Saturday, September 12, 2009
Was Atlantis in America? Discuss the possibilities.
AtlantisWasAmerica.com is a site where you can learn about the lost city of Atlantis and discuss the issuers with other members of the community. We are presently discussing the possibility that the Atlantis continent did not sink at all but was the Americas, both the North and South combined. You can also discuss other lost cities as well as the ancient Atlantis. For some of us, Atlantis is a lost continent. Others think Atlantis is only a lost island that sunk in the ocean. We invite scholars to comment about their belief regarding the lost empire regardless of where they think it was located.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
What was Atlantis, a continent, island, or city?
Many names are used in referring to Atlantis: an island, a plain, a city, a country, and a continent. So what was Atlantis? According to Plato, it was all five.
Find the answers at Atlantis Was America.
Below are some quotes from his dialogues. While reading his quotes, keep in mind that during the time before Plato, “island” and “continent” meant the same thing. When Plato wrote about the main island of Atlantis, he sometimes referred to it as an “island continent.” Read and analyze his quotes to see if you can determine what he was talking about:
Plato’s quotes regarding the size of Atlantis
1. “And breaking the ground, inclosed the hill in which she dwelt all round, making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water, which he turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference equidistant every way from the centre, so that no man could get to the island, for ships and voyages were not as yet.”
2. “He himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the centre island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold, and making every variety of food to spring up abundantly from the soil.”
3. “And beginning from the sea they bored a canal of three hundred feet in width and one hundred feet in depth and fifty stadia in length, which they carried through to the outermost zone, making a passage from the sea up to this, which became a harbour, and leaving an opening sufficient to enable the largest vessels to find ingress.”
4. “Now the largest of the zones into which a passage was cut from the sea was three stadia in breadth, and the zone of land which came next of equal breadth; but the next two zones, the one of water, the other of land, were two stadia, and the one which surrounded the central island was a stadium only in width. The island in which the palace was situated had a diameter of five stadia.”
5. “Also gardens and places of exercise, some for men, and others for horses in both of the two islands formed by the zones; and in the centre of the larger of the two there was set apart a racecourse of a stadium in width, and in length allowed to extend all round the island, for horses to race in.”
Atlantis on a plain
1. “Looking towards the sea, but in the centre of the whole island, there was a plain which is said to have been the fairest of all plains and very fertile. Near the plain again, and also in the centre of the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side.”
2. “I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature and by the labours of many generations of kings through long ages. It was for the most part rectangular and oblong, and where falling out of the straight line followed the circular ditch.”
3. “It was smooth and even, and of an oblong shape, extending in one direction three thousand stadia, but across the centre inland it was two thousand stadia. This part of the island looked towards the south, and was sheltered from the north.”
4. As to the population, each of the lots in the plain had to find a leader for the men who were fit for military service, and the size of a lot was a square of ten stadia each way, and the total number of all the lots was sixty thousand.
Atlantis as a city
1. “Such was the military order of the royal city-the order of the other nine governments varied, and it would be wearisome to recount their several differences. I have described the city and the environs of the ancient palace nearly in the words of Solon, and now I must endeavour to represent the nature and arrangement of the rest of the land.”
2. “And they were furnished with everything which they needed, both in the city and country. For because of the greatness of their empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries, and the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the uses of life.”
Atlantis as a country
1. “The whole country was said by him to be very lofty and precipitous on the side of the sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which descended towards the sea.”
2. “Twice in the year they gathered the fruits of the earth-in winter having the benefit of the rains of heaven, and in summer the water which the land supplied by introducing streams from the canals.”
Atlantis as a Continent
You can search the quotes to get the complete statements.
1. “I have before remarked in speaking of the allotments of the gods, that they distributed the whole earth into portions differing in extent, and made for themselves temples and instituted sacrifices. And Poseidon, receiving for his lot the island of Atlantis, begat children by a mortal woman, and settled them in a part of the island, which I will describe.”
2. “The combatants on the other side were commanded by the kings of Atlantis, which, as was saying, was an island greater in extent than Libya and Asia...”
