Atlantis
Poseidon carved the mountain where his love dwelt into a palace and enclosed it with three circular moats of increasing width, varying from one to three stadia. The Atlanteans then built bridges northward from the mountain, making a route to the rest of the island. They dug a great canal to the sea, and alongside the bridges carved tunnels into the rings of rock so that ships could pass into the city around the mountain. Every passage to the city was guarded by gates and towers, and a wall surrounded each ring of the city. The walls were constructed of red, white, and black rock, quarried from the moats, and were covered with brass, tin, and the precious metal orichalcum. This description appears in Plato's dialogue Critias, written in 360 BC. The narrative claims that 9,000 years before his lifetime a war took place between those outside the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar and those who dwelt within them. The Atlanteans had conquered parts of Libya within the Pillars of Hercules as far as Egypt and the European continent as far as Tyrrhenia. They subjected its people to slavery until an alliance led by Athens prevailed alone against the empire. The story concludes when the island sinks into the Atlantic Ocean after losing divine favor following an ill-fated campaign.
Aristotle believed that Plato, his teacher, had invented the island to teach philosophy. The philosopher Crantor, a student of Plato's student Xenocrates, is cited often as an example of a writer who thought the story to be historical fact. His work, a commentary on Timaeus, is lost, but Proclus, a Neoplatonist of the fifth century AD, reports on it. Proclus wrote that Crantor adds that this is testified by the prophets of the Egyptians who assert that these particulars are written on pillars which are still preserved. Alan Cameron argues that the pronoun should be interpreted as referring to Plato rather than Crantor. He suggests that when Proclus writes about the whole feat of the Athenians, he treats Crantor's view as mere personal opinion. Other ancient historians and philosophers who believed in the existence of Atlantis were Strabo and Posidonius. Some have theorized that before the sixth century BC, the Pillars of Hercules may have applied to mountains on either side of the Gulf of Laconia. This would have placed Atlantis in the Mediterranean, lending credence to many details in Plato's discussion. The fourth-century historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that Druids of Gaul said that part of the inhabitants migrated from distant islands.
The 1882 publication of Atlantis: the Antediluvian World by Ignatius L. Donnelly stimulated much popular interest in Atlantis. He was greatly inspired by early works in Mayanism and attempted to establish that all known ancient civilizations were descended from Atlantis. Donnelly drew parallels between creation stories in the Old and New Worlds, attributing the connections to Atlantis where he believed the Biblical Garden of Eden existed. As implied by the title of his book, he also believed that Atlantis was destroyed by the Great Flood mentioned in the Bible. Donnelly is credited as the father of the nineteenth century Atlantis revival and is the reason the myth endures today. He unintentionally promoted an alternative method of inquiry to history and science. The idea is that myths contain hidden information that opens them to ingenious interpretation by people who believe they have new or special insight. Madame Blavatsky took up Donnelly's interpretations when she wrote The Secret Doctrine in 1888. She claimed it was originally dictated in Atlantis and maintained that the Atlanteans were cultural heroes contrary to Plato's description of them as a military threat.
Blavatsky reported that the civilization of Atlantis reached its peak between 1,000,000 and 900,000 years ago but destroyed itself through internal warfare brought about by the dangerous use of psychic and supernatural powers of the inhabitants. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy and Waldorf Schools, along with other well known Theosophists such as Annie Besant, also wrote of cultural evolution in much the same vein. The idea that the Atlanteans were Hyperborean Nordic supermen who originated in the Northern Atlantic was popular in the German ariosophic movement around 1900. It gave its name to the Thule Gesellschaft, an antisemite Munich lodge which preceded the German Nazi Party. Party ideologist Alfred Rosenberg made it part of the official doctrine in The Myth of the Twentieth Century published in 1930. SS-leader Heinrich Himmler followed up on these ideas. The scholars Guido von List and others spoke of a Nordic-Atlantean or Aryan-Nordic master race that spread from Atlantis over the Northern Hemisphere. This contrasted with older Esoteric groups which taught that the Atlanteans were non-Caucasian brown-skinned peoples.
