Forgotten Ages Research

The Atlantis-Genesis Connection—Taking a Deeper Look

Report Topics:

• Elements of Plato’s Atlantis story compared with mythologies around the globe
  
  
• Other Greek accounts describing a large island civilization in the prehistoric Atlantic
• A synopsis of over 130 Flood legends and their general comparisons
• Correlations for the time-frame of a global cataclysm
• A comparison between Plato’s Atlantis and Homer’s land of Scheria
• Evidence of advanced technology given by Homer

Full Report:

An important link between the descriptions of Plato’s Atlantis and the Genesis account of the Antediluvian civilization can be found by looking to other sources. The memory of such a place, and its location in the general area of the Atlantic Ocean, is found in practically every mythology and religion. While Plato did not mention four rivers specifically, or Genesis did not offer a name to its lost pre-Flood civilization, many ancient peoples the world over gave these details, filling in the gaps between the two narratives:

To the ancient Britons, paradise was called Avalon, to which the legendary King Arthur and other heroes departed. It was located westward, in the great Ocean.

The Celts remembered Landes, the great western land just beyond Europe’s shores, where the souls of the dead dwelt without want.

Llan, for the Welsh, was the sacred place, the great “enclosure” in the distant sea.

In the Norse sagas of the Eddas, the sacred Asgard lay to the west of Europe, described as a land of temples and plowed fields, inhabited by the gods of Valhalla. Over its rich pasturelands ran the four sacred rivers of milk, feeding the land in every direction.

The ancient Babylonian paradise was also situated in the “western ocean,” and was called Aralu.

The Egyptian abode of the souls was westward in Amenti, on an island called Sekhet Aaru (or Aalu, or sometimes called Antes), which was divided into ten regions, and had a rectangular plain, well-watered by four rivers and canals.

The Arabs knew of a primordial race called Ad, who once inhabited the “land of bronze” (a red metal), an island two and a half years’ voyage westward. The Ad race was destroyed by a deluge because of their many sins.

The Chinese have a story of a happy age, when humanity lived with an abundance of food and many peaceful animals. These blessings were shared on Tien-Chan, the “celestial mountain-land with enchanted gardens,” through which flowed the four gushing rivers of Tuchin, the streams of immortality. Eventually, however, the giants Mao-tze rebelled against the gods, and access to the land was lost.

For the Tibetan Buddhists, in fabulous Sineru was Mount Taurutisa, from which proceeded four sacred streams, running to the cardinal directions.

In Hindu literature, Tale-Talo or Atala was the mythical kingdom of giants in the west, where, in the first age of humanity, the human race lived without want. The Hindus knew of Mount Meru, located at the “center of the world,” and from its four sides flowed the four primeval rivers.

In the New World, the post-Mound Builder Puan peoples of the American southeast record the story of their being a lost colony from “burning Pahn,” the sunken Red Land. They tell how the survivors first landed in what is now Massachusetts, then migrated to their present homeland in Georgia, and even today still celebrate a thanksgiving ceremony in remembrance for their delivery from the sea.

The Apaches in Arizona dance with trident figures in their headdresses, similar to the trident dance of the Tuaregs in North Africa, on the other side of the Atlantic. The Apaches still remember how in a distant time their ancestors had lived in an “old red land” which was destroyed by the God of Fire. The trident was the weapon-staff of Poseidon.

The ancient Maya and Toltecs of the Yucatan recall the glorious kingdom of the First Tulan which lay to the east, a place where all humans once lived happily together, until the tempestuous god Hurakan (from whose name we derive our modern term “hurricane”) as angered by the degeneracy of the people, and destroyed the Earth with a flood.

In the language of ancient Mexico, Atl means “water,” and the derivative Atlan has the connotations “in the midst of the waters” or “a land existing in the ocean.” To the Aztecs, Aztlan was the name of the island in the east from which their ancestors fled destruction.

In surviving manuscripts, Aztlan is pictured with a high mountain called Culhuacan, from which four rivers flow. The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, (upon the ruins of which Mexico City exists today) was constructed after the fashion of the capital city of their lost homeland, on an island in a lake, surrounded by rings of canals and dams, with a central citadel of temples, palaces and parks—very similar to Plato’s description of Atlantis City.