3. “And dividing the island of Atlantis into ten portions, he gave to the first-born of the eldest pair his mother's dwelling and the surrounding allotment, which was the largest and best, and made him king over the rest; the others he made princes, and gave them rule over many men, and a large territory.“
4. “He named Atlas, and after him the whole island and the ocean were called Atlantic.“
Note: It seems that Plato was describing the continent of Atlantis, which was divided into ten countries. The country of Atlantis had a large plain within it, which held the royal city, and the city had a small island near it called Atlantis.
What is your conclusion based on Plato’s quotes?
Please leave your comments for discussion.
Find the answers at Atlantis Was America.
Below are some quotes from his dialogues. While reading his quotes, keep in mind that during the time before Plato, “island” and “continent” meant the same thing. When Plato wrote about the main island of Atlantis, he sometimes referred to it as an “island continent.” Read and analyze his quotes to see if you can determine what he was talking about:
Plato’s quotes regarding the size of Atlantis
1. “And breaking the ground, inclosed the hill in which she dwelt all round, making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water, which he turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference equidistant every way from the centre, so that no man could get to the island, for ships and voyages were not as yet.”
2. “He himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the centre island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold, and making every variety of food to spring up abundantly from the soil.”
3. “And beginning from the sea they bored a canal of three hundred feet in width and one hundred feet in depth and fifty stadia in length, which they carried through to the outermost zone, making a passage from the sea up to this, which became a harbour, and leaving an opening sufficient to enable the largest vessels to find ingress.”
4. “Now the largest of the zones into which a passage was cut from the sea was three stadia in breadth, and the zone of land which came next of equal breadth; but the next two zones, the one of water, the other of land, were two stadia, and the one which surrounded the central island was a stadium only in width. The island in which the palace was situated had a diameter of five stadia.”
5. “Also gardens and places of exercise, some for men, and others for horses in both of the two islands formed by the zones; and in the centre of the larger of the two there was set apart a racecourse of a stadium in width, and in length allowed to extend all round the island, for horses to race in.”
Atlantis on a plain
1. “Looking towards the sea, but in the centre of the whole island, there was a plain which is said to have been the fairest of all plains and very fertile. Near the plain again, and also in the centre of the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side.”
2. “I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature and by the labours of many generations of kings through long ages. It was for the most part rectangular and oblong, and where falling out of the straight line followed the circular ditch.”
3. “It was smooth and even, and of an oblong shape, extending in one direction three thousand stadia, but across the centre inland it was two thousand stadia. This part of the island looked towards the south, and was sheltered from the north.”
4. As to the population, each of the lots in the plain had to find a leader for the men who were fit for military service, and the size of a lot was a square of ten stadia each way, and the total number of all the lots was sixty thousand.
Atlantis as a city
1. “Such was the military order of the royal city-the order of the other nine governments varied, and it would be wearisome to recount their several differences. I have described the city and the environs of the ancient palace nearly in the words of Solon, and now I must endeavour to represent the nature and arrangement of the rest of the land.”
2. “And they were furnished with everything which they needed, both in the city and country. For because of the greatness of their empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries, and the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the uses of life.”
Atlantis as a country
1. “The whole country was said by him to be very lofty and precipitous on the side of the sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which descended towards the sea.”
2. “Twice in the year they gathered the fruits of the earth-in winter having the benefit of the rains of heaven, and in summer the water which the land supplied by introducing streams from the canals.”
Atlantis as a Continent
You can search the quotes to get the complete statements.
1. “I have before remarked in speaking of the allotments of the gods, that they distributed the whole earth into portions differing in extent, and made for themselves temples and instituted sacrifices. And Poseidon, receiving for his lot the island of Atlantis, begat children by a mortal woman, and settled them in a part of the island, which I will describe.”
2. “The combatants on the other side were commanded by the kings of Atlantis, which, as was saying, was an island greater in extent than Libya and Asia...”
3. “And dividing the island of Atlantis into ten portions, he gave to the first-born of the eldest pair his mother's dwelling and the surrounding allotment, which was the largest and best, and made him king over the rest; the others he made princes, and gave them rule over many men, and a large territory.“
4. “He named Atlas, and after him the whole island and the ocean were called Atlantic.“
Note: It seems that Plato was describing the continent of Atlantis, which was divided into ten countries. The country of Atlantis had a large plain within it, which held the royal city, and the city had a small island near it called Atlantis.
What is your conclusion based on Plato’s quotes?
Please leave your comments for discussion.
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