Steven Armstrong, F.R.C.

he concept of Atlantis is one of the most powerful and pervasive ideas in the western psyche. If Atlantis had not existed, we would need to create the Lost Continent, so important is this mythos to us. Indeed, in the science fiction universe of Star Trek, this is exactly what the government of Earth and the United Federation of Planets began doing in the midtwentyfourth century CE, geoengineering a new continent in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.1 More recently, on U.S. televisions longest running science fiction program, Stargate SG1, humanity discovers that Atlantis was an ancient city capable of interstellar flight, created by our distant ancestors who then subsequently ascended to the psychic realm.2 In the spinoff program Stargate Atlantis, which began in 2004, an international team from Earth recolonizes the lost city, now in a distant galaxy, and inherits both the successes and mistakes of the Ancients, our Atlantean forebearers.3 Both of these very popular programs, as well as the myriad of novels and films portraying Atlantis or Atlantean themes, demonstrate the immense place the Lost Continent has in the hearts and minds of the western world, and arguably in much of our planet. It should not be surprising that the Search for Atlantis is alive and well at the dawn of the twentyfirst century, with no end yet in sight. The Modern Quest for Atlantis Takes on New Dimensions As the platetectonic theory of continental formation and movement became more and more accepted during the late twentieth century, it became increasingly difficult to maintain the concept of the literal sinking of an entire continental body. However, our increased knowledge of the

variability of sea levels during historical and prehistorical periods has more then compensated for this difficulty, and has produced a myriad of Atlantean theories. In an endeavor such as the search for Atlantis, controversy is inevitable. Research and methods generally fall into two camps. Academic mainstream archaeology and its allied sciences tend to be naturally conservative in their methodology and claims, and these researchers consider very few sites as serious candidates. Indeed, the mainstream view is that Platos story was a myth, and so it is a minority of orthodox scholars who continue to search for Atlantis today. On the other hand, alternate archaeologists and historians are often more daring in their theories, challenging standard paradigms and explanations. At the beginning of the twentyfirst century, the wider availability of technology and the spread of information on the Internet have enabled these researchers to more successfully challenge their mainstream colleagues, with data and publicity to back up their claims. The line of demarcation between mainline and alternate archaeology still remains, but there are increasing signs of crossover theories and research. Perhaps these two approaches have always interacted, as the discovery of Troy, the Minoan Civilization, and the Nag Hammadi Library can attest. Dreams and visionary quests can fuel discoveries, and these may occur when we least expect them. Rosicrucians have long taught that thought manifests reality, and we may be seeing evidence of this in todays continuing quest to find Atlantis. Modern theories about the location of Atlantis fall into several categories, based on geography. First, there are several sites in the Mediterranean that are considered prime
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possibilities for Atlantis, some of which are of interest to those mainstream archaeologists who consider the possibility of a factual background to Platos account. Second, areas in the Atlantic off the coast of North Africa and Europe have garnered considerable attention during the twentieth and early twentyfirst centuries. Third, many sites around the world have been identified, in one way or another, with Platos Atlantean realm. Finally, at the beginning of the twentyfirst century, a new approach altogether has begun to emerge, in a worldwide context. We can look at some of the most popular examples of each of these in turn to consider the possibilities for the ongoing quest for Atlantis.4

T HE MEDITERRANEAN The search for the location of Atlantis is not a favored theme within mainstream archaeology, since many academic scholars consider Platos story of Atlantis to be allegorical or didactic, rather than historical. Nevertheless, in these circles, the possibility is held out that the myth of Atlantis and the Flood stories may have some basis in a major cataclysm that took place in the Eastern Mediterranean in the distant past. The TheraSantorini Theory The most popular of these theories centers on a massive volcanic eruption on Thera in the Santorini group of islands during the Bronze Age, circa 1630circa 1500 BCE. Lying about 125 miles southeast of the Greek

mainland, Santorini is a modern vacation spot, named for St. Irene by the Romans or Venetians in the thirteenth century CE. Its earliest inhabitants were from the Minoan culture in 3000 BCE, followed by a later Dorian settlement in the eleventh century BCE.5 When the eruption took place circa 1630circa 1500 BCE6, the entire center of the island was obliterated, and a tsunami resulted which struck the northern side of Crete with devastating force. Together with the ash fall, this event took a severe toll on the Minoan civilization on Crete. Although this did not destroy the Minoans, it may have weakened their culture, and thereby provided the opportunity for the Mycenaeans from the Greek mainland to conquer Crete around 1420 BCE.7 Throughout the middle and late twentieth century, noted Greek archaeologist Spyridon Nikolaou Marinatos argued that the Thera eruption, its weakening of Minoan culture, and the later defeat of the Minoans at the hands of the Mycenaeans formed the basis of Platos Atlantis Myth.8 The eruption at Thera has also been suggested as the basis of the disasters described in the Admonitions of Ipuwer from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. The Admonitions in turn may have influenced the description of the ten plagues of Egypt in the Biblical Exodus account.9 The Minoan culture of Crete does have many similarities to the traditional description of Atlantis, andalthough this assumption is currently debatedhas usually been seen as a primarily peaceful, rather than

