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Atlantis, real or idea,

legend, myth and mystery

or hidden and missing history.

For every 2,000 years mankind

has grappled with the question,

"What was Atlantis?"

From great sea power of ancient times

to idealistic Utopia,

from pawn of Nazi propaganda

to home of ancient aliens,

the full way to view an imagination

has been brought to bear

on the mystery that is Atlantis.

Who do we believe?

What is the evidence?

Where did it all begin?

Where and when will it end?

It's time to break apart the myth

and reveal the hard evidence

and discover Atlantis.

What does the word itself mean,

and where did it originate?

Two small dialogues, called Timaeus and Critias

written by the Greek philosopher, Plato

in around 360 BC first mentioned Atlantis.

It is named after the Greek Titan god, Atlas

who holds of the world on his shoulders.

Atlantis is the island of Atlas.

The following is Plato's account

when speaking to the Athenians.

For these histories tell of a mighty power

which unprovoked, made an expedition

against the whole of Europe and Asia

and to which your city put an end.

This power came forth after the Atlantic ocean

for in those days, the Atlantic was navigable

and there was an island situated

in front of the straits,

which all by you called the Pillars of the Heracles.

The island was larger than Libya and Asia put together.

Almost the weight of all the islands.

From this, you might pass to the hole

of the opposite continent,

which surrounded the true ocean.

For this sea,

which is within the straits of Heracles

is only a harbor, having a narrow entrace,

but that harbor is a real sea

and the surrounding land maybe most truly cold

abound this continent.

Now, in this island of Atlantis

there was a great and powerful empire,

which had ruled over the whole island

and several others and other parts of the continent

and furthermore the men of Atlantis had subjected

the parts of Libya within their columns of Heracles

as far as Egypt

and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.

This vast power gathered into war

endeavored to subdue to blow our country and jewels

and the whole of the region within the straits

and then so on, your country shone forth,

and in the excellence of their virtue and strength

among all mankind,

she was pre-imminent in courage and military skill,

and was the leader of the [inaudible],

and when the rest fell off from her,

being compelled to stand alone

after having under gone the very extremitive danger

she defeated and triumph over the invaders

and preserve from slavery

those who were not yet subjegated

and generously liberated all the rest of us

who dwelled within the pillars.

But afterwards,

there occurred violent earthquakes and floods

and in a single day and night of misfortune

all your war like men and their bodies

sunk into the earth

and the island of Atlantis in like manner

disappeared into the depths of the sea,

for which reason the sea in those parts

is impossible and inpenetrable

because there is a shoal of mud in the way

and this was caused by the subtances of the island.

According to Plato,

Atlantis was a great land and sea power

situated in front of the pillars of Heracles.

This great power had existed 9,000 years before Plato.

That's about 11,000 years ago.

'Cause it conquered much of Europe and Africa,

however, when they intend to do invade Athens,

the island sunk into the ocean

in a single day and night of misfortune.

From the moment Plato put pen to paper,

Atlantis became a mystery of debate on all levels.

From the idea to actually it existed

to the concept of it being a Utopian dream.

In the middle ages,

and later periods,

humanists and Renaissance writers

turned Atlantis into the allegorical heaven on Earth.

By the 19th century,

it was turning back to a very real possibility,

that it had existed and indeed still may.

One thing is sure,

the idea of Atlantis has inspired

the imagination of countless individuals

throughout the centuries

and still does.

To academics, the tale is one of many myths,

woven into Plato's works

for purely stylistic reasons.

He was conceptualizing the ideal state,

just as he did so in the Republic.

He introduces Atlantis by an older story

to give accredance.

In Critias, Plato tells the tale

of Solemn visiting in Egypt.

Their he met a priest called Cez,

who relate the story of a war between

the ancient Athens and Atlantis.

Some say that real events may have influenced Plato,

such as the eruption of Santorini,

the invasion of the sea peoples

and even the Trojan war.

Most however, insisted Plato

created the story with Mayna inspiration

such as the failed Athenian invasion of Sicily.

Plato introduced the Atlantis first in Timaeus,

for it is related in our records,

how once upon a time your State

stayed the course of a mighty host,

which starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean

was insolently advancing to attack

the whole of Europe and Asia to boot.

For the ocean there was at that time navigable.

For infront of the mouth which you Greeks call

as you say, 'The Pillars of Heracles',

there lay an island which is larger

than Libya and Asia put together.

It was possible for the travellers of that time

to cross from it to the other islands

and from the islands to the whole of the continent

over against them,

which encompasses that veritable ocean.

