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Atlantis: Historical Elements in the
Fictitious Tale ©
author: Rainer W. Kühne
published: March 20,
2005
Good fiction imitates facts. Plato declared that his
Atlantis tale is philosophical fiction invented to describe his fictitious
ideal state in the case of war. I suggest that Plato used Greek tradition
for the description of ancient Athens, Egyptian records for the war of the
Atlanteans, and oral tradition about Tartessos for the description of
Atlantis.
1. Fictional Elements
Plato's Atlantis tale (Timaios 20d-27a, Critias 106a-121c)
is philosophical fiction invented to describe Plato's fictitious ideal
state in the case of war (Tim. 19b-20c). Plato invented the Atlantis tale
after he failed twice in educating the tyrants of Syracuse to behave like
philosopher kings [1, 2]. The Atlantis tale includes several elements
which are based on neither Egyptian nor Greek historical records, but
result from Plato's philosophical views:
(1) The Phaethon myth has an astronomical explanation
(Tim. 22c-d).
(2) Several floods (Tim. 23b) and cataclysms (Tim. 22c,
23a-b) have occured during human history.
(3) The Greek city of Athens is older than the Egyptian
city of Sais (Tim. 23e).
(4) The ancient Athens was reigned like Plato's ideal
state (Tim. 24a-b, 25e).
(5) The ancient Athens has won a world war (Tim. 24e, 25c,
Crit. 108e).
(6) A continent exists beyond the Atlantic Sea (Tim.
25a).
(7) The war was a joint venture of the Hellenes (Tim.
25b-c) which occured long before the happenings of the Greek myths (Tim.
22a-c). By contrast, the first joint venture of the Hellenes was the
Trojan war (Thucydides 1,3).
(8) There is a mud sea in front of the Strait of Gibraltar
(Tim. 25d, Crit. 108e-109a).
(9) The then acropolis of Athens was very large (Crit.
112a). By contrast, Thucydides noted that all castles of the Mycenaean
time appear small for his contemporaries (1,10).
(10) The Atlanteans had triremes (Crit. 117d). By
contrast, the first triremes were used by the Corintheans in the 8th
century BC (Thucydides 1,13).
2. Ancient Athens
Plato's description of the ancient Athens resembles the
Bronze Age Athens during the period Late Helladic IIIB around 1200 BC.
This suggests that Plato has used either Greek tradition or own
investigations for the description of ancient Athens. These similarities
include the following claims:
(1) The accomodations of the warriors were in the northern
part of the Athenian acropolis (Crit. 112b). In fact, this was the
location of their accomodations from the 15th century until around 1200
BC [3].
(2) A spring on the Athenian acropolis has been destroyed
by earthquakes just after the war against the Atlanteans (Crit. 112c-d).
In fact, Broneer excavated this fountain which has existed for only 25
years and has been destroyed by an earthquake around 1200 BC [4].
(3) The Greeks had knowledge of writing until this
earthquake (Tim. 23c). Indeed, the Mycenaean Linear B was written in
Greek language [5] and its knowledge became lost in Greece around 1200
BC.
3. Sea Peoples
Around 1200 BC the countries in Asia Minor and the Near East
were destroyed by a war [6]. The attackers were the Sea Peoples described
by Pharaoh Ramses III [7]. The similarities between the Sea Peoples and
the Atlanteans [8-10] suggest that Plato has used Egyptian records for the
description of the Atlantean war. Quotations of the temple inscriptions
are given in the combination of plate number and line number:
(1) The Atlanteans fought against Europe and Asia (Tim.
24e) and ``every country within the mouth'', i. e. against the Eastern
Mediterranean countries (Tim. 25b). The Sea Peoples destroyed Hatti in
Anatolia, Qode and Qarkemish in northern Syria, Arzawa in southwest
Anatolia, and Alasia on Cyprus (Plate 46.16 - 17) and fought against
Egypt.
(2) The Atlanteans lived on an isle (Tim. 24e, 25a, 25d,
Crit. 113c) and reigned over several other islands (Tim. 25a). Also the
Sea Peoples came from islands (Pl. 37.8 - 9, 42.3, 46.16).
(3) The Atlanteans reigned in Africa from the pillars of
Heracles (Gibraltar) to the frontiers of Egypt (Tim. 25a - b). The war
of the Sea Peoples against Egypt occured simultaneously with the war of
the Libyan Meshwesh. According to Ramses' report they appeared to be
allied.
(4) Atlantis consisted of ten countries (Crit. 113e -
114a, 119b). According to the Karnak inscription written under pharaoh
Merenptah around 1200 BC, the Sea Peoples consisted of the Ekwesh,
Teresh, Lukka, Sherden, and Shekelesh. According to Ramses III their
confederation consisted of the union of the countries of the Peleset,
Theker, Shekelesh, Denen, and Weshesh (Pl. 46).
(5) In the case of war the Atlanteans had more than one
million soldiers (Crit. 119a - b). Ramses III claimed to have beaten
hundreds of thousands of enemies (Pl. 18.16, 19.4 - 5, 27.63, 32.10,
79.7, 80.36, 80.44, 101.21, 121c.7). Occationally, he spoke of millions
(Pl. 27.64, 46.4, 46.6, 79.7, 101.21) and myriads (Pl. 27.64) of enemies
who were numerous like locusts (Pl. 18.16, 80.36) or grasshoppers (Pl.
