Atlantis. The Destruction of a Modern Myth in Just Three Steps
Why the famous island never existed
Much has been written about the ancient island of Atlantis, which has become the object of so many efforts and dreams. Even here on medium, a quick search yields several hits.¹ ² ³
Being an age-old superpower, Atlantis is said to have sunk in the sea, taking immense ancient wisdom with it to the bottom of the ocean.
Many have tried to localize and find this magnificent place, raise the treasure of knowledge and forgotten ancient technologies. Up to the present day, they all have failed, but improving modern technology and ongoing research open up new opportunities — isn’t it inevitable that someday Atlantis will be found?
The simple answer is: no.
Let’s have a short look together why, at least from a scientific point of view, this is the only possible answer. But, though it seems to be a pity, in my opinion, that conclusion is not bad at all.
It won’t even take long. Because we will stick to the facts, this will need only 3 steps.
Step 1: Plato’s description
Everything we know about Atlantis derives from the Athenian philosopher Plato. He lived from the 420s to the 340s BC, the Classical period of ancient Greece.
From this age, we have quite a lot of literal sources telling us about all kinds of events in history and warfare, but none of these mention Atlantis. The only one doing so is the philosopher Plato. That fact alone should make you suspicious.
Plato described Atlantis about 360 AD in two of his Dialogues, called Timaeus⁴ and Critias⁵.
He claims the story originally was told to the fictional speaker Critias by his grandfather, who in turn knew it from the Athenian statesman Solon, who lived c. 630 to c. 560 BC. Solon himself had learned about the tale from an Egyptian priest, who had translated it from some holy scriptures (Tim. 20d — e ; 21c; 21e; 25d; Crit. 113a — b). The whole story was meant to have taken place 9,000 years ago (Tim. 23e; Crit. 108e).
Plato describes ancient Atlantis as “an island which was larger than Libya [i. e. Africa) and Asia together”. It was located beyond “the pillars of Heracles” (Tim. 24e). This means the “Straits of Gibraltar”, so Plato places Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the Greek “Atlantìs thálassa” just means “Atlantic Ocean”.⁶
The rulers of this island were of divine origin and very powerful. Plato continues:
“Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvellous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent; and, moreover, of the lands here within the Straits they ruled over Libya as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as Tuscany." (Tim. 25a — b, cf. Crit. 114c)
The Atlanteans already had set their foot on northern Africa and Italy, so they naturally would get into conflict with the Greeks in the event of ongoing expansion further east. That’s exactly what happened:
“So this host, being all gathered together, made an attempt one time to enslave by one single onslaught both your country [i. e. Athens] and ours [i. e. Egypt] and the whole of the territory within the Straits. And then it was […] that the manhood of your State showed itself conspicuous for valor and might in the sight of all the world. For it stood pre-eminent above all in gallantry and all warlike arts, and acting partly as leader of the Greeks, and partly standing alone by itself when deserted by all others, after encountering the deadliest perils, it defeated the invaders and reared a trophy; whereby it saved from slavery such as were not as yet enslaved, and all the rest of us who dwell within the bounds of Heracles it ungrudgingly set free.” (Plat. Tim. 25b — c)
After the peoples of the Mediterranean area under the leadership of the city of Athens had defeated the invaders, the Atlanteans were punished by the gods, their island destroyed:
“But at a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, […] and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished”. (Plat. Tim. 25c — d)
Atlantis itself is described as a marvelous island. For example, Poseidon, the god of the sea, himself
“made circular belts of sea and land enclosing one another alternately, some greater, some smaller, two being of land and three of sea, which he carved as it were out of the midst of the island; and these belts were at even distances on all sides, so as to be impassable for man” . (Crit. 113d)
The Atlanteans were infinitely rich. There was an abundance of all goods and materials, especially metals of all sorts: silver, gold, and orichalcum, “the most precious of the metals then known, except gold” (Crit. 114e).
Plato describes the topography, the splendid infrastructure, and some outstanding facilities and buildings in detail (mainly in Critias). But for keeping things short and simple, I won’t go further into detail here. After all, this is a story published in the publication World of Archaeology, not World of Ancient Philosophy. If you are interested in more detail about Plato’s description of Atlantis, the Wikipedia article is a very good source to start with⁷, or just read the English translation of the original text on Perseus Digital Library (cf. footnote no. 5).
Step 2: Pseudoscientific speculation
Be honest: Would you believe such a story? There are many who do. There is a lot of speculation and hypotheses around.
After all, Plato himself states:
“and the fact that it is no invented fable but genuine history is all-important.” (Tim. 26e)
So there must be some truth to it, one might think. Some age-old wisdom, even in the time of Plato, long forgotten, but recorded in an ancient Egyptian temple and coming to light by the philosopher’s dialogues, like a whisper from a distant past.
Then science comes in, or, in this case, pseudoscience. Many have tried to locate and identify Atlantis. The attempts are almost countless. Proposed are several islands in the Mediterranean Sea (for example Crete or Santorini) or the Atlantic Ocean (for example the Canary Islands or the Azores), Ireland, places in the North Sea, or even distant locations such as Cuba or Antarctica.
Whatsoever, none of these speculations or hypotheses has provided facts. Each of them is based on shaky foundations. Most of them just can be called fiction, dreams, or fantasy.