The Aztec’s chief god was Quetzalcoatl, who bears many resemblances to Atlas: Quetzalcoatl’s father was Citinatonali, god of the ocean and earthquakes; he was also originally considered to be one of the four Becabs, or giant who came from the east, and who held up the sky.

The Becabs and Quetzalcoatl were pictured in Aztec art with long beards—a non-Native American trait; Atlas was traditionally depicted in Greek art as sporting a beard. The Aztec god came to Mexico from Tlapallan, the “Red and Black Land”—reminding us of Atlantis, which Plato said was predominated by red, black and white rock, and also of Antediluvia, with its “red” and “black” soils.

Note these parallels among the many names remembered for the lost land:

At-lan-tis or At-lan-tikos (in the original Greek)
A-va-lon
Lan-des
Llan
As-gard
Ar-alu
Aa-ru/ Aa-lu/ An-tes
Ad
Tien-Chan
Sin-eru
Tale-Talo/ A-tala
P-ahn
Tu-lan
Azt-lan
Tla-pa-llan

As further confirmation, we find that other classical writers both before and after Plato also mentioned the lost civilization by name, and gave corroborating information.

In the fifth century B.C.E. Hellenius of Lesbos was the author of several works now vanished, one of which was entitled Atlantias. It took the form of a genealogy and history of the daughters of Atlas, and the territories they ruled, after “Poseidon mated with Kelaino and their son Lykos was settled by his father in the isle of the blest.” What is interesting is that Hellenius’ history predated Plato’s work, and offers us an independent source on the Atlantis story, other than through Solon and the priests of the Nile.

Aristotle, who lived in the fourth century B.C.E., was a pupil of Plato, and he recorded that the sea-going Carthaginians had legends regarding a large land in the Atlantic called Antillia.

Crantor, in the same century, reported on a lost Atlantic continent which he called Poseidonis, in honor of the god once worshipped there—Poseidon.

Six centuries later, the Roman historian Marcellinus spoke of a very violent class of earthquakes which swallow up whole land masses. As an example, he noted a tragic destruction in which, “in the Atlantic sea, on the coast of Europe, a large island was swallowed up.” This occurrence, he further said, was known to the scholars of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt—one of the greatest seats of knowledge in classical times—as having been an actual historical event (one remembers that Plato’s account of Atlantis ultimately derived from Egypt).

In the fifth century A.D., the neo-Platonic Proclus wrote concerning a chain of seven islands in the Atlantic, one of which was sacred to Poseidon, and whose inhabitants remembered a time when a larger island existed there, also sacred to that god.

The Greek historian Herodotus recorded that in North Africa existed two tribes called Atarantes and Atlantes, named after a great mountain called Atlas which once rose to the west, but which no longer is extant. The tribes had escaped a great catastrophe, and had named themselves and the mountains of Morocco—the Atlases—after the original pinnacle now gone.

The Arabian historian Sherif el Edrisi preserved a legend from Morocco that confirmed Herodotus’ story. According to the indigenous inhabitants, in a remote epoch some disaster took place in the Atlantic which caused the ocean to rise in a wave eleven stadia, destroying all coastal cities.

In a similar vein, Greek historian Thucydides, who lived from 460 to 400 B.C.E., reported that once the waters of the sea retreated, then returned as a giant wave and completely inundated an island named Atlante.

Another Greek chronicler, of the first century—Timagenes—discovered that the ancient inhabitants of Gaul (now France) recognized that long ago their Atlantic coast had been invaded by people whose island had been submerged.

Plutarch (A.D. 46–120) spoke of an island once existing five days sail west from Britain, called Ogygia. Ogygia was mentioned by the poet Homer as having been the home of Calypso, a daughter of Atlas. It was from Calypso’s home that Odysseus escaped during his travels, and thereafter immediately came to Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians. Recent scholarship into Homer’s Odyssey has show that many of the places and peoples the blind poet described did not exist in his day or the days of the Tojan War, but were memories of those which had existed in ages past, the poet having collected and incorporated into his epic stories geographies and histories going back into prehistoric times. The similarities between Homer’s Scheria and Plato’s Atlantis point for point are most striking, right down to the descriptions of their capital cities.

Tertullian, who lived from A.D. 160 to 240, discussed dramatic earth changes, and referred to an inundation of a large island in the Atlantic having occurred at the same that the modern Mediterranean Sea was created and the island of Sicily was formed.