For all that we have here

lying within the mouth of which we speak,

is evidently a haven having a narrow entrance,

but that yonder is a real ocean

under the land surrounding it

may most rightly be called in the fullest

and truest sense a continent.

Now, in this island of Atlantis,

there existed a confederation of kings,

of great and marvelous power

which held sway over all the island

and over many other islands also

and parts of the continent.

Timaeus begins with the creation and structure

of the universe as seen by Plato.

He discusses ancient civilizations

and muses about the ideal society.

He asked whether his friends might know any such place.

Critias answers that he knows

of a supposedly historical place

and events that surround it.

In this record, Athens was a perfect State,

with Atlantis in opposition.

It's being the opposite of perfect.

Critias states that the gods

divided the land amongst themselves and to Poisedon.

The god of the sea was given Atlantis.

Larger than Libya and Asia Minor combined,

it wasn't this tale to be soaked by an earthquake

turning into an impassable muddy shoal.

The Egyptians, he said,

described Atlantis as having mountains in the north,

being hundreds of miles across

made of numerous islands,

with the center island being around

half a mile in diameter.

It is probably important to understand the layout

and description of the island of Atlantis

because one thing is certain

Plato would never include such details on the wind.

Like many other myths,

the details could point to a real location

such as in the case of Troy

or refer to something like sacred geometry.

Looking at the other parts of the tale

may reveal a clue.

Poisedon had five pairs of male twins.

The eldest was Atlas.

And he was the king of the whole island and ocean,

now called the Atlantic.

His twin Gadeirus was given a part of the island near the Pillars of Heracles.

Poisedon carved the mountain where his love resided

into a palace.

He created three moats of increasing width.

His people, the Atlanteans

then built a series of bridges

from the mountain city for access.

The huge canal was dugged out to the sea

and tunnels into the rings of land for ships to pass.

Docks were carved directly into the massive rocks.

Each entrance have gates and towers

and walls surrounded each ring

made from red, white and black rocks.

These were covered in brass, tin and orichalcum.

Each of these stones have symbolic meaning.

Red for instance was a symbol of growth and decay.

Orichalcum is an old known metal used for armor.

There is an earlier account of Atlantis

written by Hellenicus of Lesbos,

there is very little in the fragment that exists

and this deals mainly with genealogy.

There is however a link between

a place called Syracuse

where Plato onced lived

in his account of Atlantis.

It has been shown to have a number of parallels

and physical layout and fortification.

Crantor, who studied on the one of Plato's students

and therefore from very close to Plato's in time

actually stated, he believed Atlantis to be real.

He wrote a commentary on Timaeus, which is now lost.

However, there is original report on it

from the fifth century.

This is what was written,

"Crantor also says that Plato's contemperaries

used to criticize him jokingly

from not being the inventor of his Republic,

but copying the institutions of the Egyptians.

Plato took these critiques seriously enough

to assign to the Egyptians the story about

the Athenians and Atlanteans.

So as to make them say that the Athenians

really once lived according to that system.

Crantor adds that this is testified

by the prophets of the Egyptians,

who observed that these particulars

are written on pillars which are still preserved.

The writer Proclus also said,

"We must bear in mind concerning this whole fate

of the Athenians,

that it is neither be a myth nor unadorned history.

Although some take it as history and others as myth

that's an island of such nature and size

once existed is evident from what is said

by certain authors, who investigated the things

around the outer sea.

For according to them,

there were seven islands in that sea in their time,

sacred to Persephone

and also three others of enourmous size

one of which was sacred to Hades,

another to Ammon and another one betwee them to Poisedon.

The extent of which was a thousand stadia,

and inhabitants of which, they add

preserved the remembrance from their ancestors

of the immeasurably large island of Atlantis,

which had really existed there

and for which many ages had reigned

over all islands in the Atlantic sea

and which itself had likewise been sacred to Poisedon.

Proclus was not alone in believing Atlantis to be real.

So too that the historians and philosophers

Strabo and Posidonius.

A few decades after Plato,

another writer by the name of Theopompus

spoken a land called Meropis.

Here a race of man grew twice the size of normal man,

an inhabitant two cities known

as Eusebes and Machimos

the Pious town and the Fighting town.

Most scholars believe that Theopompus

was in fact immitating or copying Plato

and those much of the detail has merged

with the mythology of Atlantis.

The next actual written work about Atlantis

comes from the historian Philo

in the first century AD.

