Interesting Fact of the Day! No. 14 - Atlantis Myth

Atlantis means "Island of Atlas", the first known reference to Atlantis was by Plato around 400BC. He claimed that Atlantis had sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune" around 9000 years previous (around 9400BC). Generally, Atlantis is seen as a myth created by Plato to illustrate some of his political theories.

Many believe that he based his Atlantis myth on a collection of other stories such as those of the Trojan War or the eruption of Thera which partially destroyed Santorini and most likely decimated Crete and the minoan civilisation around 1600BC.


As far as many can see, every other account of Atlantis relies on Plato's account in way or another. In 1882 Ignatius L. Donnelly published "Atlantis: the Antediluvian World". This, again based on Plato's account tried to prove the existence of Atlantis and further more, that all know civilisation had descended from Atlantis. This lead to a revival of the legend in the late 19th century which was combined with stories of other lost continents such as Mu and Lemuria. This account also introduced the modern view of Atlantis sitting as a large island in the Atlantic ocean off the African coast...