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Fresco discovered at Santorini showing vibrant port life, leading some to speculate that this is evidence for the Santorini theory of Atlantis

bellicose, civilization.10 The possibility of Minoan human sacrifice has recently been raised;11 however, this claim is disputed.12 If the evidence proves to substantiate human sacrifice, this would be an uncanny link to the similar reason put forward for the fall of Atlantis in the classic esoteric work, A Dweller on Two Planets.13 The Thera theory remains the favorite of those mainstream archaeologists today who take an interest in the search for Atlantis. Other Mediterranean Theories Although the TheraSantoriniMinoan thesis is the most popular of the Mediterranean theories about Atlantis, it is not the only one. Cyprus, Cdiz (Spain), Spartel, a sunken island in the Strait of Gibraltar,14 and the island of Sardinia,15 have all been mentioned, and they are not alone. Locations in Turkey, including Troy,16 and the Middle East are sometimes put forward as well,17 each with its own proponents and detractors. Jericho and surrounding territory has also recently been proposed as the origins of the legend.18 Malta has also been a very popular possibility for the Atlantean culture. The connection of Malta and Atlantis is not a new theory. This was first espoused by the reknowned Maltese architect Girogio Grongnet de Vass in 1854. More recently, several alternate archaeology researchers on Malta have added to the evidence, arguing for the presence of humans on the island as early as the Paleolithic Era (15,00018,000 years ago), rather than the usually accepted 6000 BCE for the first human occupation, and that this culture of builders was destroyed by a flood in 2200 BCE. Considerable disputes have arisen between mainstream Maltese archaeology and these theories, and no clear end to the controversies is currently in sight.19 Regardless of the outcome of these disputes, Maltas ancient culture and geographic situation make it a reasonable option for Atlantis.

OFF THE COAST OF EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA Outside the Mediterranean, but still near Europe and North Africa, there are multiple locations suggested today for Atlantis. Among the most popular are the following. Andalusia in southern Spain, and its lost city of Tartessos have been candidates for Atlantis since first proposed in 1673. Tartessos was an important trade city until it suddenly vanished from history in the sixth century BCE. Advocates of this theory suggest that the Tartessians were the Sea Peoples who attacked many Mediterranean cultures during the Bronze Age, giving rise to the story of Atlantis.20 The islands of Britain and Ireland, and the North Sea and Celtic Shelf between France and Britain, have also been cited as the location of the Atlantean civilization in several scenarios in combination or separately. These theories take into account several factors. The wellknown megalithic culture of the area during the Neolithic Era is a primary attraction for researchers. Sea level studies also indicate that portions of the North Sea and the Celtic Bank have been above sea level in the past. Mont SaintMichel in Normandy is a dramatic example of the effects of rising and lowering sea levels. Further, in the Arthurian legends, the mystical forest of Brocliande (today known as Paimpont Forest in Brittany) was said to connect France and Britain, and is near the famous standing stones of Carnac. One wonders if this could be a memory in the collective unconsciousness of a time when there was an actual land connection. All of these make these locations plausible Atlantean sites.21 The Canary Islands, an archepelago of Spanish islands located off the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara, contain several mysteries. Although the islands were known in classical antiquity and were visited by the Phonecians, Greeks and Romans, there is considerable debate today over the origins of
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the indigenous populations of the various islands and their genetic connection to other populations. In the 1990s, famed explorer Thor Heyerdahl studied the complex which includes the six Pyramids of Gmar, ancient constructions very similar to step pyramids on the island of Tenerife. No conclusive theory of their purpose, age, or construction have yet been established.22 However, in Plinys Natural History (6:37), he makes mention of the fact that reports from Juba II of Mauretania indicated traces of buildings on the island in antiquity.23 These two circumstances have persuaded some to consider the Canary islands as potentially Atlantean. The islands of the MidAtlantic Ridge have long been regarded as very likely remnants of an Atlantean empire. In particular, the Azores, a Portuguese archepelago in the midAtlantic Ocean, have been a favorite contender for Atlantis, including among Rosicrucians. Ignatius Donnelly, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was among the first exoteric writers to mention the Azores in this connection in his seminal work, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World in 1882.24 More recently, this hypothesis has been supported and further researched by Nikolai Zhirov, a Russian chemist and Atlantis scholar. Zhirov martials data from oceanography, climate studies, seismic studies, gravimetrics, ancient botanical studies, geomorphology, plate tectonics, ocean bottom current patterns, submarine erosion, and geological data to support his positions with impressive documentation.25 Further findings by other alternate researchers may indicate river beds on the shelf areas surrounding the Azores now submerged, making the possibility of these once being land areas plausible.26 A simple search of the Internet will demonstrate the continuing support and popularity for the idea that the Azores Islands are the mountain peaks of ancient Atlantis.