He claims that the successor of Aristotle,

a man named Theophrastus said,

"And the island of Atlantis,

which was greater than Africa and Asia

as Plato say as in the Timaeus

in one day and night was overwhelmed beneath the sea,

in consequence of an extraordinary earthquake

and inundation and suddenly disappeared, becoming sea,

not indeed navigable but full of gulfs and eddies."

The Christian writer Tertullian said that,

"Atlantis was real,

and that was of equal size to Libya and Asia."

showing that he was familiar with Plato's description.

Another Christian, Arnobius said,

"The destruction of Atlantis

was due to their pagan ways."

Cosmas in the sixth century wrote,

"There is to westward an island--Atlantis,

lying out in the ocean,

in the direction of Cadiz,

of an enourmous magnitude

and relates that the ten kings

having procured mercenaries

from the nations in this island

came from the earth far away

and conquered Europe and Asia,

but were afterwards conquered by the Athenians.

Well, that island itself

was submerged by god under the sea."

Both Plato and Aristotle praised this philosopher

and Proclus who has written a commentary on him.

He himself expresses views similar to our own,

with some modifications,

transferring the scene of the events

from the east to the west.

Moreover, he mentions those ten generations

as well as that earth

which lies beyond the ocean.

And in a word, this is evident

that all of them borrow from Moses

and published his statements as their own.

This is interesting that Atlantis was being compared

with the Great Flood from the Bible.

A sudden destruction of populations

way back in antiquity

and only remembered now as legend.

Scientific evidence does show floods around the globe

with various times

and some have compared the tsumanis

caused by the eruption of Santorini

to the biblical flood.

In truth, it's maybe that other cultures

just wrote of this massive destruction

of an entire civilization

with different names and perspectives.

A Hebrew text from the 14th century

discussing calculations from longitude states,

"Some say that they begin at at the beginning

of the western ocean and beyond."

For in the earliest times,

there was an island in the middle of the ocean.

There was schoolars there

who isolated themselves in the pursuit of philosopy.

In their day, that was the beginning for measuring

the longitude of the inhabited world.

Today, it has become covered by sea.

From the 16th century onwards,

speculations surrounding Atlantis spread

and was new Europeans discoveries,

and the Americas is elsewhere

there was good reason to suggest

there might just be traces

of those great island somewhere.

It was in this era of speculation

that Sir Thomas More first uttered the name 'Utopia'.

It was a work inspired directly

by the tales of Atlantis

and accounts from travellers to far off lands.

This Utopia was situated in the new world

and indeed inspired many people to venture

across the Atlantic themselves.

Plato's description for massive continent,

married the size and scope with the new world

of the Americas.

So Francis Beacon continued this theme

in his work, The New Atlantis,

where his idealistic paradise

was situated of the western coast of America.

It was becoming popular belief

that Atlantis had indeed being based

upon stories of the Mayans and Aztecs civilizations.

It was an era of Grand Christianity,

an evidence from many of the old testament tales

was being sort out.

Europeans, so most indegenous people as inferior

and comforted themselves with the notions

that white man had built the massive structures

that were being found.

A common history between the tribe of Israel and Europeans,

so those people who've most have built

these pyramids and palaces.

This was all being brought into line

with the concepts of Atlantis

and gave them a satisfying explanation.

By the mid 19th century,

Meso-American schoolars were proposing officially

that Atlantis most relate to the Mayan in Aztec cultures.

It was stated that, "A tall test

with the surviving remnants of the Atlanteans

and the Aztecs decended from this.

So each ideas along with romantic drawings

postered the popular imagination

and soon a mixture of Egyptian,

Greek, man and Aztec imagery

was being created for a fantasy world

around the legend of Atlantis.

This is difficult today to understand the credence

that was given to support those.

We have modern Science,

geological surveys,

archeological digs,

post Rosetta Stone translations

of major historical texts are brought

and yet fail a detail to count of much of history.

Back in the 19th and early 20th century,

schoolars were still developing

the Science of historical research

and this included using a lot of imagination

to fill in the gaps.

One man, who successfully used his imagination

and strong will power to unlock an age old mystery,

was Heinrich Schliemann.

Ever since Homer had written down the story of Troy,

mankind had wondered how much of it was true?

When Schliemann discovered Troy,

the modern day Turkey

which was beleive to have been legend

the fire once again ignited for Atlantis.

Schoolars claimed to have discovered

the connection between the Greek and Mayan languages

and suddenly the gain was opened for all to play.

The writer Ignasius Donnelly try to prove

that all known civilizations

were descended from Atlantis.

