Guest Author - Jaide Norman

Did the continent of Atlantis really exist? If so where is it today? Why did it disappear? How do we know it existed at all? There are a few questions people have asked for thousands of years. The theory of Atlantis began with 2 lectures given my Plato, Timaeus and Critias. These are the first written record of a civilization named Atlantis. The dialogues are conversations between Socrates, Hermocrates, Timeaus, and Critias. If you can get a copy of these dialogues, I highly recommend reading them. According to Activemind.com:

“The story is about the conflict between the ancient Athenians and the Atlantians 9000 years before Plato's time. Knowledge of the distant past apparently forgotten to the Athenians of Plato's day, the story of Atlantis was conveyed to Solon by Egyptian priests. Solon passed the tale to Dropides, the great-grandfather of Critias. Critias learned of it from his grandfather also named Critias, son of Dropides.”

Most tales tell of a society that existed over 11,000 years ago. The island is said to have been located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (hence the name, Atlantis) but this has been debated for thousands of years. It was reported by Socrates dialogues that Atlantis was created by Poseidon, God of the Sea. He fell in love with a mortal woman, as most Greek and Roman Gods did, named Cleito. He created a place for her to live on the island that was surrounded by many rings of water. Cleito gave birth to 5 sets of twin boys who were the first rulers of Atlantis.

The Atlanteans have always been described as advanced being with technology and knowledge beyond their time. It has also been speculated that they weren’t humans like you and I are today. They were a more highly evolved human. Some have even speculated that they were aliens that settled here on Earth. They have also been described as beautiful and handsome. So what caused the demise of these “great” people?

The Atlanteans supposedly lived very simple and virtuous lives for thousands of years. They became greedy and power hungry. Zeus, the Father of all Gods, saw how the Atlanteans were becoming. He gathered all the other Gods and it was decided they could no longer allow the Atlanteans to carry on the way they were. There were earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and storms. In one giant surge of the ocean, it was gone. Atlantis was washed away forever. Or so it is said.