Likewise, Philo Judaeus, in the time of Christ, wrote about “the island of Atlantes overwhelmed beneath the sea,” and “the sacred Sicilian Strait, which in olden times joined Sicily to the continent at Italy.” The destruction that had taken place in the Atlantic had generated such a tremendous wave that it completely inundated the entire Mediterranean basin and utterly changed its geography.

One of the best memories of early Atlantis in the classical world was preserved by Diodorus Siculus, in the first century B.C.E. He described the Atlantic isle in terms very similar to Plato, only his source was not the same. The tradition Diodorus quoted from gave details not found in Plato, yet which complement his narrative. Diodorus recorded:

“There lies out in the deep off Libya (Africa) an island of considerable size, and situated as it is in the ocean it is distant from Libya a voyage of a number of days westward. It is a fruitful land, part being mountainous, part being a level plain of surpassing beauty. Through it flows navigable rivers, also used for irrigation, and planted with trees of every variety in large gardens traversed by streams of sweet waters. Among these are private homes of rich construction, and in the gardens are places for banqueting, set among flowers, where the inhabitants spend their summers. There is an excellent hunting of every kind of animal. The climate of the island is so mild that it produces an abundance of fruit the year round.”

Diodorus also related from his source that the people of the island were called the Atlantoi, after their monarch, Atlas. There existed a tall mountain in the island, also named Atlas—reminiscent of Herodotus’ description. Of the head monarch himself, Diodorus records that he “perfected the science of astrology and was the first to publish to mankind the doctrine of the sphere; and it was for this reason that the idea was held that the entire heavens were supported upon the shoulders of Atlas.” It was he, the tradition further claimed, who instituted the lunar and solar years.

An important parallel between Plato’s Atlantis and Genesis’ Antediluvia is that they mention ten as the number of offspring who ruled both—the ten children of Poseidon in Atlantis and the ten generations from Adam to Noah listed in Genesis chapter 5. Ten as the number of the earliest gods, inventors or rulers is also preserved in the mythologies of many other ancient societies:

Manetho, in his histories of his native Egypt, recorded the rulership of ten prominent gods long prior to the reigns of the first Pharaohs.

In China, ten mythical Emperors held sway before the great flood of Kung-Kung overwhelmed the world.

Likewise, the Tibetans began their records with King Shipuye, who was succeeded by Seven Heavenly Khri and the Two Teng—ten masters in all.

The book of the Sibylline oracles spoke of ten ages between the birth of the world and the Deucalion Flood.

And the Hindus recognize the nine Brahmidkas, who with Brahma are called the ten Piris, or First Fathers.

The climax of both the Genesis and Plato story comes in the form of a sudden and violent cataclysm, bringing an end to an advanced yet debased civilization. The one difference between Genesis and Plato is that Plato offers few clues as to who from Atlantis might have survived, while Genesis dwells at length in a description of the preparation by Noah and his family of a vessel with which they escape their doomed world. In both cases, however, the destruction is depicted in catastrophic terms. The Flood covered the whole of the known world, while the sinking of Atlantis also saw the destruction of most prehistoric centers and the submergence of all coastal areas, contemporary date-wise with the sudden end of the Ice Age.

Most significantly, the memories of this disaster are to be found throughout the globe. The following breakdown of flood stories indicates: 1) the place of origin for the story, 2) who warned or caused the flood, 3) who escaped, 4) where they escaped to, and 5) the means of escape:

