants, rather than to the dominant color of the land.

The terms "Atala" and "White Island" are used also by the Bhavishna Purana. Here it is stated that Samba, having built a temple dedicated to Surya (the Sun), made a journey to Saka Dwipa ("White Island") located "beyond the salt water" looking for the Magas (magicians), worshippers of the Sun. He is directed in his journey by Surya himself (i.e., journeys west following the Sun), riding upon Garuda (the flying vehicle of Krishna and Vishnu) he lands at last among the Magas.

The Mahabharata contains more than one account of a powerful islandic empire in the Atlantic which sank to the bottom of the "Western Ocean" following a horrendous war. As in the Vishnu Purana, it is called "the White Island, Atala" (which can be linked linguistically with the word "Atlantis"). Atala is described as an "island of great splendour," and its inhabitants are said to worship only one God (Santi Parva, Section CCCXXXVII).

The Santi Parva also describes Atala as being inhabited by "white men who never have to sleep or eat." (Ibid.) Interestingly enough, the Greek historian Herodotus (450 B.C.) describes a tribe of Atlanteans who "never dream and eat no living thing". (History, Book IV) Can this be coincidence? And just as the god Poseidon is very much involved in the Atlantis story, likewise in the Sanskrit accounts we find Varuna (the Hindu Poseidon) very much involved in Atala.

Another description is remarkably similar to Plato's, even down to its circular capital city, Tripura! Tripura is made in three concentric parts, just as Plato's Metropolis is divided into three parts by concentric canals. During the war of the gods and Asuras, the Asura capital, "Triple-city" with all its inhabitants, is sent burning to the bottom of the "Western Ocean" (Mahabharata).

Concerning the "concentric arrangment" of Tripura, a recent archeological discovery of a fortified palace in Bactria, India, known as Dashly-3, turned out to be a concentric 3-ringed structure of the "tripura type". [Their words, not mine.] The archaeologists, excavating under the auspices of the Archaeological Departments of Pakistan and India (Mahadevan, 15), also state that the Dasyas, the builders of Dashly-3, were "Asura-worshippers".

I feel like my years of research have paid off. Perhaps literary scholars' assertion that no pre-Platonic accounts of Atlantis exist should be seriously reconsidered.

http://www.atlantisquest.com/Writings.html