THE LEGEND OF ATLANTIS

Nation created by ancient gods which lived on an enormous island ‘beyond the Pillars of Hercules’
Described on the “Timaeus and Critias’s dialogues”
The land of
the island was extremely rich and the temples and palaces were magestic
This unique
civilizationwas destroyed by a strong volcanic eruption

Regarding the ‘lost continent´ of Atlantis, a lot of hypotheses are considered, but the most accurate theory is that this important civilization was destroyed by an enormous volcanic eruption.

 

It is said that the name Atlantida was given in honour of its first leader, Atlas, one of Poseidon´s sons, who rebelled against the gods and was condemned by Zeus to support the vault of the sky on his shoulders.

 

Although there are no archeological findings that support its existence, there is a long list of potential places which compete for the coordinates where this continent and its civilization could exist.

 

The whole legend of Atlantis comes from the same source: ‘the dialogues of Plato´. An exhaustive description of Atlantis- its geography, inhabitants and their way of life- is made in two of these dialogues held by Plato with Critias and Timeo asserts that this story was reported by the wise Greek-Solon- who, in turn, received it from an Egyptian priest.

 

It is described as a genuine story about a nation created by gods who lived on a large island placed beyond the ‘Pillars of Hercules´ (now the Strait of Gibraltar) and exceeded in surface Asia and Lybia together.

 

According to this story the power of the Atlantean leaders reached most Europe and Egypt but they made a big mistake - trying to subjugate Athenians- who triumphed finally over the invaders and released other subjugated peoples at the same time. Later strong earthquakes and big floods made Atlantis disappear in a single day.

 

It is also explained with considerable detail how Atlantean civilization lived. This nation was created by the union between the god Poseidon and the mortal Cleito. The love of Poseidon for Cleito was so strong that, in order to protect her, he isolated the island with two rings of water and three of land, flooded moats and alternated walls. Finally, the centre of the island became a circle.

 

As the soil of the island was really very rich, majestic temples and palaces were built as well as harbours and docks for the ships which transported goods from different parts of the world. A large channel was also built from the centre of the island to the sea.

 

Each of the Atlantis provinces was ruled by a king and all of them followed the lawof Poseidon, written in a gold and copper column erected in the middle of the island. Later the inhabitants, who lived and thought according to the law, began their decline when mixed with the mortals. That was the reason why Zeus decided to punish them.

 

To abide by the historical rigor, the heroic war, in which the Atlanteans were defeated by the Athenians, took place - according to the Egyptian priest - about 9,000 years ago. Since Solon lived about 640 B.C., we might deduce that Atlantis reached its height in 10,000 B.C.

 

Nothing is known about the origin of this nation, but it is important to admit that the main data of the real existence of Atlantis comes from a story full of legends and these tend to involve something real. But time goes by and the truth -if it exists- has been changed year after year.

 

However it is possible to achieve the impossible – the search of the truth!