Mosaic Jews—Yaweh—Noah and seven—Mount Ararat—Ark (chest)
Sumerian—Enki—Ziusudra—Mount Dilmun—Box
Babylonian—Ea—Utnapishtim—Mount Niser—Navigated ship
Babylonian—Cronus—Xisuthros—Mountain in Armenia—Boat
Assyrian—Marduk—Seven Wise Ones—Descend to Apsu
Persian—Ahura Mazda—Yima—Built an enclosure
Persian—World’s sins—Magus—Mount Al-bordi—A vessel
Egypt—Gods purifying the world—Shepherds—Climbed mountain
Egypt, Heliopolis—Atum—Temu—Island of Flame—Bark of Atum
Greek, Thessaly—Prometheus—Deucalion, Pyrrha—Mount Parnassus—Chest
Greek, Samothrace—Dardanos—Mount Ida in Asia—Boat of skins
Greek, Phrygia—Perseus—Dodona—Saved by Zeus
Greek, Megara—Flock of cranes—Megaros—Mount Geranien
Greek, Boeotia—The gods—Ogyges and others—Boat
Roman—Jupiter—Evil ways of humanity—Pious couple—Mountain top
Scandinavia—Slaying of Ymir—Bergelmir, wife—Floating millstone
Lapp—Jubruel—Brother, sister—Holy mount—Placed there
Lithuania—Pramzimas—Aged couple—Mountain top—Giant nut shells
Celtic—Great giants—Spilling of blood—Single pair—Saved in a ship
England, Druids—Supreme Being—Patriarch—Stone ship
Welsh Triads—Lake overflowed—Dwyfan, Dwyfach—Prydian— Vessel with no rigging
Welsh—Llyn-Llion overflowed—Pair of all living—Ship
Ireland—Bith, family—Install—Ship
Transylvania—Old man—Family and kin—Boat with animals
Turkey—Iskendar—Dike breaking—Certain peoples saved
African Jamalas—Til—Musikdgen—Mountain
Cameroon—Goat—Brother and sister—Ran as far as they could
East Africa, Masai—Arguments—Tumbainot, two wives and six sons—Ran aground in steppe country—Ship of wood with animals
Komililo Nandi—Death of spirit of lightning—Hunters—climbed Mount Tinderet
Lake Victoria, Kwaya—Pot broke containing the ocean—Sacred Ancestors
Tanzania, Rukwa—Flooding rivers—Two men and animals—High mountains—Entered ship
Pygmy—Chameleon—Cut down a tree—First human couple Congo, Ababua—Woman who hoarded water was killed—Mba— Climbed tree
Lower Congo—Moon became dimmer—Men turned into monkeys
Kenya, Kikuyu—Spirits from Mt. Kenya—Took a couple and their children to the Mountain
West Zaire, Bakongo—Nzambi—Old woman and friends—Fled to dry land
Basonge—Ngolle Kakese—Only Zebra Man escaped
Hottentots—Noh, Hingnoh—Swimming house
Nigeria, Yorubas—Sango—A servant—High wall
Nigeria, Yorubas—Olokun—Mankind forgot desires of gods—Few escaped
Nigeria, Ekoi—Obase Osaw—Etim ‘Ne and his wife Ejaw—Contained in a calabash
India—Fish-god—Manu—Mount Naubandana—Ship
India, Puranic—Vishnu—Satyavrata, seven—Mount Chaisaghar— Large vessel
India, Munda—Sing Bonga—Brother and sister—Hid beneath tree
India, Kamars—A god—Two children—Hollow log
India, Bhils—Fish, Rama—Dhobi, sister—Large box
Bengal, Santal—Fire-rain fell—Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Budhi—Took refuge in a stone cave
Southwest Bengal, Ho—Sing Bonga—Spared sixteen people
Andaman Islands—Puluga—Two men, two women—Saddle Peak— Canoe
Sikkim, Lepchas—A couple—Mount Tendong—Climbed mountain
Assam, Singphos—Forgot sacrifices—Khun Litang, Chu Liyang and wives—Climbed Singrabhum Hill
Assam, Lushai—King of water demons—Several people—Climbed Phun-lu-buk Hill
Burma, Chingpaws—Pawpaw Nan-chung, sister Chang-hko—Large Boat
Burma, Karen—Two brothers— A raft
Burma, Shan—Hkang-hkak—Sage Lip-long, seven men and seven women—Strong raft made of giant gourd
Thailand, Hkas—Ko Pola—An islet—Changed into a crab
Thailand, Kammu—Brother and sister—Sealed themselves inside a drum
Laos, Banansa—Father—Large chest
Malaya, Benu Jakum—Pirman—man, woman—Ship of wood
