Atlantis, in the tradition of antiquity, a large island in the Western Ocean (the ocean to the west of the known world), near the Pillars of Hercules. The first recorded accounts of Atlantis, which is said to have been engulfed by the ocean as the result of an earthquake, appear in Timaeus and Critias, two dialogues by Plato. According to the account in Timaeus, the island was described to the Athenian statesman Solon by an Egyptian priest, who maintained that Atlantis was larger than Asia Minor and Libya combined. The priest further revealed that a flourishing civilization centered on Atlantis reputedly about the 10th millennium BC, and that the nation had conquered all the Mediterranean peoples except the Athenians. In Critias, Plato records the history of Atlantis and depicts the nation as a utopian commonwealth. Although Plato's descriptive material and history are probably fictional, the possibility exists that he had access to records no longer extant. The tradition that a lost island such as Atlantis once flourished has always fascinated the popular imagination, and the tradition continues to survive. In the 20th century some oceanographers have advanced the theory that Atlantis was once a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The island, called Thira, was buried by a volcanic eruption about 1500 BC. Other theories have been based on archaeological discoveries. Scholars have variously identified the island with Crete, the Canary Islands, the Scandinavian Peninsula, and America.

Atlantean civilization, according to Plato, began even earlier than that of the Egyptians. On his chronology, Atlantis flourished about 10,000 years ago, before it vanished in a single night of earthquake and flood.

This information Plato claimed to have received through his family, which had preserved it through several generations from the great Athenian statesman Solon who supposedly collected it during his visit to Egypt in c. 565 BC.

As the possibliity of an Atlantic Atlantis became geological heresy in the 1960s, some scholars turned to the idea that the story was a memory of the glorious civilization of Bronze Age (Minoan) Crete. The explosion of the volcanic island of Thera (Santorini) about 1500 BC was argued to have provided the mechanism both for the destruction of the Minoan civilization and for an Egyptian belief in a lost kingdom 'to the west'.

The very first Atlanteans were physically very big. The so-called "giants" of the Bible, the myths of the Titans, are all reflections of these events. The greater the power of the informing corporeal, the longer the life of the individual being. Some of them lived for a thousand or more years in the same body. They got to liking it, and eventually the embodiment inside a furnace of life--which they felt intensely, and that was why they were drawn into biological forms in the first place-- they got developed a preference for the SAME form.

Early on, these beings were very, very clever. They had only to look at something, so to speak, and understand its very essence, how it came into being, what its functions were, and what its destiny was. Their minds were far more developed than ours today, in that they could also use "mind-control". As they become more embedded, of course, they lost this power. But noticing this, they began to compensate with material devices. There were those who perceived that their effects were disruptive to the planet and who believed this was a violation of divine nature. This stream of consciousness is partly what Edgar Cayce called the "Children of One". They are also called the Children of Light and Darkness.

Atlantis is said to have been a gorgeous city, with archelogical feats beyond it's years. The Atlanteans, found after a period of time, they could no longer use their "powers" in the same way. So the compensation came in the form of their surroundings. The city itself flourished, with huge buildings, and fantastic structures, that even modern civilization, cannot compete with.

Atlantis at a glance.

Atlantis was the domain of Poseidon, god of the sea. When Poseidon fell in love with a mortal woman, Cleito, he created a dwelling at the top of a hill near the middle of the island and surrounded the dwelling with rings of water and land to protect her.

Cleito gave birth to five sets of twin boys who became the first rulers of Atlantis. The island was divided among the brothers with the eldest, Atlas, first King of Atlantis, being given control over the central hill and surrounding areas.

At the top of the central hill, a temple was built to honor Poseidon which housed a giant gold statue of Poseidon riding a chariot pulled by winged horses. It was here that the rulers of Atlantis would come to discuss laws, pass judgments, and pay tribute to Poseidon.

To facilitate travel and trade, a water canal was cut through of the rings of land and water running south for 5.5 miles to the sea.

The city of Atlantis sat just outside the outer ring of water and spread across the plain covering a circle of 11 miles. This was a densely populated area where the majority of the population lived.

Beyond the city lay a fertile plain 330 miles long and 110 miles wide surrounded by another canal used to collect water from the rivers and streams of the mountains. The climate was such that two harvests were possible each year. One in the winter fed by the rains and one in the summer fed by irrigation from the canal.

Surrounding the plain to the north were mountains which soared to the skies. Villages, lakes, rivers, and meadows dotted the mountains. Besides the harvests, the island provided all kinds of herbs, fruits, and nuts. An abundance of animals, including elephants, roamed the island. For generations the Atlanteans lived simple, virtuous lives. But slowly they began to change. Greed and power began to corrupt them. When Zeus saw the immorality of the Atlanteans he gathered the other gods to determine a suitable punishment. Soon, in one violent surge it was gone. The island of Atlantis, its people, and its memory were swallowed by the sea.

It has been discussed, debated, and argued for years. But most scholars agree that if Atlantis existed, it's demise was due in part, to the Atlanteans, dimishing power. As they reproduced their size was diminished..they were no longer as large, and therefore not as strong. With the "will" power of divinity lost, and their size and strength dwindling, they were fighting a
losing battle. According to some sources, the end was inevitable. Some theories don't even have Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantis may not have been in the Atlantic, nor was it the volcanic island of Santorini near Crete, as currently held. Through a careful analysis of the sources, it can be said that the story of Atlantis came from western Turkey, where a major Bronze Age city was devastated by an earthquake and submerged beneath a lake, as one theory holds.

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