27.63).
(6) The Atlanteans had 1200 war ships (Crit. 119b). The
ships of the Sea Peoples entered deep into the delta of the Nile (Pl.
42.5) and destroyed the Asian Arzawa, the Cypric Alasia, and the
near-eastern Ugarit and Amurru.
(7) The Atlanteans had chariots pulled by horses (Crit.
119a). The Meshwesh had horses (Pl. 75.37) and carts (Pl. 18.16, 75.27)
which, however, were pulled by oxes (figures to Pl. 32 - 34).
(8) The Atlantean kings reigned for several generations
(Crit. 120d - e) and after this they lost their good attitudes (Crit.
121a - b). Ramses III wrote about the Sea Peoples that they had spent a
long time, a short moment was before them, then they entered the evil
period (Pl. 80.16 - 17).
(9) During a day and a night Atlantis sank by a earthquake
into the sea (Tim. 25c - d). Ramses III wrote that he let the Sea
Peoples see the majesty and force of (the God of water) Nun when he
breaks out and lays their towns and villages under a surge of water (Pl.
102.21), moreover the mountains were in travail (Pl.
19.11).
4. Tartessos
The geography of Atlantis resembles that of the Iron Age
Tartessos [10-15]. This suggests that Plato has heard about Tartessos from
Greek sailors during his visits in Syracuse. There are the following
similarities between Tartessos and Atlantis:
(1) Tartessos lay in the mouth of the Guadalquivir river.
Atlantis lay in front of the pillars of Heracles, i. e. Gibraltar (Tim.
24e, Crit. 108e) and at a south coast (Crit. 118b).
(2) The plain of Tartessos included a system of channels.
Plato reported the same about the plain of Atlantis (Crit. 118d-e).
(3) Tartessos was surrounded by the Sierra Morena and the
Sierra Nevada. The plain of Atlantis was surrounded by high mountains
(Crit. 118a-b).
(4) Tartessos was rich in metals. Plato reported the same
about Atlantis (Crit. 114e).
(5) According to archaeological evidence and Strabon (III
139), the Tartessians had knowledge of writing. Plato wrote the same
about the Atlanteans (Crit. 119c-d).
Structures located in the Parque Nacional de Donana near
the mouth of the Guadalquivir resemble Plato’s description of the city
of Atlantis. These structures, detected by Werner Wickboldt, include a
nearly rectangular structure of size 230 meters times 140 meters and a
nearly quadratic structure of size 280 meters times 240 meters southwest
of the first structure. These two structures are surrounded by (parts
of) concentric rings [16, 17].
Literature
1. E.S. Ramage (ed.), Atlantis - Fact or Fiction? (Indiana
University Press 1978).
2. P.Y. Forsyth, Atlantis - The Making of Myth (McGill -
Queen's University Press 1980).
3. O. Broneer, What Happened at Athens, American Journal of
Archaeology 52 (1948) 111 - 124.
4. O. Broneer, A Mycenaean Fountain on the Athenian
Acropolis, Hesperia 8 (1939) 317 - 429.
5. M. Ventris and J. Chadwick, Evidence for Greek Dialect in
the Mycenaean Archives, Journal of Hellenic Studies 73 (1953) 86 -
103.
6. R. Drews, The End of the Bronze Age (Princeton University
Press 1993).
7. W.F. Edgerton and J.A. Wilson, Historical Records of
Ramses III (University of Chicago Press 1936).
8. S. Marinatos, Peri ton Thrulon tes Atlantidos, Kretica
Chronika 4 (1950) 195 - 213.
9. H. Görgemanns, Wahrheit und Fiktion in Platons
Atlantis-Erzählung, Hermes 128 (2000) 405 - 419.
10. R.W. Kühne, A Location for Atlantis?, Antiquity 78, 300
(2004); http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/kuhne .
11. O. Jessen, Tartessos-Atlantis, Zeitschrift der
Gesellschaft für Erdkunde (1925) 184.
12. R. Hennig, Das Rätsel der Atlantis, Meereskunde 14
(1925) 1 - 29.
13. R. Hennig, Zum Verständnis des Begriffs "Säulen" in der
antiken Geographie, Petermanns geographische Mitteilungen 73 (1927) 80 -
87.
14. A. Schulten, Tartessos und Atlantis, Petermanns
geographische Mitteilungen 73 (1927) 284 - 288.
15. A. Schulten, Atlantis, Rheinisches Museum für Philologie
88 (1939) 326 - 346.
16. anonymous, Raising a Legend, Time 164, 21 (November 29,
2004) 16.
17. M. Shermer, The Myth is the Message, Scientific American
291, 4 (October 2004) 19.
The content of this article is copyrighted
© by Dr. Rainer W. Kuhne and is published on The
Anthropogene with the express permission and consent of Dr. Rainer W.
Kühne. No part of these contents may be reproduced or redistributed by
any mean without the written consent of the author. The article and
views presented are his alone.
Dr. Rainer W. Kühne
Tuckermannstr. 35, 38118 Braunschweig,
Germany
kuehne70@gmx.de
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