Plato’s Atlantis
The earliest known account of Atlantis comes from the Greek philosopher Plato, in two dialogues, Timaeus and Critias, written around the mid-fourth century BCE. Plato describes a powerful island civilization beyond the “Pillars of Heracles” that attacked the ancient Mediterranean world, was defeated by Athens and then sank into the sea. Most scholars think Plato invented the story as a way to illustrate ideas about the ideal state, though some have argued it preserves a memory of a real event.
Is Atlantis in Greek mythology?
Atlantis does not appear in traditional Greek myths in the way gods and heroes do. The story comes from Plato, who says it was passed down from the Athenian statesman Solon, who heard it from Egyptian priests. Plato does link the founding of Atlantis to the god Poseidon, which gives it a mythic flavor, but it is better described as a philosophical tale than a myth in the usual sense.
Where was it, and when did it sink?
Plato says the catastrophe happened about 9,000 years before Solon’s time, which people often convert to roughly 9600 BCE. That date is not accepted by historians as a historical event. Over the centuries, people have proposed locations including the Atlantic, the Mediterranean (including the volcanic island of Santorini and the Minoan civilization), Antarctica and many other places. There is no archaeological evidence of a sunken Atlantean civilization, and most scholars regard these theories as speculation.
Occult elaboration
Atlantis became a major theme for later esoteric writers:
- Ignatius Donnelly’s Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) argued that Atlantis was the source of many ancient cultures. It was hugely influential among occultists even though mainstream scholars did not accept it.
- Helena Blavatsky placed Atlantis in her scheme of “root races,” treating the Atlanteans as an earlier stage of humanity. See Theosophy. William Scott-Elliot later published a more detailed Theosophical account in the 1890s.
- Rudolf Steiner also discussed Atlantis in his lectures. See Anthroposophy.
- Edgar Cayce gave many trance readings about Atlantis and its supposed return. See Edgar Cayce. Predictions that evidence would emerge in the late 1960s did not come to pass.
Some Atlantis stories in this tradition connect to the Akashic Records, which are said to hold memories of such lost ages.
Atlantis in New Age belief
In New Age spirituality, Atlantis is often presented as an advanced, spiritually gifted civilization whose knowledge was lost or hidden. Some practitioners believe in “Atlantean” past lives, and some channeled messages claim to come from Atlanteans or to carry their teachings. Others use Atlantis as a symbol of a golden age or a warning about misuse of power.
What crystal is associated with Atlantis?
Several stones are marketed with the name. The best known is larimar, a blue variety of pectolite found in the Dominican Republic, which sellers often call “Atlantis stone.” The connection is a modern trade and New Age association, not an ancient tradition, and there is no evidence that these crystals have special properties.
What scholars say
Historians and archaeologists generally treat Atlantis as a literary invention that later took on a life of its own. Some scholars also note that parts of the lost-civilization genre have been used to claim that non-European monuments were built by outsiders, a pattern critics find troubling. Whatever its historical status, Atlantis shows how a philosophical story can become a lasting spiritual symbol.