He drew parallels between

the creation stories of various cultures

and stated that the true Garden of Eden

was really in Atlantis.

It was Donelly who inspired

a 19th century Atlantis revival

and began a march towards new age concepts of the ancients.

The world was about to be given

a whole new interpretation of the Atlantis myth

and an array of fanciful

and bizarre concepts emerged into the popular psyching.

The Theosophical Society would take it

to mold it and repackaged it

in the Secret Doctrine by Madame Blavatsky.

The book she claimed,

had been originally dictated

in Atlantis itself.

In the book, Blavatsky

completely ignored Plato's statement

that Atlantis was the opposite of pure and good,

instead she described them as cultural heros.

They were part of what she called a Root Race,

succeeded by her own Aryan Race.

The Theosophists claimed that Atlantis reached its peak

of civilization around one million years ago,

but it finally destroyed itself through the dangerous

use of psychic and supernatural powers.

There is absolutely no evidence

for any of the claims

other than their own self propessed psychic abilities

to communicate with the Atlanteans.

The merging of myths and the retelling

of the Atlantis legend

would eventually provide the Nazis

with one of the pretenses for their Aryan philosophy

which result in mass genocide.

In 1934, Julius Evola claimed

to that the Atlanteans were Nordic superman,

who had originally come from the North Pole

and others follow suit.

Then there comes Edgar Cayce,

he was a Kentucky, who claimed to have a psychic

powers and the ability to foretell the future

and heal the sick.

During his moments of insights

he would reveal that many of his followers

were in fact reborn Atlanteans

and by tapping into their collective unconsciousness

he could describe what Atlantis had been like.

Disappointing that one of his predictions

failed to come true,

that Atlantis would rise from

its watery grave in the 1960s.

Nevertheless, Cayce even after his death

still has thousands of followers

who still search for the Hall of Records

supposedly burried beneath the Sphinx in Egypt

and upon which are written the secrets of Atlantis.

This creative search surrounding Atlantis

is now in the populous psyche.

People see it as a home of advanced technology

of super human abilities, or perfection.

A powerful energy crystals mysterious magical ways

pushed to side any concepts of a real city state

inhabited by real people.

During the course of the 1960s and beyond

modern understanding of plate tectonics

and continental drift

has eroded such new age philosophers

and Science to cover.

Today, most schoolars

see the story of Atlantis

as a method of teaching,

breaking down Plato's writing methods

and Greek storytelling reveals

that he was in fact asking host

to examine their own culture, politics and government.

We have missed the point to those sight,

if we go off around the world

attempting to discover the lost continent.

Others still point to Schielmann

and how he actually found the city of legend

from Greek myth.

Remnants of the new age creation linger in films

and TV shows, on numerous websites

full of conspiracy theories in aliens

and dozens of speculative books,

but the Mainsteam schoolar

has on the whole come to terms

with the fact that Atlantis stated by Plato

never really existed.

But there are those like Schliemann

who remained outside of the Mainstream

and still search

and every few years a new theory emerges

and some of these even make it into our TV screens

with ball of flames how discovered the real Atlantis.

So where should we look?

Where is this ancient place?

Is it in the realm of thoughts and philospy?

Or is there a possibility

that it might have once existed like Troy?

There literally are dozens of hyphotetical locations

put forward by modern day explorers.

Some completely ignored Plato's works

and don't even look to Atlantic ocean.

A lot of the locations have similarities

to the Atlantis tale,

such as the catastrophic end,

water waves and existed close to the timeframe.

Most of the proposed locations forward

in the Mediterranean sea,

Sardinia, Crete, Sicily, Cyprus, Malta

and the most popular one, Santorini.

There are also ancient cities

that came on to the spotlight

such as Troy and Tantalus.

Our first part of call

is the most popular, Santorini.

Located in the Aegean,

it is today known as, Thera.

Many experts claimed that it was once the home

of ancient Minoan civilization from Crete.

Seen as wise and cultivated society.

It is easy to understand

how their map being seen as Atlanteans.

Like the people in Atlantis,

the Minoans worship the bull

and this has been used to link them together

but the problem remains that many cultures of that period

such as the Egyptians worship the bull as well.

In around the 16th century BC,

Santorini erupted

destroying the society completely.

It caused the massive tsunami

that also destroyed the Minoan society on Crete

and spread disaster far and wide

with flooding as far as Egypt.

It's speculated that this disaster

influence Plato in his storytelling.

But it is thousands of years too late

for it to be Atlantis.

However, some argued that Plato meant

900 years not 9,000

and that this was an error in translation.

