Atlantis is an ancient mythical island, whose existence and location have never been confirmed. The first references to Atlantis are from the classical Greek philosopher Plato, who said it was engulfed by the ocean as the result of an earthquake 9,000 years before his own time, which would be well into the most recent Ice age. Plato claimed it was somewhere outside the Pillars of Hercules, now known as the Strait of Gibraltar.
According to Critias, 9,000 years before his lifetime, a war took place between those outside the Pillars of Heracles and those who dwelt within them. The Atlanteans had conquered the Mediterranean as far east as Egypt and the continent into Tyrrhenia, and subjected its people to slavery. The Athenians led an alliance of resistors against the Atlantean empire and as the alliance disintegrated, prevailed alone against the empire, liberating the occupied lands. "But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea."
There have been dozens—perhaps hundreds—of locations proposed for Atlantis. Most of the historically proposed locations are in or near the Mediterranean sea (islands such as Sardinia, Crete and Santorini), and locations as far as Antarctica, Indonesia and the Caribbean. The submerged island of Spartel near the Strait of Gibraltar is a proposed location which would coincide with some elements of Plato's account; location (just outside the Pillars of Hercules) and date of submersion (9000 years before Plato).
I've been working on a theory that Atlantis as a myth is real. I think Atlantis was Hy Brazil. I think the Milesians were the Athenians and the Tuatha de dannann were Atlantians. I have traced the Milesians , the alleged defeaters of the Tuatha de dannann to Greece and Scythia.
I think Plato created a tale around something he learned as a boy. Here is some info about were I am going with this theory.
The Milesians of Hellenic (Greek) civilization were the inhabitants of Miletus, a city in the Anatolia province of modern-day Turkey, near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and at the mouth of the Meander River. Settlers from Crete moved to Miletus sometime in 16th century BC. By the 6th century BC, Miletus had become a maritime empire, and the Milesians spread out across Turkey and even as far as the Crimea, founding new colonies.
Famous Milesians:
* Miletus (mythological founder)
* Thales - "first" Greek natural philosopher; "the father of science".
* Anaximander - philosopher; pupil of Thales
* Anaximenes - philosopher; friend or pupil of Anaximander
* Eubulides - philosopher; formulated the "liar paradox"
* Hecataeus of Miletus - historian
* Hesychius Illustrius - chronicler and biographer
* Aristides - writer
* Isidorus - architect
* Timotheus - poet
* Cadmus - historian, perhaps mythical
* Aeinautae - the "perpetual sailors"
Milesian tyrants under Persia:
* Histiaeus
* Aristagoras
* Eubulides - philosopher; formulated the "liar paradox"
* Hecataeus of Miletus - historian
* Hesychius Illustrius - chronicler and biographer
* Aristides - writer
* Isidorus - architect
* Timotheus - poet
* Cadmus - historian, perhaps mythical
* Aeinautae - the "perpetual sailors"
Milesian tyrants under Persia:
* Histiaeus
* Aristagoras
The Book of the Taking of Ireland
Book of Leinster 1150 A.D.
The Book of the Taking of Ireland
Book of Leinster 1150 A.D.
According to the traditions of the Lebor Gabala Erren (Book of the Taking of Ireland), the Irish originated in Scythia and were descendants of a King Feinius Farsaid, a King of Scythia. This Feinius Farsaid and his son, Nel, went into Asia to work on the Tower of Nimrod (Tower of Babel in biblical history) and were present at the subsequent dispersal of the races after the destruction of the tower. Feinius and his son, both learned in the new languages which resulted from the dispersal, returned to Scythia where Feinius opened a great school of languages on the Scythian plain.
In time his son Nel became such an expert in languages that pharoa of Egypt invited him into his country to teach his people the new languages of the world. So Nel went to Egypt and there he married Scota, pharoa's daughter. After pharoa was drowned in the Red Sea in pursuit of Moses and his band of Hebrews, Nel's great-grandson, Sru, fled from Egypt for fear of persecution by the Egyptians and with his son, Heber Scot, returned to Scythia. There Heber Scot won the kingship of Scythia. After a few generations, a descendant of Heber Scot, named Agnomain, killed a rival for the kingship of Scythia (a kingsman) and in revenge was driven from the country.
With a small band of followers, Agnomain obtained ships and sailed to the Macotic Marshes on the Black Sea, where the Scots (as they had come to be known, from Scota, the wife of Nel) remained for nearly three hundred years. On this journey they received a prophecy from Caicher, their druid, that their descendants would one day reach Ireland. Finally a descendant named Brath led the Scots from the marshes. Again they took to ships and after a long, arduous sea voyage across the Mediterranean Sea, eventually landed on the coast of Spain. On a high mountain on the coast Brath's son, Breogain, built a city named Brigantia famed for its tall tower.
Some years later, Ith, the uncle of King Milesius, saw Ireland from the top of the tower on a cold winter's night.
Ith collected a small fleet and sailed to the island he had glimpsed from the tower in Brigantia. Landing in the north of the island, he immediately encountered the chieftains of the Tuatha de Danann, who were in control of Ireland at the time, having conquered the Fir Bolg, its previous rulers. A battle was fought between them and Ith was slain on the plain of Ith (Magh Ith). His men carried his body back to their ships and the fleet returned to Ireland.