The clairvoyant Edgar Cayce spoke frequently of Atlantis during his life readings. He claimed that many of his subjects were reincarnations of people who had lived there. By tapping into their collective consciousness through what he called the Akashic Records, Cayce declared that he was able to give detailed descriptions of the lost continent. He asserted that Atlantis would rise again in the 1960s sparking much popularity of the myth in that decade. There is also a Hall of Records beneath the Egyptian Sphinx which holds the historical texts of Atlantis according to his claims. As continental drift became widely accepted during the 1960s, most Lost Continent theories began to wane in popularity. Plato scholar Julia Annas noted that one proposed explanation for the historical context serves as Plato's warning against striving for naval power. Kenneth Feder points out that Critias provides a major clue suggesting the narrative is an invention of Plato's fancy rather than history.
Francis Bacon wrote New Atlantis in 1627 describing an ideal society located off the western coast of America. Thomas Heyrick followed him with The New Atlantis in 1687, a satirical poem about a new continent of uncertain location perhaps even a floating island either in the sea or sky. His work served as background for exposing Popery and Jesuitism. The title of The New Atalantis by Delarivier Manley distinguished from others by a single letter is an equally dystopian work set on a fictional Mediterranean island. In it sexual violence and exploitation serve as a metaphor for hypocritical behavior of politicians. David Maclean Parry's The Scarlet Empire published in 1906 used foundered Atlantis to critique Socialism. Velimir Khlebnikov's poem The Fall of Atlantis published in 1912 is set in a future rationalist dystopia that has discovered the secret of immortality but lost touch with the past. When the high priest of this ideology is tempted by a slave girl into an act of irrationality he murders her and precipitates a second flood above which her severed head floats vengefully among the stars.
The Spanish composer Manuel de Falla worked on a dramatic cantata based on Verdaguer's L'Atlántida during the last 20 years of his life. The name has been affixed to symphonies by Jānis Ivanovs published in 1941 and Richard Nanes Symphony One titled Atlantis-The Sunken City recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1990s. Vaclav Buzek composed Symphony Atlantis in 2009. There was also the symphonic celebration Alan Hovhaness Fanfare for the New Atlantis Opus 281 from 1975. The Bohemian-American composer Vincent Frank Safranek wrote Atlantis Suite in Four Parts including Nocturne Morning Hymn of Praise A Court Function I Love Thee and The Destruction of Atlantis for military band in 1913. The opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis written in 1943 by Viktor Ullmann with libretto by Petr Kien while both were inmates at Theresienstadt concentration camp was never performed by Nazis who assumed it satirized Hitler. Though Ullmann and Kien were murdered in Auschwitz the manuscript survived and was performed for the first time in 1975 in Amsterdam.
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Common questions
What is the origin of the Atlantis story in Plato's works?
The description of Atlantis appears in Plato's dialogue Critias, written in 360 BC. The narrative claims that 9,000 years before his lifetime a war took place between those outside the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar and those who dwelt within them.
Who believed that Plato invented the island to teach philosophy?
Aristotle believed that Plato, his teacher, had invented the island to teach philosophy. Other ancient historians and philosophers who believed in the existence of Atlantis were Strabo and Posidonius.
When did Ignatius L. Donnelly publish Atlantis: the Antediluvian World?
Ignatius L. Donnelly published Atlantis: the Antediluvian World in 1882. He was greatly inspired by early works in Mayanism and attempted to establish that all known ancient civilizations were descended from Atlantis.
How does Madame Blavatsky describe the destruction of Atlantis?
Madame Blavatsky reported that the civilization of Atlantis reached its peak between 1,000,000 and 900,000 years ago but destroyed itself through internal warfare brought about by the dangerous use of psychic and supernatural powers of the inhabitants.
What year did Edgar Cayce claim Atlantis would rise again?
Edgar Cayce asserted that Atlantis would rise again in the 1960s sparking much popularity of the myth in that decade. There is also a Hall of Records beneath the Egyptian Sphinx which holds the historical texts of Atlantis according to his claims.
Which opera written in 1943 by Viktor Ullmann was never performed by Nazis?
The opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis written in 1943 by Viktor Ullmann with libretto by Petr Kien while both were inmates at Theresienstadt concentration camp was never performed by Nazis who assumed it satirized Hitler. Though Ullmann and Kien were murdered in Auschwitz the manuscript survived and was performed for the first time in 1975 in Amsterdam.