This would also make Crete

roughly the same size as Atlantis.

And Crete too is a possible contender.

Farther a field, the Bosporus and Ancomah

and the Black Sea have been suggested,

but with very little acceptance.

Speculation, new aged psychic ideas,

Nazis propaganda, treasure hunters and more

and yet nobody has found the real hard evidence.

A television team,

working under professor Richard Freund

actually claimed to have found evidence for Atlantis,

in under Lucea.

It was their belief that Atlantis

had been destroyed by tsunami,

in the area previously destroyed

by Spanish scientists.

The team use a satellite imagery

of a suspected north city, north of Cadiz

and found what they believed

to be a multi reigned ancient demeanor.

They claimed that the citizens of Atlantis

fled to other cities and locations close by.

However, Spanish scientists have completely dismissed

the speculations calling the claims fanciful.

It has yet to be proven beyond doubt

to be the location for Atlantis.

The team were not alone in their claim however,

German researchers and historians have also stated

the area to be alike in location.

He claims center around the place called Tartessos

which was said to have been a basis for Plato's work

on Atlantis by some historians in the 1920s.

The writer, Herotesus stated

that he was situated beyond the Pillars of Hercules,

a statement Plato aslo used for Atlantis.

They traded widely and seen to have been wealthy.

A local port was built now known as Cadiz

and yet apart from the group professor

no other schoolars accept the claims.

Many look beyond the pillars of Hercules,

now known as the state of Gibraltar

and into the Atlantic ocean.

It has been claimed that Atlantis

was a northern European sunken island

such as Doggerland or Bergen island,

which was flooded by tsunami in around 6,100 BC.

Others have claimed Ireland to be Atlantis

with its mysterious history of mighty warriors.

The Canary and Madeira islands

have also been claimed due to their location,

just beyond the Mediterranean

but no evidence has been forth coming.

Various studies on the islands

includings their source and beneath ocean waves

have resulted in a compete lack of evidence.

Several other locations have been speculated upon

Antarctica,

the Carribbean

an the island near Cuba,

the Bahamas

and South America.

None of them have come anywhere near

the amounts of evidence required to prove

beyond doubt that they are indeed Atlantis.

There are number of more modern claims

that we most looked out,

such of the idea that Atlantis

had something to do with ancient aliens.

Before we do,

it's time to take a look at the few of the problems

with the original text from Plato.

Doing so will help us to be clear sighted

when listening to the claims of aliens and such.

Atlantis is such a bay beyond the pillars of Hercules

or modern day Gibraltar

and the sea is said to be impossible.

Unfortunately, nowhere in any historical text

is this stated,

"The sea has always been fine for shipping."

Atlantis is set to sunk

so does this rule out any islands

that is now viewable of the waves.

Plato said, his knowledge came from Sulla,

who himself learned it from the Egyptians

for well over 100 years archeologists and historians

been researching Egypt.

They have a lot of knowledge

and can even tell us what a particular pair

I ate for dinner,

and yet not one mentioned of Atlantis.

As there is no scientific backing

for channeled messages,

we have to reroute anything

from those who use them

including at good case, Madame Blavatsky.

This destroy such claims of tall highly intelligent

people who glow or have psychic powers.

If they did indeed exists,

then there would be a lot more historical

and archeological evidence for them

and Plato might have found such powers interesting

enough to include in his tale.

, What Plato did tell us is clear,

"Atlantis was huge."

Made of concentric rings of land and water

and situated beyond Gibraltar.

There is no argument with those statements

and yet no sunk and domain

the size of two countries has been spotted

beneath the waves of the Atlantic yet.

Modern satellite technology and geographical surveys

have revealed the floor of the Atlantic

as can been seen on Google Earth

and such a massive and unusual shape

would have been spotted.

One of the most used claims

that is completely false

is that the Atlanteans

were technologically advanced.

Plato mentions nothing of the sort.

These are all from psychics and new aged philosophers

speculating or chanelling.

There are no mentions of flying machines,

psychic powers, pyramids, lasers

or any other kind of Science fiction.

Again, if such things had existed 11,000 years ago

then other cultures and trading partners

would have mentioned,

the Egyptian certainly would.

It makes for great entertainment

and as indeed feed such a wonderful television shows

such as Stargate,

but it remains Science fiction.

Many of these early writers

who made fanciful claims for Atlantis

were racially oriented,

claiming that Mayans and Aztecs

were not capable of creating their own pyramids

and ground structures,

Science moved forward

and evidence overcame such bigger trend.