Malaya, Kelantan—Cats, dogs fighting—Two or three people— Climbed mountains
Southeast Asia, Kamdis—Remnant—Mountain top—Raft of trees
Tibet—Giya—Few people—Climbed mountains
China, Bahners—A crab—Brother, sister and pair of all animals— Huge boat
China, Lolos—Tse-gu-dzih—Du-mu, four sons—Hollow log
China, Jino—Mahei and Maniu—Hollowed big tree, covered with cowhide
China, Zuang—Thunder god breached dike—Fuyi and sister—Two mountains—Giant gourd fruit
China, Siu—Xiang and Ya—Sun mountain—Floating wooden house
China, Classic—Emperor Yao—Mount Shou—Climbed mountain
China, Classic—Fa-he, seven—Boat
China, Lao-tse—Sky pillar broke—Niu-Noa—Boat of wood
China—Water god Gong Gong—People living in high mountains in caves
China—Disgruntled tribal chief—Tore hole in sky—Goddess Nu Kua and followers
Taiwan, Ami—Kakumodan—Sura, Nakao—Ragasan mountains— Wooden mortar
Taiwan—Tsuwo—Ancestors—Climbed top of Mount Niitaka-yama Taiwan, Bunun—Giant snake or crab—Few survivors—Climbed Mounts Usabeya and Shinkan
Urals, Voguls—Nim Tarom—Rain after drought—Great Man, Great Woman, child—Boat of wood and skins
Asia, Turks—Seven people—Boat
Asia, Samoyed—Seven people—A boat—Only two survived
Asia, Buryats—Burkhan—Man, wife and the devil—Great ship
Asia, Sagaiyes—A god—Noj, family and animals—Iron ship
Asia, Yenisey-Ostyaks—Pairachta, wife, seven people, animals— Huge boat made of logs and rafters
Asia, Kamchadale—A few people—Rafts made from bound tree trunks
Asia, Kamchatka—Kutka—Several people—Huge mountains—Raft of trees
Asia, Altaic—Ulgen—Nama, a good man, wife and three sons—Built a boat on top of a mountain
Asia, Tuva-Soyot—Giant frog moved—An old man and family—Iron- reinforced raft—High wooded mountain
Mongol—Dragon King’s daughter—Hailibu—Turned to stone
Australia, Arnhem Land—Rainbow serpent Yurlunggur—Wirili-up, Wawalik sisters and children—Built a strong house
Australia, Gunwinggu—Dreaming rock damaged—First people—Fled to Aragaladi
Australia, Gumaidj—Namarangini the spirit man—Two sisters Fly and Sandfly—Elcho and other islands—Bark rafts
Australia, Fitroy River tribes—Aborigines and animals—Flood plain of Djilinbadu—Woramba boat
Australia, Mount Elliot tribes—Few escaped to tall mountain Biddiringda
Australia, Narrinyeri—Crying man—Nepelle—Dragged his canoe to the top of a hill
Australia, Victoria—Bunjil the Creator—Man and woman—climbed tall tree on top of a mountain
Australia, Lake Tyres—Laughing frog—Three men, woman—Present place—Picked up by a canoe
Australia, Kunai—Man and two women—Took refuge on mud island—Dressed log
New Zealand, Maori—Tane—Para-wenua-mea, two men and several women—Dry land in Hawaiki—Wide raft with house on it
New Zealand, Maori—Heaven cracked—Tawhaki—Climbed mountains
New Guinea, Kabadi—Bone thrown in river—Few people—Climbed mountain
New Guinea, Valmans—Eating of a fish—Man, son, two women, several animals—Climbed into a coconut
Irian Jaya, Mamberao River—Man and wife—Mount Vanessa Papua New Guinea, Samo-Kubo—Lizard Man—Two brothers— Highest mountains—Built small raft
Philippines, Atas—Manama—Two men, woman—Mapula—Carried by eagle
Philippines, Ifugao—Maknongan—Wigan and Bugan—Two mountains
Philippines, Mandaya—One pregnant woman—Climbed local mountain
Philippines, Tinguian—Kaboniyan—A few men—Vessel of bamboo, stone and iron
Borneo—Giant snake died—Several people—Present place— Typhoon carried them
Borneo, Dusun—Great snake cut open—A few swept out to sea
Borneo, Dyak—Trow and his wife, animals—Large wooden mortar
Borneo, Ot-Danom—A few people—Last peak—Escaped in boats
Sumatra—Man—Mount Marapi—Prowed boat
