User talk:AncientWorldWonders

Could the Atlantis story be true? What evidence to the contrary can this claim stand that Atlantis once existed?

Over 2000 years ago, the Greek Philosopher Plato wrote down the first account of Atlantis. He told of an immense and powerful civilization in tune with nature that was "as large as Libya and Asia Minor combined." Now theologians claim that Plato could have exaggerated the breath of Atlantis and that they believe that Plato meant Atlantis's influence extended throughout the Mediterranean, and that the island was not as large as he claimed. Plato places Atlantis "Beyond the Pillars of Heracles" which means at this time beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, which is an intercontinental opening that leads towards open sea situated on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Located in the Azores, and where many believe is a very good place for the sunken island of Atlantis.

The Azores is a cluster of nine islands, and they are located amid a chain of underwater mountains that rise to heights in excess of 9000 metres. They form part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which defines the division between tectonic plates, aligned approximately north to south beneath the ocean floor for some 17,600 kilometres. It is the tips of the very highest of these subterranean mountains that protrude from the ocean floor as the principal islands of the Azores, which are themselves endowed with sizeable mountains that soar to a height in excess of 2100 metres. But this water mass of evidence is only circumstantial to Plato's story. Plato describes large mountains in his story, but as of yet, no ruins have been found in the Azores to corroborate this theory.

The best candidate for Atlantis is the island of Thera a.k.a Santorini. In 1628 BCE, Santorini exploded with the power of several nuclear bombs nearly destroying the island altogether. The crater of what used to be the island of Thera (and also known as Crete) is 400 meters deep and 83 kilometres wide. However, according to Plato the timeframe is nowhere near when Atlantis existed. Plato says Atlantis existed before time was recorded (chronologically), and if this is true, then Thera cannot be Atlantis. At this time, smoke from the explosion of Santorini could be seen form miles around and many stories are told of this frightful event, even China writes of the smoke and ashes of the explosion darkening the sky.

Crete has the most archeaological evidence of Atlantis that has ever been found any where in the world: temples, hot springs, fiascos on the wall. Everything that Plato describes as being Atlantis is here. But then why can’t this be Atlantis if all the evidence is here? Because the location isn't correct.

In the early 1900's, Edgar Cayce, the man who came to be known as "the Sleeping Prophet", claimed that he received knowledge of Atlantis and its people from those who once lived there, through spiritual interpretation. He would sporadically go into a rant about an ancient people and their civilization when he would do his psychic readings. Atlantis has received wide acclaim from authors over the years and they have written about it extensively, and one of them was Ignatius Donnelly. Ignatius Donnelly saw correlations between other ancient civilizations and what Plato wrote, and he wrote them down in his book: Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, first published in 1882, and that some now have come to believe that Edgar Cayce may have used this knowledge to make his readings more believable.

Edgar Cayce placed the civilization of Atlantis at the height of its power at 1,000,000 BCE, well before recorded history, a date no one can confirm. He also predicted that in 1968 a portion of Atlantis would rise off the coast of Bimini. And in 1968, an stone roadway or wall was found miles off the Bimini coast just where Edgar Cayce said it would be. Evidence has concluded that the blocks or stones were naturally sculpted over eons of water erosion and incoming currents, and yet, they are so perfectly carved as if man-made that that evidence of their natural construction is soon becoming implausible to believe.

Bimini is in the Atlantic Ocean, precisely where Plato said Atlantis is supposed to reside, but is this enough evidence to conclude Plato was telling the truth? Theory that it might be the outer wall or a roadway of Atlantis according to Edgar Cayce is all that connects the find to the lost civilization. Other than that, we can pretty much discard the "Bimini Wall" find. However, rumour has it that Atlantis is buried beneath North and South America due to the well renown continental drift theory, where the tectonic plates of the planet over centuries shift, altering the appearance of the planet, and that the wall or roadway is in fact a portion of Atlantis. But if this is true, could the continents of North and South America harbour Atlantis beneath?

There is no evidence to prove this theory and only conjecture gives it plausibility. But as we look to places like Mexico where we find the pyramids of the Inca and the Mayans, do these not smack a similarity between the pyramids of Egypt? Could there have been a co-existence between the continents at one point? Theory points to the tectonic plates shifting and creating the continents of today and that they broke apart, separating from the land known as Lemuria, where supposedly all the people of the world lived long ago. Lemuria existed in the Atlantic Ocean. Many centuries ago, Lemuria was one large land mass surrounded by ocean. Could this have been Atlantis? Through extensive archaeological and oceanography evidence it is plausible, but nothing can be confirmed.

The theory of Lemuria could hold merit though, and it might be the key to why so many different and yet similar civilizations were birthed on separated continents where they had absolutely no communication with each other, as we are presently aware. As Lemuria broke up, different civilizations began to crop up, eventually giving birth to collective societies with equally similar but distinctive cultures.

Where was the story of Atlantis first heard? Plato said that he heard the story of Atlantis from the Greek Philosopher Solon, who heard it from an Egyptian scribe. The Egyptian scribe said it was a story passed down from generation to generation, but its origin was unknown even to him. Theologians wonder about its validity.

As far as history goes, the Egyptians were one of the most technological civilizations ever created, then they slipped into history, letting the sands of time cast its shadow over them, and almost lost, until many centuries later a new civilization emerged that cast light onto what we had forgotten. Could this have happened to Atlantis?

The Modern age. We have the technology to turn grains of sand into computer chips that can run everything from the modern toaster to the most sophisticated military hardware every devised. And yet, we have also created weapons of mass destruction. Rumours have cropped up that Atlantis also possessed these very same weapons in the form of power crystals and sub-nuclear technology, and that they destroyed themselves with them. Some say they were forgotten on purpose, cast out of history, so the world wouldn't repeat the same mistakes as Atlantis did. Could a cover-up be true?

The Great Sphinx of Egypt may hold an answer to this question. Beneath the right paw of the Sphinx is an unclaimed chamber found by sonic subterranean equipment over a decade ago. Archaeologists were searching for hidden passages and chambers under the sand when they came across a cavity beneath the Sphinx. At first a dig was planned to learn what secrets this chamber held, but then fears cropped up about the danger of digging and it was stopped. No one wanted to dig for fear of having the Sphinx collapse under the strain. But what could lie in this mysterious chamber? Rumour has it that this is where the lost scrolls of Atlantis are kept, a depository of wealth and information about the lost civilization. A hidden chamber filled with debris has been found connecting the Great Pyramid of Cheops to the Sphinx, but it has yet to be cleared completely. Scientists have dated the Sphinx as being close to 10,500 years old due to water erosion around its body. The Sphinx's head is a mystery in its own rite and it has been theorized that the head is not original. Yet it shows more erosion than the body. Carbon dating says that it was left to the elements for centuries while the body was buried beneath the sand. But the question is this: Why does the Sphinx date back long before the birth of the Egyptian civilization? Who could have created this wonder of the world? The refugees from Atlantis? Could it be a message of some kind?