Thanos5150 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As far as the centuries later mentions of
> Atlantis, to actually read them one discovers they
> are only merely relating Plato's tale and/or
> referring to the Phoenicians.
>
[original source provided by Audrey: HERE.]
Personally I am of the mind Plato's story of Atlantis is allegorical fiction and if there was some kernel of truth it origins would be far far from Plato's account regardless. But if "Atlantis" was a "thing" before Plato-what was it really and where did the story come from?
Here is perhaps a little fiction of my own, but I throw it our there for fun.
Plato says Atlantis was located "in front of" the Pillars of Herakles, the Strait of Gibraltar, which technically NW Africa is.
![]()
It is interesting that later writers equated the "Atlanteans" and "Atlantis" with the Phoenician colonies of the Atlas mountain range which geographically would encompass this region:
![]()
On a map made by Herodotus (before Plato was born) he notes an area called "Atlantes?"
![]()
Which would have been the area these later writers attribute to the Phoenicians.
A contemporary of Herodotus was a Phoenician explorer Hanno the Navigator. His travels are known from a single source known as a "periplus" titled The Voyage of Hanno, commander of the Carthaginians, round the parts of Libya beyond the Pillars of Heracles, which he deposited in the Temple of Kronos. A map of Hanno's route:![]()
Though it appears he travelled well farther down the coast of Africa, he supposedly founded a colony in the Bay of Arguin known as Cerne which is thought by some to be near the city of Agadir (see map above of Atlas Mountains as well):
![]()
![]()
Though this has yet to be verified archeologically, according to the Greek writer Strabo the city of Agadir was founded by the Phoenicians in 1104BC.
We are also told by Herodotus the Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa c. 600BC in 3yrs sponsored by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho which curiously would have been during the lifetime of Solon, credited of course by Plato as the source of the Atlantis tale.
A recent theory making the rounds is that the Guelb er-Richât, or "Richat structure", in NW Africa is the fabled Atlantis because of its similarity to Plato's description of Atlantis and its ringed walls:
![]()
The Richat structure is not man made, however, but rather a 90 million year old collapsed geological dome. Interestingly: "The Guelb er-Richât in the Mauritanian Adrar and, more particularly, the depression of its external ring are the sites of rather exceptional accumulations of Acheulean industries...."
Meaning this area was heavily occupied by a previous species of human, Erectus we would assume, somewhere between 1,700,000-130,000 years ago. Not the stuff of an advanced lost civilization but pretty cool nonetheless.
What is curious though, is that when we look at a map (scroll out to see the coast): HERE which is almost exactly due east from Agadir.
Here is some pure speculation-the Phoenicians were equated to some degree with "Atlantis" and "Atlanteans", it would appear even before Plato's time judging from Herodotus's map (which stands to reason there are other sources as well but I don't have the time right now). They travelled around the coast of Africa, perhaps as early as the 12th century BC, supposedly founding multiple sites in the Bay of Arguin which lies some 300 miles due west of the Richat structure.
Is it possible the Phoenicians travelled there and made a report of what they saw which to them the concentric circles looked the ruins of an ancient walled city? Abandoned long ago falling victim to some kind of cataclysm which the clearest suggestion would have been water related? A sunken city whose "walls" we know today were subjected to large amounts of sedimentation and erosion leaving deposits some 10-13ft thick just during the period of 15,000-8,000 years ago alone? Was this one of the fantastic "discoveries" they told the Egyptian king, their patron, upon their return-news of the day which found the waiting ear of Solon (or perhaps a later tale from Hanno which Plato pinned on Solon to give it credibility)? A story which centuries later Plato embellished with non-existent unknowable details and history to serve as the vehicle of his otherwise Noble Lie?
Just a thought.
With that being said, again, we must note that no one mentions any Atlantis as Plato does, but there were "Atlanteans" and an "Atlantis" (Atlantes). They were the Phoenicians and the place was the Atlas mountains stretching to the coast of Africa.
-------------------------------------------------------
> As far as the centuries later mentions of
> Atlantis, to actually read them one discovers they
> are only merely relating Plato's tale and/or
> referring to the Phoenicians.