FURTHER AFIELD: PROPOSALS FOR ATLANTIS OUTSIDE THE EUROPEAN AREA Outside of the area of Europe and Africa, several other parts of the world have been proposed as candidates for the origin of the Atlantis stories. Probably best known is the area of the Caribbean. Much of the popularity of these theories is due to the readings of the American mystic and clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, who predicted in 1938 that signs of Atlantis would be found near Bimini (see the Cayce readings in this edition of the Digest).27 The discoveries of the Bimini Road, have fueled this theory. Off North Bimini Island, part of the Bahamas to the east of Florida and the north of Cuba, some mysterious undersea formations were discovered in 1968, leading some to identify them as a road of human construction. The debate over their nature and meaning has continued to the present day.28 Bimini remains one of the favorite candidates among those who hold for a New World location for Atlantis. Other candidates in the Caribbean include the Isla de la Juventud near Cuba,29 and a purported sunken island off Central America;30 however, both of these claims are controversial and contested by most researchers. North and South America Offer Possible Atlantean Sites
Some Atlantis advocates have suggested that the Americas themselves, or some parts of North or South America, were the actual location of the Atlantean civilization. This is certainly not a new idea. In 1627, Rosicrucian Imperator Sir Francis Bacon penned a utopian novel, The New Atlantis, setting his island Bensalem (Offspring of Peace) off the western shores of the Americas. In the context of Bacons work, it is clear that the original Atlantis was in the Americas, though North or South is not specified. If one thinks about it, this is not at all a surprising idea. When the Americas were discovered once again by Colombus, it would

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seem to have been a fulfillment of the desire to find the Lost Continent to the west of Europe, considerably larger than western North Africa and Asia Minor (Platos Lybia and Asia) combined. Over the past 200 years mainline archaeologists have learned much about the advanced and sophisticated civilizations in the Americas. In 2006, Charles C. Manns study, 1491, provided a thorough and astonishing look at what we know today about the complex human societies of the Americas on the eve of Columbuss voyage, including a population probably greater than that of Europe, with larger and more advanced cities.31 Furthermore, the origins of American civilization are continually being pushed back. The findings of the circa 5,000year old Peruvian pyramidbuildercivilization at Caral on the Pacific Coast north of Lima, has considerably revised the estimates for the antiquity of American cultures now coeval with the Egyptian pyramid builders.32 It is within the realm of possibility that ancestral memories of contact between Europe, Africa and the Americas could have fueled Atlantean Legends. The connection of MesoAmerica and Atlantis became popular among some nineteenth century archaeologists. In 1879, Edward Herbert Thompson proposed the MayaAtlantis connection in Popular Science Monthly, but later revised his opinion.33 The amateur archaeologist and photographer, Augustus Le Plongeon, is most famous in alternate archaelogy circles for his theories (no longer accepted in academic archaeology) of the association of Mayan culture with Atlantis and the lost Pacific continent of Mu or Lemuria. He held that Central America was the cradle of civilization, later transmitting this culture westward to Atlantis and Egypt.34 Although his theories in this area have been discredited in academe, he and his wife Alice Dixon Le Plongeon are still honored as early pioneers of archaelogical photography.35 Le Plongeons Atlantean theories have proven

enduringly popular among alternate researchers, and have had some influence on James Churchwards famous Mu series.36 North American Authors Utilize the Atlantis Theme The alternate archaeological writings of Ignatius Donnelly and Lewis Spence continued the idea of Atlantis in America into the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.37 Several writers of visonary novels delved into this theme as well. Best known of these is Frederick S. Olivers A Dweller on Two Planets.38 As an eighteen year old youth in Yreka, CA, north of Mount Shasta, Oliver began receiving this channeled book from Phylos the Thibetan. He continued to receive the book until 1886, and it was published posthumously by his mother in 1905.39 The novel tells of the lives of several Atlanteans through various incarnations. Another example is Yermah the Dorado by early feminist science fiction author Fiona Eunice Wait in 1897. Wait chronicals the adventures of her dashing hero, Yermah, an Atlantean, on the ancient coast of California, in what is now San Franciscos Golden Gate Park, Richmond, and HaightAshbury disticts.40 During 1926, the AMORC publication The Mystic Triangle serialized a futuristic novel connecting the destinies of America and Atlantis Zada, or Looking Forward by J. H. Thamer. The June 1926 installment has the twentyfirst century protagonists exploring the ruins of Atlantis surrounding the Azores.41 Dr. Lewiss seminal work Lemuria extended the connection of America to the Lost Continent of the Pacific.42 Atlantis in Bolivia More recently, researcher Jim Adams has proposed the Altiplano in Bolivia, in the region of Lake Poopo, as the site of ancient Atlantis. His ingenious solution to the many problems of identifying the ancient site are laid out on his websites and
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publications.43 He carefully matches Platos descriptions of the geography of Atlantis to the Altiplano; and explorers have found evidence of a sunken island under the waters of Lake Poopo, with evidence of human habitation. All of this makes the Bolivian theory a very attractive alternative approach, worthy of further study.