Today, similar claims are made

but instead of why its Europeans

or clever Egyptians

being the mind behind the mystery

it is said that the knowledge came from aliens.

However we address it up,

it's still racist invigorated

to assume ancient people could not build

land structures without outside intervention.

And yet, that is precisely what is being stated

on hundreds of websites

and in dozens of new age books,

"Atlantis was created by ancient aliens

who came here, spawned humanity, taught us

and for one reason or another

were eventually wiped out or left.

In the same breath this people claimed

the pyramids of Egypt are in fact

that half a million years old

and were wrapped in a protective substance for millenia.

This they claim is the reason

that so many similarities exist around

the world in structures, language and belief systems.

Well, they neglect to remember

is that mankind spread around the globe

from the same source.

That the sun, moon and stars and the sky deities

were seen by all man.

All mankind had the same needs.

The same evolutionary drives,

the same desire to meet their gods in the afterlife.

Similarities around the globe are all easily explained

through the similarities

and biological entity called human

and the environment in which he lives.

And this bring us to a very important point,

Plato when writing his Republic

or texts about Atlantis

was passing on a message to his all

about the god and bad, right and wrong,

about ways to set up a strong society

that understands the nature of man.

So many rules and regulations are created by humans

that forget the nature of the beast,

Atlantis and its downfall is an allegory

of what comes to all of those

who believed they are more than they are.

Plato was a teacher of man,

not all that is taught is literal fact.

Some teaching is better doing through fables.

It is always been this way.

The problem arises

when we start to believe a man really walks on water

and a virgin lady gave birth.

The same can be said of Atlantis in many respects.

Do we believe the writings of the man,

who claimed psychic connection

to the souls of Atlantis?

Do we accept how incredible technology,

crystals of power came thousands of years ago

in a spaceship,

sworn mankind and on?

Or do we look at was written,

the surrounding archeological discoveries

from the period,

the contemporary writings,

in short, the facts?

Hundreds of lives have been spent hunting

for the lost city, island or continent of Atlantis.

Some have deluded themselves,

some truly believe

and some attempted to delude others.

So, if we understand that Plato was creating the story

for the purpose of teaching

could it be that there was some kind of real story

upon which it was based?

Ignoring the timeline of 11,000 years ago

was there series of events that Plato stole

for his teaching device?

The answer is, maybe.

In the fifth century BC,

there existed a delicate balance of power

between Athens and Sparta,

much like that stated between Athens and Atlantis by Plato.

A surprized eartquake struck Sparta

killing more than 20,000 of them.

This demise in numbers made Sparta's neighbors

an indeed subjects

to begin what is known as the earthquake wars.

Sparta refused aid from Athens

and hostilities between began.

In 426 BC, one of the most destructive earthquakes

from antiquity struck Athens

with the following tsunamis causing chaos.

The Spartan army was camped nearby and ready to attack,

but more earthquakes forced them to flee.

An island called Atlantic

was the home to an Athenian port,

absolute chaotic destruction came

in the form of a massive sea wave.

There were many deaths

and the coastline was changed forever.

In the fourth century BC,

a peace treaty was finally struck,

but was quickly followed by yet another earthquake

destroying the cities of Hallek and Bora.

Hallek had been a wealthy city

and capital of a league of city states.

It had been a center for the worship of Poseidon

and was revealed by many.

It was a relatively peaceful civilization

and inspired many to say it as a perfect society.

The destructive power of the earthquake

and the following tsunami

destroyed every building,

and Posidonius wrote,

that even the foundations were lost for all time.

Following the disaster,

the remnants of this once glorious city

were divided among its neighbors.

Eventually, legend emerged that Poseidon himself

caused the destruction

for the defiling of his sactuary.

Writers started to say that Hallek's remains

now lied deep beneath the ocean floor.

It was into this very period that Plato was born

with all the news and discussion of the events

would have been widespread.

Looking at the various real historical events

in the area

just before and at the time of Plato,

it is clear to say where he gained this inspiration

of political perfection and ultimate demise.

And yet with every passing decade,

the new discovery emerges of ancient structures

on the ocean floor,

pyramids

great walls,

stranged man-made objects

seemed to be everywhere.

Who knows, one day

we may just discover the remnants

of that ancient civilization, called Atlantis.

In each age,

the story has undergone a metamorphosis.

From Greek deities to sacred spirits of some unseen realm,

from Nazi propaganda to little green man,

Atlantis will continue to be a mirror to society

and in many ways it points us towards

the beginning of civilization itself.