In the year 350BC the Ancient Greek Philosopher Plato wrote about a city on an island in the Atlantic Ocean that abruptly sunk underwater in one day and one night. Plato wrote that the island of Atlantis fell out of favour with the Gods and so was submerged under the water, if he was writing truth rather than fiction then one possible cause of an island sinking could be depressurising in the ocean floor beneath it, almost the opposite of when an island is formed by an underwater volcano expanding and movement of plates. I’m afraid I’m not educated much in Geography but whatever the explanation for the sinking of this island (assuming that you don’t believe Greek Gods really did sink it) it has never been found. Plato stated that the sinking of Atlantis and the story he relates occurred more than 9,000 years prior to his writing which would have been incredibly unlikely as we cannot trace civilization that far back. More probable is that he confused his dating and was referring to the tsunami which wiped out the population of the island of Crete, South of Athens, when a volcano broke apart causing the giant wave in 1500 BC. The island did not sink but was engulfed in water and over time it may have translated to Plato as having sunk and as Crete had now repopulated he assumed it to be a different island.
Whatever the case the name Atlantis has become popular in fiction and is applied largely now to any lost city discoveries, particularly underwater ones. There is a preserved city lost undersea in China called Lion City which has become a popular tourist attraction. However it is no Atlantis, firstly it is nowhere near the supposed location and secondly and perhaps more importantly, we know that the Chinese Government flooded Lion City deliberately in order to create a hydroelectric power plant. Nevertheless, it is an impressive wonder and is pictured how many imagine Atlantis to be, with perhaps just a little more Greek architecture than Chinese. It seems probable, historians agree, that there was an island in the location to which Plato attributes Atlantis, but it probably wasn’t the island that was flooded and he is confusing it with Crete, though Crete never actually sank.
In more recent years some scholars placed Atlantis near America rather than Greece and began to believe it was the ruins of the Mayan civilization. Since then various Scholars have argued that Atlantis was moved over time by plate tectonics, earthquakes underwater and tsunamis; after all, millions of years ago the world did not look as it does today and many continents which are now separate were joined. Ultimately it seems likely with increased geographical knowledge and equipment in the 21st Century that Atlantis was simply the work of Plato’s imagination, used in an allegory like so much of his work to prove a point in an argument. Nevertheless, many refuse to stop looking for Atlantis and, unless it is found and proven to be Atlantis, it will continue to be one of the greatest mysteries of the Earth.
IMAGE 1: http://e-kako.geek.hr/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2011/01/kako-je-nastala-legenda-o-atlantidi.jpg - A virtual image of how Atlantis might look if it were discovered now.
IMAGE 2: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uayRF3d4jh0/UzZXDwwED2I/AAAAAAAAAXo/SYtCBe13T4o/s1600/aq.jpg - The underwater Lion City in China.
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