Port of Sindree on the Indus before it was submerged by the Earthquake of 1819. From Donnellys Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882). From the Rosicrucian Library Collection

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Asian Possibilities for the Lost Continent Even further afield, Arysio Santosa, a Brazilian nuclear physicist who also writes on mystical subjects, proposed in 2005 that the huge plain of Sundaland on the continental shelf of Southeast Asia (which was exposed during the last Ice Age) is Atlantis. This would comprise the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, including Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Bali, and the smaller islands in the archepelago. He suggests that refugees from the sinking of Sundaland eventually came into contact with Egyptians, who then recorded a garbled version of the history of the lost lands.44 The Antarctic Theory Becomes Increasingly Popular One of the most persistent suggestions for an Atlantean location is the southernmost continent of Antarctica. The literature of this theory is varied and fascinating. In fiction, the American horror writer H. P Lovecraft . popularized the AtlantisAntarctic link in his 1931 novel, At the Mountains of Madness,45
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at least partly inspired by Edgar Allen Poes The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838), which breaks off unfinished with a mysterious maelstrom near Antarctica. This subject matter exercised such a fascination on the public that Jules Verne had earlier penned a sequel as well in 1897, The Sphinx of the Ice Fields, which continues Poes narrative.46 Verne had already envisioned the ruins of an undersea Atlantis in TwentyThousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870). During the late twentieth century, scientific researchers in Antarctica made multiple announcements of their discoveries through ice core samples of ancient tropical flora and fauna during a period ranging from 250 million years ago to as recent as 3 million years ago. Evidence of running rivers in Antarctica has been found as late as 4000 BCE.47 In 2004, satellite imagery revealed the existence of Lake Vostok beneath the ice in Antarctica, approximately the size of Lake Ontario in North America, and still fluid.48 These discoveries have only fueled the hopes that at last, in our most remote continent, Atlantis could be found.

View of the Port of Sindree after the Earthquake (1838). From Ignatius Donnelly,s Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882). From the Rosicrucian Library Collection

Unusual Maps Add Evidence for Atlantis Several writers, including Charles Berlitz, the scion of the language education empire of the same name, who is also a popular author on unsolved mysteries around the world, suggested the identification of Atlantis with

Antarctica.49 One of the most interesting clues in this area is the mysterious Piri Reis Map. Discovered in 1929 in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, it has been authenticated as a navigational map by the wellknown Turkish Admiral Piri Reis, drawn in 1513 from a number of other maps he had available to him, according to his own testimony.50

The PiriReis map from the Topkapi Palace in Turkey (1513), purportedly showing Antarctica.

The Piri Reis Map shows parts of the western coastline of Africa and the eastern coast of South America. More controversially, it also appears to show the outlines of Antarctica, several centuries before the accepted discovery of Antarctica in 1820. Since ancient times, cartographers posited a southern landmass to balance the northern continents of Europe and Asia; however, modern theorists and researchers Charles Hapgood and Gavin Menzies have argued that the map represents accurate seafaring knowledge of either preClassical Western (Hapgood) or Chinese (Menzies) mariners,51 from whose maps Piri Reis gleaned the information about Antarctica. Both theories are widely dismissed by academic scholars but are very popular among alternate historians;52 and so the mystery persists. All of these pieces of evidence combined have inspired the most persistent and

thorough advocates of an Antarctic Atlantis in the latter twentieth and early twentyfirst centuries: Rand and Rose FlemAth and Colin Wilson.53 One of their major pieces of evidence is based on Charles Hapgoods theory of the Earth Crust Displacement,54 which holds that the earths crust and the poles can and do shift. Under this approach, Antarctica was once 2000 miles north of its present position. Mainline geologists do not generally support this theory, even though Hapgoods first book is graced by a forward by Albert Einstein, who thought enough of the theory to discuss it seriously. With the work of the FlemAths and Colin Wilson, we have a synthesis and evolution of the theories of James Churchward, Charles Hapgood, and a century of alternate historians and archaeologists. As the publisher of The Atlantis Blueprint put it, this is a spellbinding blend of history and science, scholarship and speculation.55 In fact, this theory has opened the door for the newest approach to the Atlantis Mythos. Popularized by journalist and alternate researcher, Graham Hancock, and several allies, including Robert Bauval, John Anthony West, and geologist Robert Schoch, a new, comprehensive approach emerged at the dawn of the twentyfirst century. This highly synthetic scenario builds on the work of von Dechend and Santillanas Hamlets Mill,56 which argues that myth can and often does encode scientific and historical truths. A Planetary Cataclysm Destroys a WorldWide Civilization Incorporating themes from much of alternate archaeology since Ignatius Donnelly and Le Plongeon, together with modern archaeological discoveries, Hancock and others suggest that the Flood stories which exist in so many world cultures actually point to a cataclysmic event which took place approximately 12,500 years ago. This destruction obliterated a worldwide maritime civilization which is the basis of our myths of the golden age: Atlantis, Lemuria,
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and many others. According to these researchers, the cultures which arose around the world beginning anywhere from 10,000 5,000 years ago, are the suvivors and inheritors of the great antediluvian planetary civilization; and the memory of that society, and of its destruction, is encoded into myth, religion, and architecture in each of these cu l t u r e s . Un d e r w a t e r archaelogy is a cornerstone of the worldwide theory, and new discoveries of evidence for the ancient civilization are predicted using undersea and satellite technology.57 Controversy and Support for this Comprehensive Atlantis Theory

and catastrophes such as meteor strikes, vulcanism, and the like. Only time will tell, but it may be that here, myth and science will finally establish an equilibrium and harmony, finally finding Atlantis and our lost history. Rosicrucians and mystics of all traditions, as well as pychologists and literary scholars, know that the questing journey may very well be as important as the object sought. It may be that the desire to find Atlantis has been deeply implanted in us for a reason. Tolkeins Use of the Atlantis Archetype