Instead of discussing them in detail, which has been done several times,⁸ I just demand from a scientific point of view:
Everyone representing one of these hypotheses should deliver facts, or at least make the argumentation plausible in order to convince the public.
Step 3: Archaeology´s answer
We can only record the absence of any archaeological evidence that would document the existence of Atlantis. To prove it, the only way would be to find remains that could be connected with the island. This has not happened and very probable never will happen.
One problem is the genesis of the story already: It begins with ancient wisdom stored in some Egyptian temple, which is handed over in several steps to Critias or to Plato respectively.
Would you believe such a tale if it was told to you today?
Oral tradition or oral history respectively always distorts facts. Plato himself lets the Egyptian priest say to Solon:
“after the usual interval of years, like a plague, the flood from heaven comes sweeping down afresh upon your people, it leaves none of you but the unlettered and uncultured, so that you become young as ever, with no knowledge of all that happened in old times in this land [i. e. Egypt] or in your own [i. e. Athens].” (Plat. Tim. 23a — b)
The problem of oral tradition does exist, even if we believe there was a written story preserved in an Egyptian temple. This cannot be ruled out, since we know those places were stores of wisdom that were also visited by educated Greeks in search of knowledge.
Though with certainty we can rule out the 9,000 years that, by Plato’s account, would have passed since the events. Educated Greeks believed Egypt was more than 11,000 years old, as Herodotus, famous Greek historian living from c. 484 to c. 425 BC, stated most prominently.⁹
This, of course, is not true. The Old Kingdom of Egypt emerged in the 3rd millenium BC, with precursors in the 4th milleinum BC. The first pieces of evidence of writing can also be dated in that period of time. Around 10,000 or 9,000 BC, most peoples in the Mediterranean area and Europe still lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers, or just had started to build settlements and develop more complex societies which eventually would lead to cities and states.
But be that as it may, it’s pointless to search for a possible historical core. As long as archaeologists do not find the ancient text in that one Egyptian temple telling us of Atlantis (as mentioned above), there is no way to reconstruct ancient reality by claiming certain elements of Plato’s text might be historical.
The final answer to the question is the interpretation of Plato’s story, which has been delivered by countless modern historians, linguists, and philosophers:
Plato’s tale of Atlantis is just an allegory on hubris, written by a philosopher, and not a historian. His intention was not to deliver any facts about ancient Greek history but to illustrate the arguments he used in his discussion of philosophical and political topics. The story, as passed down by Plato, is not part of a historical text but a philosophical one.
Many (sometimes self-proclaimed) researchers make two simple mistakes: They take Plato’s description literally. Then, they start their research intending to prove it. They want to find Atlantis, they do not want to find the truth. Working biased in science usually leads to distorted results. An objective approach is essential to get close to the truth in the end.
Conclusion: Why Atlantis still is fascinating
Maybe it’s hard to dump a myth like Atlantis, but on the other hand, there still is a lot of content left. Plato’s description has inspired so many people over the centuries — scientists, artists, writers, philosophers and many more — , that the Atlantis idea figuratively has the size of an universe.
It can be compared to the search for Troy by Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890). Being a fan of Homer’s works Iliad and Odyssey, he aimed to find the location of the Trojan War. In 1868 he started excavations at Hisarlik in Turkey, which led to the identification of the ruins found there as the ancient city of Troy.
Today, over 150 years later, this conclusion still is not undisputed. Is Hisarlik really the place where Achilles and Hector fought and died? It is still unclear whether the events in the Iliad describing the Trojan War have a historical core or are fictional. Archaeology was not able to prove that yet.
Though that’s another story, it shows how problematic the attempt to connect literary with archaeological sources is. In the case of Troy, it is a matter of discussion. In the case of Atlantis, it is just impossible.
Still, it’s fascinating to deal with Atlantis. To look at the ideas and thoughts of people talking and writing about the ancient myth means learning about their motivations, desires, and backgrounds. We can learn a lot about the past, about ourselves and the society we come from.
References
¹ Kent Allen Halliburton: Is the Lost City of Atlantis a Myth or a Reality? With the Use of New Science and Technology, We May Soon Find Out!, in: medium.com, published Apr 7, 2016. [>Link to story]
² Jonathan Roseland: Atlantis existed, in: medium.com, published Apr 23, 2018. [>Link to story]
³ Fiona Cameron Lister: The Surprising Location of Atlantis, in: medium.com, published May 1, 2020. [>Link to story]
⁴ Plato: Timaeus, in: Perseus Digital Library. [>Link to text]
⁵ Plato: Critias, in: Perseus Digital Library. [>Link to text]
⁶ Herodotus: The Histories 1,202,4, in: Perseus Digital Library. [>Link to text]
⁷ Wikipedia, s. v. Atlantis. [>Link to article]
⁸ If interested, check the literature mentioned in the section “Further reading” at the end of the Wikipedia article. [>Link to article]
⁹ Herodotus: The Histories 2,142,3 in: Perseus Digital Library. [>Link to text] Thanks to Thorwald Franke for this remark. Check out his site for his historical-critical approach. [>Link to site]
About the author
I’m an archaeologist from Germany. On medium purely private. Love asking questions, especially about myself. Trying to stay curious and open-minded. I started the publication World of Archaeology to discuss archaeological topics of all sorts with other interested people on medium. Drop me a line if you want to get in contact with me (patrickjung.medium@gmail.com).