King Milesius was outraged at the death of his uncle and sent his sons, nine in number, to Ireland with a great fleet to avenge his death. On landing in Ireland the sons of King Milesius went inland and there met the kings of the Tuatha de Danann, demananding of them either kingship or battle. The kings of the Tuatha de Danann stalled for time, asking for a week alone on the island before making a decision. To this the sons of King Milesius agreed. They then returned to their ships and sailed a short distance off the coast of Ireland. The treacherous Tuatha de Danann then raised a great druidical storm against the Milesian fleet, which drove them far to the west. They circled the island three times until the storm blew itself out, finally landing in the south of the island. Here they divided their fleet and men, Heber, the oldest son still living (most of the sons of Milesius had been killed in the landing or the storm), remained in the south of Ireland. Heremon, his brother, and the rest of the fleet sailed to the north, where they landed their ships. Coming inland the sons of King Milesius again joined their forces and engaged the Tuatha deDanann in battle, completely routing them and slaying all their leaders.
All of the sons of King Milesius were slain in the conquest of Ireland except for Heber and Heremon. Heber Finn, the son of Ir, survived, as did Lugaidh, the son of Ith. From the three sons of King Milesius to have issue, namely Heber, Ir and Heremon, and from Ith, King Milesius' uncle, are said to descend the great clans and families of Ireland, known as "Milesians," in honor of their great ancestor, King Milesius of Spain.
This were Plato may have learned about the Island of Atlantis!
DR N. TRAKAKIS
Having covered the three great Greek philosophers of the 5th-4th centuries BC - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - it is time now to return to where it all began, with the "Presocratics".
The Presocratics lived around the 6th and 5th centuries BC, and they are considered the first philosophers and scientists of the Western world.
One major obstacle in understanding these early Greek thinkers is that none of their writings has survived, and so we are dependent on later philosophers and historians to help us reconstruct what they taught.
Another problem is that it can be anachronistic to call what they were doing "philosophy", in the modern sense of a subject separate from the natural sciences. The inquiries of the Presocratics covered a wide range of fields that included what we today would call "science." But their inquiries laid the foundations for the work of Plato and Aristotle, and for that reason alone the Presocratics deserve to be called "philosophers."
Also, unlike the writings of earlier generations such as the epics of Homer and Hesiod, the Presocratics did not try to explain the workings of the world by means of religious myths where the Olympian gods capriciously rule and intervene in human affairs. The Presocratics rejected this view and looked instead for purely natural explanations for the world's origins and order.
One of the earliest Presocratic groups were the Milesians, who came from Miletus, a wealthy Greek city in Ionia on the west coast of modern Turkey. The three members of the Milesian School were Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes, all of whom searched for what they called the archê - the most basic principle or element that would unlock nature's mysteries.
The founder of the Milesian School was Thales. In his view, the archê of the universe was water, in the sense that the original state of the world was water and all things are made of water
Thales' successor and pupil was Anaximander, who argued that the original state of the world was not water but "to apeiron" - by which he meant some vast, eternal material that has no definite nature. Out of this indefinite material, everything that now exists arose.
The last of the Milesians was Anaximenes, who replaced Anaximander's apeiron with air. According to Anaximenes, air is the source of everything and the substance out of which everything is made. When it is rarefied and condensed, air becomes other substances (such as fire and water), but in essence it is infinite and everlasting.
In this way the Presocratics initiated the study of nature as an ordered and intelligible system, which they called the "kosmos" and which they thought could be explained by a single and in some sense divine principle.
Dr. N. Trakakis, is a lecturer at the School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies Monash University.
by R. Cedric Leonard
Possibly more important is this example from the same era in which Herodotus, the "father of history," mentions Atlantis by name in referring to the body of water into which it sank. Below is the Greek text of a portion of Clio (History, Bk I, 202) in which the waters beyond the Straits of Gibraltar is said to be known as the Atlantis Sea.
Possibly more important is this example from the same era in which Herodotus, the "father of history," mentions Atlantis by name in referring to the body of water into which it sank. Below is the Greek text of a portion of Clio (History, Bk I, 202) in which the waters beyond the Straits of Gibraltar is said to be known as the Atlantis Sea.
the Dedannans: the fourth colony, A. M. 3303, also came from Greece, and were celebrated for their skill in magic. As soon as they had landed in Ireland they burned their ships; and shrouding themselves in a magic mist, so that the Firbolgs could not see them, they marched unperceived to Slieve an-Ierin mountain in the present county Leitrim. Soon afterwards a battle was fought which lasted for four days, till the Firbolgs were defeated, and the Dedannans remained masters of the island. These Dedannans were in subsequent ages deified and became Side [Shee] or fairies, whom the ancient Irish worshipped (110).
96. The Milesians: the fifth colony, A. M. 3500. From Scythia their original home they began their long pilgrimage. Their first migration was to Egypt, where they were sojourning at the time that Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red Sea; and after wandering through Europe for many generations they arrived in Spain. Here they abode for a long time; and at last they came to Ireland with a fleet of thirty ships under the command of the eight sons of the hero Miled or Milesius.
The Dedannans, by their magical incantations, raised a furious tempest which scattered and wrecked the fleet along the rocky coasts. Five of the eight brothers perished; and the remaining three, Eremon, Eber-Finn, and Amergin, landed with the remnant of their people. Soon afterwards two battles were fought, in which the Dedannans were defeated; and the Milesians took possession of the country.
The two brothers Eber-Finn and Eremon now divided Ireland, Eber-Finn taking the two Munsters and Eremon Leinster and Connaught. They gave Ulster to their nephew Eber, and made Amergin chief poet and brehon of the kingdom.
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