Sumatra, Bataks—Debata—Human pair—Mountain top—Clod of earth
Nias, west of Sumatra—Baluga Luomewona—People escaped to two or three mountains
Engano, west of Sumatra—One woman—Hair caught in floating tree
Celebes, Toradja—Pregnant woman—Mount Wawom Pebato—Pig’s trough
Ceram Island, Alfoor—Three people—Mount Noesake—Climbed mountain
Ratti, southwest of Timor—Man, wife and children—Lakimola peak
Nage, Flores—Dooy—Escaped in a ship Leeward Islands—Ruahatu—Fisherman, family—Tuamarana—Dry island
Palau Islands—Star was stolen—Old woman—Mount Armlimui— Bamboo raft
New Hebrides—Narreau the Elder—Roots of sky torn loose—Naabawe, Tilik, Tarai, Qat—Carried out to sea—Made great canoe
Loyalty Islands, Lifou—Nol—High rock—Canoe
Cook Islands, Mangaia—Aokeu, Ake—King Rangi—Dry land on heights of Makatea—Canoe
Cook Islands, Rakaanga—Taoiau—Few inhabitants—Took refuge on a mound
Leeward Group, Raiatea—Ruahatu, wife and child, animals—Fled to Taomarama
Tahiti—Man, wife—Mount Pita-hiti—Dug hole, covered it
Samoa—Battle between Fire and Water—Pili, wife—Swimming
Fijii Islands—Great Rain—Eight people—Mbengha island—Double canoes
Caroline Islands—Death of mouse—Kitimil, Maggie—High dwelling
Nanumanga, Tuvalu—Sea serpent—Man and woman
Hawaii—Kahimalii—Lalohona and husband—Mauna Kea—Built home on top of trees
Hawaii—Kane—Wickedness of man—Nu-u—Mountain overlooking a beautiful valley—Great Canoe with house
Alaska, Orowignarak—Earthquake—Few Eskimos—Tops of highest mountains—Skin canoes
Norton Sound Eskimo—Few people—High mountain in middle of the Earth—Boat
Tchiglit Eskimo—Magician named An-odium—Several people—Tied several boats together
Netsilik Eskimo—Giant Inugpasugssuk—Two Shamans—Survived in boat
Eskimo, Mackenzie River—Water over earth—Several men—Boat with tents
Greenlander—World turned over—Man and woman—Turned into fiery spirits
Alaska, Tlingit—Evil uncle—Yehl the Raven—Bank of seaweed
Alaska, Tinnet—One man—New island—Built canoe
Alaska, Dindjie—Etroetchokren—Landed on high mountain—Giant hollow straw
Alberta, Sarcee—Man and woman—Shaped mud into new world— Canoe
British Columbia, Kaska—Darkness and high winds—Few people— Nearest land—Built rafts and canoes
British Columbia—Thompson Indians—Qoaqolqal—Three men— Nzukeski Mountains—Escaped in canoe
British Columbia, Haida—Ne-kil-stlas the Raven—Villagers— Prepared rafts
Vancouver Island, Kwakiutl—Two men and woman—Three mountains—Floated on logs and trees
British Columbia, Kootenai—Giant fish killed—Husband and wife—A mountain—Floating tree
British Columbia, Squamish—Young man and mother—Mount Baker—Giant canoe
British Columbia, Bella Coola—Masmasalanich the Creator—Many people in boats
British Columbia, Lillooet—Great rain—Ntcinemkin and family— Ncikato Mountain—Very large canoe
Washington, Makah—Ancestors—Neah Bay—Canoes with Provisions
Washington, Klallam—Several people—Tied their canoes to the summits of the Olympic mountains
Washington, Skokomish—Great Spirit angry with humankind—One good man and family—To the snow-line of Mount Rainier— Climbed rope of arrows
Washington, Skagit—Five people and all animals and plants— Summits of Baker and Rainier—Giant canoe
Washington, Quillayute—Thunderbird—Very few people—Present location—Canoes
Washington, Nisqually—Dokibatl the Changer—One woman and one dog—Survived atop Mount Rainier
Washington, Twana—Wicked people—Few good left—Fastener Mountain—Climbed trees on highest point
Washington, Yakima—Many killings—Good people—Toppenish Ridge—Dugout boat
Oregon, Warm Springs—Brave men and fairest women—Mount Jefferson—Giant canoe made from a big cedar