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Beyond the Western Seas, the title of this essay, is an epithet for one of Professor J. These theories have been widely attacked R. R. Tolkiens great divine or angelic spirits, by mainstream scholars, and there have been the Vala Varda, also known as Elbereth, who several highly publicized controversies during is Queen Beyond the Western Seas.59 the last few years. Graham Hancocks website Tolkien too had his own version of the is very useful for keeping up with the entire Atlantis story, which he tells in Akallabth, burgeoning field, and its Forum Section one of the sections of his posthumously includes many genuinely useful essays by published Silmarillion.60 numerous authors.58 To his credit, Hancock Nminor, or Westernesse, was the great includes legitimate critiques of his own books western isle prepared especially for humans by and productions. Through the haze of the the great creative beings, the Valar. Nminor academic battles, it appears that the first steps prospered for many years until humanity on toward a rapprochement between academic this blessed island was seduced by Sauron, science and alternative approaches may be who, thousands of years later, was the Dark gradually emerging. Lord in The Lord of the Rings. He convinced The advantage of such a comprehensive the Nminoreans to mount a naval assault on theory is that one need not feel the need the Undying Lands to their West where Varda to pick one site over another. Atlantis was queen; and in so doing, their whole island was sunk, and the exiles may be considered to be were sent back to the a mythically encoded The advantage of such a shores of Middle Earth. word for the whole comprehensive theory is that After this, the world was of this antediluvian one need not feel the need to changed, made round, civilization. However, it pick one site over another. and no longer had direct might also have been the Atlantis may be considered to access to the lands of the capital or major center be a mythically encoded word Valar. Only the Elves of such a society; and as for the whole of this had access to the more evidence turns up, antediluvian civilization. straightroad that could Platos location may be take them from this found, just as Homers world to the next. Troy was. The theory does not depend on sinking continents or On one level, the tale told in Akallabth earth crust displacement, but the known and is a creative reworking of the Atlantis Mythos, accepted rise and fall of sea level due to ice ages, integrating it into Tolkiens immense cosmic
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vision. However, it may point us to something more. In Tolkiens world, to look to the Western Seas is both to mourn Nminor (Atlantis) in its greatness and its fall, and also to seek the Undying Lands, the source and destiny of all being. Thus the quest for Atlantis is not only a historical search, but a journey to find our own meaning, our source, and our goal. Academic Scholars Doubt Platos Intent Many traditional classical scholars share the approach of Dr. Julia Annas of the University of Arizona, who steadfastly refuses to consider the possibility that Platos story might have any historicity: The continuing industry of discovering Atlantis illustrates the dangers of reading Plato; for he is clearly using what has become a standard device of fiction: stressing the historicity of an event (and the discovery of hitherto unknown authorities) as an indication that what follows is fiction. The idea is that we should use the story to examine our ideas of government and power. We have missed the point if instead of thinking about these issues, we go off exploring the sea bed. The continuing misunderstanding of Plato as historian here enables us to see why his distrust of imaginative writing is sometimes justified.61 In so doing, scholars can fall into the same error that Plato himself does from time to time when he mistrusts the imagination. It is precisely our faculty of visualization that is being called into play with the Atlantis Mythos. The quest for Atlantis impels us to seek our source and exercise our power of subcreation. If Atlantis were not real, we would be forced to create it. And perhaps we have. In the intricate, demanding, and challenging novel Foucaults Pendulum, Umberto Eco weaves the story of a group of journalists who create a history linking the Knights Templar to modern manifestations. And then, this history begins to manifest in reality.62

The Atlantean Quest Remains a Treasure for Us and the 21st Century The Quest for Atlantis has kept us searching for thousands of years for our lost heritage. In the process, we have found a world of priceless archaeology and history. We have discovered things about Crete, Malta, the Canary Islands, the Azores, Bolivia, and a myriad other locations throughout the world because we wanted to find lost civilizations. Today, we are on the verge of discovering even more through underwater archaeology and satellites that can aid in scanning under the vast deserts of the planet and identify features we miss by being too close. As we search, we find out more about the Primordial Tradition, the source of all human wisdom, and the goal toward which it beckons: union with Being itself. Just as Tolkiens Middle Earth dwellers gazed out upon the Western Sea to ponder the fate of Nminor, and in so doing, went beyond the western seas to dream of the Undying Lands and the origin and goal of all being, so too we are drawn to this goal through our search for Atlantis. Atlantis will be foundif not today, then tomorrowand many other wonders on the journey, as well. Our divine creativity is too great to fail. We may feel empowered in both the quest and the creation as expressed by Professor Tolkien speaking for the Divine within us: So great is the bounty with which we have been treated that we may now, perhaps, fairly dare to guess that in Fantasy we may actually assist in the effoliation and multiple enrichment of creation. All tales may come true; and yet, at the last redeemed, they may be as like and as unlike the forms that we give them as Humanity, finally redeemed, will be like and unlike the fallen that we know.63 May the desire to find Atlantisand our own origin and destinynever cease until we finally find our way beyond the western seas.
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Ronald D. Moore, Family, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4, Episode 2 (October 1, 1990).
2

atlantisiberia/release_news.htm.
15

Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, Lost City, Stargate SG 1, Season 7, Episodes 2122 (March 12 and March 19, 2004).
3

Sergio Frau, Atlantik: al di l delle prime Colonne dErcole (Rome: NurNeon, 2004).
16

http://www.stargateatlantis.com/ and http://www.scifi. com/atlantis/.

