2nd International Conference: Presentation of lectures

The Atlantis Hypothesis

Brief presentation of views and speeches delivered during the two-day conference

About 51 papers are contained in the volume of proceedings published for the 2nd International Conference, "The Atlantis Hypothesis: Searching for a "lost Land," held on November 10 and 11, 2008 at the National Research Center in Athens. There were three categories of speakers: the first examined the platonic style of writing from the standpoint of philosophy and art; the second considered Atlantis an occurrence of 12000 years ago, and the third presented Atlantis as an event of Bronze Age.

The soeakers offered a range of approaches in an attempt to decipher Plato's Timaeos and Critias.

Theopis Parisakis, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in her paper "The myth of Atlantis and Plato's intentions", estimated that the myth of Atlantis was used by Plato to promote his general political and philosophical-educational aspirations and, in particular, his vision for the revival of an "Ideal Sate". She believes, that the Atlantis' myth functions as another moral, political and philosophical myth.

In this context, the leading philosopher, presenting the rise and fall of the mighty Atlantis, just at the moment when it aimed at world hegemony, wanted to spread, among other things, the message that arrogance and greed are a major moral shock and can lead to the destruction of even the most Ideal State. Ms Parisakis supported that "the data which Plato uses, may not even refer to the distant past, but be drawn from states existed in his own days, such as Athens or Sparta".

Ms. Parisaki, however, did not rule out the possibility that the myth may have a historical background, or that it was written, at least in part, from historical data. As, as she wrote, "the Atlantic myth is the most detailed and plausible of all Platonic myths". 

Assumptions about its Location and Dating 

The variety of interpretations given for its location was so rich, with the result that Atlantis was placed not only in geographical areas distributed around the planet, from the Mediterranean to America, but also over the centuries, from 1,200 BC. until 10,000 BC.

An Italian research team from the University of Milan (M.Negri, G. Facchetti, E. Notti) in their paper, "Creta Thera Atlantis: culture and writing", pointed out that the myth of the "lost country" exists in many peoples and regions of the Earth and may have a real basis, while emphasizing that The myth of Atlantis undoubtedly stands out among all the relevant myths. He also presented data, based on a comparison of the inscriptions of the Minoan and Cycladic civilization, pointing out that their similarities point to the possible identification of the Platonic Atlantis with the Minoan world and consequently Thira (Santorini), which was destroyed by volcano.

Among the various other sites proposed on the first day of the conference for identification with Atlantis were: Southern Spain (in the Guadalquivir River region), the Middle Danube region in the Pannonian Plain (the case of a group of researchers Geological Institute of Romania), the Andean highlands in Bolivia (around the area of ​​"Pampa Aulagas"), the island of Hispaniola discovered by Columbus in the Caribbean, Iceland (ancient Ogygia - case of the Greek researcher B. georgiani from T.E.I of Peiraeus), the wider region of Central America (according to Canadian researcher J.Teeluck beneath the pyramids of Mesoamerican civilizations there are stairs leading to underground Atlantic settlements), Northeastern America in the Poverty Point area of ​​Louisiana (view of the Greek researcher A. Kontaratos), etc.

Various researchers have referred to a wealth of evidence (e.g., paradoxically, up-to-date ancient maps, such as those of Piri Reis and Orontius Phineas), suggesting that ancient civilizations may have had knowledge of planetary locations (e.g., Antarctica, South America) , which could only ultimately refer to remnants of the knowledge of an older, now extinct, culture, most likely of Atlantis.

During the second day of the conference, the presentation of new hypothetical - and often exotic - sites continued, which, according to researchers, could be identified with ancient Atlantis, which sank about 9,500 years ago, according to the famous Platonic myth. . In all, more than 200 sites around the globe claim the "honor" of having hosted the mythical state in the past.

Among others, the following sites have been proposed: the Atlas Mountains in the Sahara Desert in present-day Algeria, the Sousa-Masa-Draa region in southern Morocco, the Meroe region in present-day northern Sudan, the Indus Valley region and in particular Dolavira, the Antarctica, the Greek island of Lesvos (off Plomari), the island of Serbro off Sierra Leone, and others.

A. Mitrousis from the National Center for Marine Research (ELKETHE) presented a paper on the preliminary results of the Atlantis Program 2003, which concerned seabed research, in 2003. According to the researcher, even if there is historical truth in the Santorini-Atlantis relationship, it is difficult to find evidence at the bottom due to the volcanic alluvium that has a large thickness.

It was also pointed out at the conference (E. Mitropetrou, University of Patras) that neither Homer, nor Hesiod, nor Herodotus, nor Thucydides, nor Aristotle make the slightest reference to Atlantis, with the sole exception of Plato, while, on the other , the mythology of a lost ideal state decisively influenced later thinkers and their own utopias, as in the case of Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis" and Thomas More's "Utopia".

Among the highlights of the conference were the various works of the British researcher Y. Koak, who reported that the Indian epic Mahabharata contains a strikingly similar destruction of an ancient Vedic civilization (Dwarka) by a tsunami, confirmed by modern research and estimated that there was relevant myth from South Asia to Europe.

The Italian researcher L. Monte identified Atlantis with the Minoan civilization and said that Plato essentially told the story of the war between Athens and Crete in the Bronze Age. The German explorer T. Franke preferred to associate the Atlanteans with the mysterious Peoples of the Sea, who invaded Egypt at the end of the Bronze Age, whom he identified as Sicilian and Sardinian invaders.

 

Giorgos Saraditis , JeniferCoelho-Teeluck, Theodor Paschos and Mircea Ticleanu considered Atlantis a world power and they accosiate it with the end of the last glaciated period 12,000 years ago. The first locates Atlntis on Mauritania, the second in Middle America, the third on the Atlantic ridge close to Azores and thw fourth in Romania.

The Figure 1 illustrates the "Dauphin Reef Ridge" on which N. Zhirov and Theodor Paschos theorize that the capital of Atlantis was located. At that point, the mid-Atlantic ridge is shaped like a huge submarine plateau (Azores plateau), just 100 meters below the current average sea level. The submarine plateau has been explored since 1996 and there are several archaeological finds. The Soviet Professor Alexander Gorodnitsky, a marine geophysicist, geologist and oceanographer, surveyed the azores plateau which is only 100 meters deep with respect today' s mean sea level.