<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11 ... tis.ap/</a>
Now that's interesting....</div>
Now that's interesting....</div>
<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>They got the legend of Atlantis wrong, it wasn't described as being in the "Western Sea", it was described as being beyond the pillars of Hercules, the size of Libya and Asia combined, and conquered all of Greece except for Athens. It also existed 9,000 years before Plato's time, the Atlantians shared the same religion as the Greeks did.
There are a few problems with the information:
1) Beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the only landmass the size of Libya and Asia (which would be Asia Minor) is North America. There is no record of any civilization that worshipped the same Gods as the Greeks on the continent, though it is strange how some of the ancient peoples of this continent did share Gods strikingly similar to the Egyptians.
2) 9,000 years before Plato's time, was the stone age; and several thousand years before Athens existed.
3) The Civilization of Athens itself is only about 2800 years old, the oldest ruins in the area is a Neolithic Hill Fort dating to about 2500 BC. So any conflict between Atheneans and Atlantians could not have occured before 9000 BC.
4) Timaeus is not a person that there is any other record of, and Critias was Plato's great grandfather. The dialogue which plato recorded between those two (which is the description of Atlantis) was probably made up; Aristotle claimed that Plato made up Atlantis; Aristotle being a student of Plato and also the most influential philosopher in Western Civilization's history. The description came about as part of a discussion on Utopian civilizations (according to Plato) between Tinaeus and Critias, along with Socrates which were based off of the words of a traveller from Egypt by the name of Solon 200 years prior.
It is commonly believed that Atlantis was a fictional location based off of Greece's rivals and enemies. The Minoan Civilization (Knossos), was a highly prosperous Sea faring civilization that had its downfall about 1000 years before the time of Plato. Athens had been a city within the Mycenaen Greek Civilization (the ones who warred the Trojans). The Mycenaen Greeks were defeated by the Dorians who conquered everything except Athens (similar to what happened in Plato's legend).
I wonder if 2-3000 years from now if people will think that Middle Earth was an actual historical period?</div>