Eberhard Zangger, The Flood from Heaven: Deciphering the Atlantis Legend. Foreword by Anthony Snodgrass. (New York: W. Morrow, 1992).
17

These summaries are greatly indebted to the anonymous authors at Atlantis, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis and Location Hypotheses of Atlantis, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Location_ hypotheses_of_Atlantis.
5

Location Hypotheses of Atlantis, Wikipedia, http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Location_hypotheses_of_Atlantis; and Atlantis, http://www.cyberdh.com/atlan/home.htm.

Santorini History, http://www.go2santorini.com/ history.html.

Jaime Manuschevich, La Atlntida fue una Realidad, http:// www.laatlantida.cl/index.htm.

The discrepancy in dating is due to a conflict between the carbon dating (16301600 BCE) and the archaeological record (which suggests 1500 BCE). See Thera Eruption, Wikipedia, http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thera_eruption. See also Sturt W. Manning, A Test of Time: The Volcano of Thera and the Chronology and History of the Aegean and East Mediterranean in the Mid Second Millennium BC (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1999); and a companion site by Dr. Manning, http://www.arts.cornell.edu/Classics/Faculty/ SManning_files/testoftime.pdf.
7

Hubert and Dagmar Zeitlmair, MaltaDiscovery, http:// www.maltadiscovery.com/v3/eng/index.html. For the connection of Malta, Atlantis, and Girogio Grongnet de Vass, see Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grongnet. For other Malta/Atlantis theories, see http://farshores.org/ a03at1.htm; Francis Galea, Malta fdal Atlantis (Valletta, Malta: Agius & Agius, 2002); and the work of Anton Mifsud, Simon Mifsud, Chris Agius Sultana, and Charles Savona Ventura (cf. Duncan Edlin, A Review of Underworld, The O f f i c i a l Gr a h a m H a n c o c k We b s i t e , h t t p : / / w w w. grahamhancock.com/underworld/review6.php).
20

Minoan Crete, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Minoan_Crete.

Spyridon Nikolaou Marinatos, Crete and Mycenae. Photos by Max Hirmer. (New York: H. N. Abrams, 1960); Some Words About the Legend of Atlantis, (Athens: Rhodi Brothers, 1969); and Life and Art in Prehistoric Thera, Proceedings of the British Academy 57 (1972).
9

Angelos Georgiou Galanopoulos and Edward Bacon, Atlantis: The Truth Behind the Legend (Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1969).
10

For research on Adalusia and Tartessos, see: Rainer W. Khne,Location and Dating of Atlantis, http://www. beepworld.de/members62/rwk_atlantis/; A Location for Atlantis? Antiquity 78, no 300 (June 2004); Georgeos Diaz Montexano, La Atlantida De Platon Teorias Cientificas, http://www.antiquos.com/index.html; and Francisco Borja Barrera, Tartessos: 25 Aos Despus, 19681993 (Jerez de la Frontera, 1995).
21

Jan Driessen,The Archaeology of Aegean Warfare, 1120; Keith Branigan, The Nature of Warfare in the Southern Aegean During the Third Millennium B.C., 8794; Paul Rehak, The Mycenaean Warrior Goddess Revisited, 227 240; Cheryl Floyd, Observations on a Minoan Dagger from Chrysokamino, 433442; all in Robert Laffineur, ed. Polemos: Le Contexte Guerrier en Egee a LAge du Bronze. Actes de la 7e Rencontre egeenne internationale Universite de Liege, 1998 (Liege: Universite de Liege, 1999). Series: Histoire de lart darcheologie de la Grece antique.
11

Jeremy B. Rutter, Evidence for Human Sacrifice, Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean, http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/ classics/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/15.html#19.
12

For further research on the areas of Britain and Ireland and the North Sea and the Celtic Shelf, see: Paul Dunbavin, Atlantis of the West: the Case for Britains Drowned Megalithic Civilization (New York : Carroll & Graf, 2003); Russians Seek Atlantis Off Cornwall, BBC News, http://news.bbc. co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/43172.stm; Ulf Erlingsson, Atlantis From A Geographers Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land (Miami: Lindorm Pub., 2004); Juergen Spanuth, Atlantis of the North (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1980); and Dan Crisp, Atlantis was a Real Place, Part 3, The Official Graham Hancock Website, http://www.grahamhancock.com/ underworld/CrispDanAtlantis.php?p=3. The Celtic Bank theory was first advanced by Lewis Spence in his several works on Atlantis, including The Problem of Atlantis (London: William Rider & Son, 1924); and The History of Atlantis (1927; repr., Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2003).
22

Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Religion: Ritual, Image, and Symbol (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1993), 114.
13

Frederick Spencer Oliver, A Dweller on Two Planets, or, The Dividing of the Way by Phylos the Thibetan (Los Angeles: Baumgardt Publishing Company, 1905; Borden Publishing Company, 1980). Citations are to the Baumgardt edition. Text available free online at Internet Sacred Text Archive, http://www.sacredtexts.com/atl/dtp/index.htm.
14

RIN.ru, The Mysterious Origin of the Guanches, Unexplained, http://istina.rin.r u/eng/ufo/text/243. html; SA: Guanches, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia. o r g / w i k i / G u a n c h e s ; T h e P y r a m i d s o f G m a r, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramids_of_ G%C3%BC%C3%ADmar; and The Pyramids of Gmar, Foundation for Exploration & Research on Cultural Origins. Website founded by Thor Heyerdahl, at http://www.ferco.org/ferco_pyramids.html.
23

Rosicrucian Digest No. 2 2006

Raising A Legend: Atlantis, the Fabled Lost Continent Chronicled by Plato, Has Been FoundAgain and Again, Time Magazine European Edition, Nov 29, 2004, http://www.time. com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901041129 785322,00.html; Jacques CollinaGirard, LAtlantide et Gibralter, http://www.futurasciences.com/comprendre/d/ dossier5491.php; and Georgeos DiazMontexano, Atlantis in Gibralter, between Iberia and Africa, http://usuarios.lycos.es/ Page 46

Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 6:37, http://www.perseus. tufts.edu/cgibin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.01 37&query=head%3D%23269.

Ignatius Donnelly, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (New York: Harper, 1882).
25 Nikollai Feodosevich Zhirov, Atlantis; Atlantology:Basic Problems,

trans. David Skvirsky (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1970).

26

Christian OBrien and Barbara Joy OBrien, The Shining Ones (Kemble, Cirencester, Glos.: Dianthus Publishing, 1997).
27

43

Gregory Little, Lora Little, and John Van Auken, Edgar Cayces Atlantis (Virginia Beach, VA: A.R.E. Press, 2006).
28

Greg Little, More Adventures With Bimini Beachrock: Remarkable Blunders in a Purported Scholarly Report Debunking the Bimini Stones, Alternate Perceptions Magazine, no. 86, (December 2004), http://www.mysteriousamerica.net/ biminibeachrock.html.
29

Jim Allen, Historic Atlantis in Bolivia, Thoth Web, http:// www.thothweb.com/content324.html; Atlantis: The Andes Solution, Historic Atlantis in Bolivia (September 2004), http:// www.geocities.com/webatlantis/; and Jim Allen, Atlantis: The Andes Solution: The Discovery of South America as the Legendary Continent of Atlantis. Foreword by John BlashfordSnell. (New York: St. Martins Press, 1999).
44

Andrew Collins, Gateway to Atlantis: The Search for the Source of a Lost Civilization. Introduction by David Rohl. (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2000).
30

Arysio Santos, Atlantis: The Lost Continent Finally Found (Atlantis Publications, 2005); and Location Hypotheses of Atlantis, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Location_ hypotheses_of_Atlantis.
45

Zoltan Simon, Atlantis: The Seven Seals (North Vancouver: Robinson Crusoe Enterprises, 1984); and Forbidden World History (North Vancouver: Robinson Crusoe Enterprises, 1999).
31

Charles C. Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006).
32

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels. Selected by August Derleth. Edited by S.T. Joshi. Introduction by James Turner. (1964; Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1985); and At the Mountains of Madness. Introduction by China Miville. Definitive edition. (repr., New York: Modern Library, 2005).
46

R. J. Haas Shady and W. Creamer, Dating Caral, a Preceramic Site in the Supe Valley on the Central Coast of Peru, Science 292 (2001): 723726; and Peruvian Government Special Archaeological Supe Project, Caral Supe: The Oldest Civilization of America, http://www.caralperu.gob.pe/.
33

Edgar Allan Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, ed. and trans. Harold Beaver. With an introduction and commentary, including Jules Vernes sequel Le Sphinx des Glaces (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975); and Jules Verne, Le Sphinx des Glaces (Paris: J. Hetzel et cie, 1897).
47

Edward Herbert Thompson, Atlantis: Not a Myth, Popular Science Monthly, (1879); and Edward Herbert Thompson, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Herbert_ Thompson.
34

Could Atlantis Still Exist? h2g2, British Broadcasting Corporation, http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A462403.

