Atlantis is first mentioned in Plato’s
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| Atlantis is first mentioned in Plato’s Timaeus and Critias. Plato said that the Greek politician and poet Solon learned Atlantis legend from Sais priests (p. 29). Atlantis was in front of the Pillar of Heracles (the Strait of Gibraltar) nine thousand years before Solon. The time was approximately in 9570BC. Atlantis was an island which is larger than “Libya and Asia put together.” (Timaeus). Atlantis invaded Athens but failed. Atlantis “occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune”(Timaeus). In Critias, Atlantis was portrayed a rich country with many resources. The buildings were beautiful and decorated with precious metal and the city was well designed. However, most people think that Atlantis is a story because they don’t believe that there is a highly-developed civilization in 9570 BC.
There are still people believes Atlantis trying to find out where it is. American politician and writer Ignatius Donnelly thinks that Atlantis had existed. He pointed out some similarities between old continent (before Colombo discover the new land) and new continent (after Colombo discover the new land) (p32). For example, the pyramids are found not only in Egypt but in Middle America. Atlantis civilization could explain the reason because all ancient civilization derived from Atlantis (p. 34). However, there are still some arguments against Donnelly’s assumption. Some people say the shapes of two pyramids are different. The top of Egypt’s pyramids are acute but those in Middle America are flat. The other problem is if the pyramids are from Atlantis, we probably find pyramids in west Europe or North Africa but we can not any pyramids or something like pyramids in these areas ( p. 34). Another hypothesis is Minoan civilization in the Crete Island. Some similarities are proved that Minoan civilization is Atlantis. According to Greek archeologist Spyridon Marinatos, the collapse of Minoan culture arose from massive volcano eruption and tsunamis (p. 38). He also thinks that the destruction of Minoan leads to the destruction of Atlantis. The ox sacrafice is another example. The ox was captured by ropes and sticks in Atlantis (Critias). The Minoan supporters take a Minoan cup with a picture about capturing oxen which captured by webs and ropes (p. 40). However, the ox worship is common in the ancient Mediterranean area (p. 41). Moreover, most people believed that the Thera volcano eruption did not totally devastate Minoan and it may just destroy the economy (p. 42). However, there is still a mystery to Minoan civilization destruction. Thus, the Minoan civilization is not the answer to Atlantis. Although there are many places claimed to be the location of Atlantis, so far, there has no “real” Atlantis found and be proved. The Atlantis is still a mystery that awaits to be answered. Reference 彼得．詹姆斯(Peter James)、尼克．索普(Nick Thorpe)著，樊新志、陳小葵譯：圖話古文明之旅〔台北:世潮出版有限公司，2003〕頁27-42 Plato, . "Timaeus." Classics in the History of Psychology . York University, Toronto, Ontario, n.d. Web. 17 May 2010. Plato, . "Critias." The Internet Classics Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2010. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 6.31 Kb. Share with your friends:
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