>
Quote
Other ancient writers, such as Diodorus Siculus, who mention "Atlantis" or the "Atlanteans" are inevitably referring to the native tribes and Phoenician colonies of north-west Africa in the vicinity of the Atlas mountain range. Some Greek and Roman writers describe this continental region as the largest of the "islands."
[original source provided by Audrey: HERE.]
Personally I am of the mind Plato's story of Atlantis is allegorical fiction and if there was some kernel of truth it origins would be far far from Plato's account regardless. But if "Atlantis" was a "thing" before Plato-what was it really and where did the story come from?
Here is perhaps a little fiction of my own, but I throw it our there for fun.
Plato says Atlantis was located "in front of" the Pillars of Herakles, the Strait of Gibraltar, which technically NW Africa is.
It is interesting that later writers equated the "Atlanteans" and "Atlantis" with the Phoenician colonies of the Atlas mountain range which geographically would encompass this region:
On a map made by Herodotus (before Plato was born) he notes an area called "Atlantes?"
Which would have been the area these later writers attribute to the Phoenicians.
A contemporary of Herodotus was a Phoenician explorer Hanno the Navigator. His travels are known from a single source known as a "periplus" titled The Voyage of Hanno, commander of the Carthaginians, round the parts of Libya beyond the Pillars of Heracles, which he deposited in the Temple of Kronos. A map of Hanno's route:
Though it appears he travelled well farther down the coast of Africa, he supposedly founded a colony in the Bay of Arguin known as Cerne which is thought by some to be near the city of Agadir (see map above of Atlas Mountains as well):
Though this has yet to be verified archeologically, according to the Greek writer Strabo the city of Agadir was founded by the Phoenicians in 1104BC.
We are also told by Herodotus the Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa c. 600BC in 3yrs sponsored by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho which curiously would have been during the lifetime of Solon, credited of course by Plato as the source of the Atlantis tale.
A recent theory making the rounds is that the Guelb er-Richât, or "Richat structure", in NW Africa is the fabled Atlantis because of its similarity to Plato's description of Atlantis and its ringed walls:
The Richat structure is not man made, however, but rather a 90 million year old collapsed geological dome. Interestingly: "The Guelb er-Richât in the Mauritanian Adrar and, more particularly, the depression of its external ring are the sites of rather exceptional accumulations of Acheulean industries...."
Meaning this area was heavily occupied by a previous species of human, Erectus we would assume, somewhere between 1,700,000-130,000 years ago. Not the stuff of an advanced lost civilization but pretty cool nonetheless.
What is curious though, is that when we look at a map (scroll out to see the coast): HERE which is almost exactly due east from Agadir.
Here is some pure speculation-the Phoenicians were equated to some degree with "Atlantis" and "Atlanteans", it would appear even before Plato's time judging from Herodotus's map (which stands to reason there are other sources as well but I don't have the time right now). They travelled around the coast of Africa, perhaps as early as the 12th century BC, supposedly founding multiple sites in the Bay of Arguin which lies some 300 miles due west of the Richat structure.
Is it possible the Phoenicians travelled there and made a report of what they saw which to them the concentric circles looked the ruins of an ancient walled city? Abandoned long ago falling victim to some kind of cataclysm which the clearest suggestion would have been water related? A sunken city whose "walls" we know today were subjected to large amounts of sedimentation and erosion leaving deposits some 10-13ft thick just during the period of 15,000-8,000 years ago alone? Was this one of the fantastic "discoveries" they told the Egyptian king, their patron, upon their return-news of the day which found the waiting ear of Solon (or perhaps a later tale from Hanno which Plato pinned on Solon to give it credibility)? A story which centuries later Plato embellished with non-existent unknowable details and history to serve as the vehicle of his otherwise Noble Lie?
Just a thought.
With that being said, again, we must note that no one mentions any Atlantis as Plato does, but there were "Atlanteans" and an "Atlantis" (Atlantes). They were the Phoenicians and the place was the Atlas mountains stretching to the coast of Africa.