Antarcticas Lake Vostok Has Two Distinct Parts, Spacedaily: Your Daily Portal to Space, http://www.spacedaily.com/news/ antarctic04g.html.
49

Augustus Le Plongeon, Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx (New York: published by the Author, 1896); Vestiges of the Mayas, or, Facts tending to prove that communications and intimate relations must have existed, in very remote times, between the inhabitants of Mayab and those of Asia and Africa (New York: J. Polhemus, 1881); Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and the Quiches, 11,500 years ago. Their relation to the sacred mysteries of Egypt, Greece, Chaldea and India. Free Masonry in times anterior to the Temple of Solomon (repr., Minneapolis, Wizards Bookshelf, 1973); and The Origin of the Egyptian. Reface by Manly P. Hall. (repr., Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, 1983).
35

Charles Berlitz, The Mystery of Atlantis (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1969); and Atlantis, the Eighth Continent (New York: Putnam, 1984).
50

A. Afetinan, Life and Works of Pir Reis: The Oldest Map of America (Ankara: 1975); Gregory C. McIntosh, The Piri Reis Map of 1513 (Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2000); and Joseph M. Richardson, The Piri Reis Map Project, Civil Engineering, Kigali Institute of Science, Rwanda, http://www.prep.mcneese.edu/engr/ engr321/preis/piri_r~1.htm.
51

L. G. Desmond, Augustus Le Plongeon: A Fall from Archaeological Grace, ed. A. B. Kehoe and M. B. Emmerichs, Assembling the Past: Studies in the Professionalization of Archaeology (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999) 8190; and Augustus Le Plongeon, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Augustus_Le_Plongeon.
36

Western theory: Charles H. Hapgood, Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age (rev., New York: Dutton, 1979); Chinese theory: Gavin Menzies, 1421: The Year China Discovered America (New York: Perennial, 2004).
52 53

The Piri Reis Map, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Piri_Reis_map. Rand FlemAth and Rose FlemAth, When the Sky Fell: in Search of Atlantis. Introduction by Colin Wilson (New York: St. Martins Press, 1995); and Colin Wilson, and Rand FlemAth, The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Longlost Civilization (New York: Delacorte Press, 2001). Wilsons other Atlantis related work includes: Colin Wilson, Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals: 100,000 Years of Lost History (Rochester, VT: Bear & Co., 2006); and From Atlantis to the Sphinx (New York: Fromm International Pub., 1997), http://www.flemath.com/.
54

James Churchward, The Lost Continent of Mu (1926); The Children of Mu (1931); The Sacred Symbols of Mu (1933); Cosmic Forces of Mu (1934); Second Book of Cosmic Forces of Mu (1935); and Books of the Golden Age (1927). All now available in reprint editions.
37

Ignatius Donnelly, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882); and Lewis Spence, Atlantis in America (London: E. Benn, 1925).
38 39

Oliver, A Dweller on Two Planets. See note 13.

A Dweller on Two Planets, Sacred Texts, http://www.sacred texts.com/atl/dtp/index.htm.

Fiona Eunice Wait, Yermah the Dorado (San Francisco: W. Doxey, 1897).
41

J.H. Thamer, Zada or Looking Forward. Serialized in The Mystic Triangle December 1925March 1927, vols 3:12 5:2. (Tampa: Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC, 19251927).
42

Charles H. Hapgood, The Path of the Pole (Philadelphia: Chilton Book, 1970). Revised edition of Earths Shifting Crust: A Key to Some Basic Problems of Earth Science. With the collaboration of James H. Campbell. Foreword by Albert Einstein. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1958).
55

W. S. Cerve [H. Spencer Lewis], Lemuria, The Lost Continent of the Pacific. With a special chapter by James D. Ward. (San Jose, CA: Rosicrucian Press, AMORC College, 1931).

Publisher Description for The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Longlost Civilization, Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/random0415/00047449.html.
56

Giorgio De Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, Hamlets Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time (Boston: Gambit, 1969). Page 47

57

To explore this theory, the following will be helpful: Graham Hancock, Heavens Mirror: Quest for the Lost Civilization (New York: Crown Publishers, 1998); Graham Hancock, Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003); Robert M. Schoch and Robert Aquinas McNally, Voices of the Rocks: A Scientist Looks at Catastrophes and Ancient Civilizations (New York: Harmony Books, 1999); Voyages of the Pyramid Builders: The True Origins of the Pyramids, from Lost Egypt to Ancient America (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2003); and Pyramid Quest: Secrets of the Great Pyramid and the Dawn of Civilization (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2005).
58

60

J. R. R. Tolkien, Akallabth in The Silmarillion, ed. Christopher Tolkien (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977), 259304.
61 62

Julia Annas, Plato: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 42. Umberto Eco, Foucaults Pendulum, trans. William Weaver (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989).
63

The Official Graham Hancock Website, http://www. grahamhancock.com/ .

Snowwhite! Snowwhite! O Lady clear! / O Queen beyond the Western Seas! / O Light to us that wander here / Amid the world of woven trees! Elven Hymn to Elbereth (Varda), J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966) 88.

Adapted from J. R. R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories, Tree and Leaf, including the Poem Mythopoeia (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988), 66. Tolkien also takes up this theme poetically in Mythopoeia, as a response to C. S. Lewis: Man, Sub creator, the refracted Light / through whom is splintered from a single White / to many hues, and endlessly combined / in living shapes that move from mind to mind. / Though all the crannies of the world we filled / with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build / Gods and their houses out of dark and light, / and sowed the seed of dragons twas our right / (used or misused), that right has not decayed. / We make still by the law in which were made. Tolkien, Mythopoeia, Tree and Leaf, 9899.

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