Oregon, Joshua—Xowalaci the Giver—Made new lands with mud cakes
California, Smith River—Great rain—One human pair—Climbed highest peak
California, Wintu—Dream of a coming whirlwind—Olelbes—Made new land from mud
California, Maidu—Great Man—Two escaped to the hills
California, Miwok—Wekwek the Falcon—Olle—Top of Mount Konokti
California, Ohlone—Fight between Good and Evil—Coyote, Eagle and Hummingbird—Created new race of people
California, Shasta—Evil water spirit—People swam to the top of Mount Shasta
California, Yurok—Sky fell and hit the ocean—Two men and two women—Jumped into a boat—Saved by Sky-Owner
Montana, Blackfoot—Sun, Moon, Old Man, Apistotoki—Skin of a Fish
Wyoming, Yellowstone—Medicine man Spotted Bear—Stretched white buffalo hide
Canada, Cree—Sea monster attacked old magician Wissaketchak— Pairs of all—Highest mountain— Great raft
Canada, Ojibway—Death of a lioness—Nenebue—Built raft
Canada, St. Lawrence Gulf—Anger with giants—Messou—Caused mud to expand—Built large canoe
Canada, Micmac, Penobscot—Ice Giant magicians—Glooscap— Turned into fish
Canada, Algonquin—Strong Serpent Maskanako—Small man Mattapewi—Hid in cave
Canada, Kolosh—Istman—Family—Mountain top—Raft
Canada, Knistineaux—Woman—Top of rock—Carried by bird
Thlinkut—Uncle of Creator—A tribe—Large rock—Floating building
Hareskin—Wise Man Kunyun and family—Growing island—Built a great raft
Great Lakes—Warned in dream—Indian Father—New Earth—Raft
North Dakota, Mandan—Shell of Earth cut through— Numokmukanah—Present place—Big canoe
South Dakota, Lakota—Water monster Unktehi—Creating Power— Kangi—Floated on sacred pipe bag—Turtle Continent
Minnesota, Chippewa—Evil serpent-king Meshekenabek—Nenebojo, Menaboshu—Boughs of fir tree on tallest mountain—Medicine man Wis-kay-tchach provided large canoe for all living
Minnesota, Cheyenne—Earthquakes, volcanoes, floods—Saved by Great Spirit—People hid in caves
Wisconsin, Menomini—Evil punished—Manabush—Climbed great pine tree on highest mountain
Tennessee, Cherokee—Howling Dog—Man, family—Boat
Appalachian—Lake Theomi flooded—Several men—Oldamy Peak— Climbed Peak
Menominee—Anamakiu—Manabush—Climbed pine tree
Mississippi, Choctaw —High god—A prophet—Built raft
Louisiana, Chitimacha—Two people—Baked earthen pot and got in—Grain of sand turned into dry land
Arkansas, Caddo—Man and wife—Planted hollow reed—Barren Earth
Nebraska, Pawnee—Giants—Ti-ra-wa—Man and woman—Grew corn and climbed
Thompson River—Coyote, Old Man—Three men—Mountain—Stone canoe
Dog-rib—Waters were choked—Tschapiwih, wife—Island—Canoe
Southwest, Navaho—Water monster—Several people—Climbed into reed
Southwest, Hopi—Spider Woman—Few people—Small piece of land—Climbed giant sunflower
Southwest, Havasupai—Hokomata, feuding brothers—Tochopa and daughter—Sealed in hollow log
Southwest, Zuni—Children of priests—Nearby tableland—Turned to stone
Southwest, Walapai—Hokomata—Pukehe—Sealed in a log
Southwest, Apache—Water spirit Kogulhtsude—Dios—Old man and old woman—Tops of four peaks in the Superstition Mountains
Southwest, Sia—Sussistinnako—Utset Mother of All Indians— Climbed reed
Antilles, Carib—Master of Spirits angered at people—Few survivors—An isolated mountain—Canoe
Mexico, Papagos—Great Mystery—Divine Montezuma—Dry land atop Monte Rosa—Dugout canoe
Mexico, Pimas—Szeukha—Elder Brother, pregnant woman and child—Mountain above Salt River—Floated on a ball of pine resin
Mexico, Tarascan—Eternal Father—Man and family—Floating house
Mexico, Yaqui—Dios—Yaitowi, thirteen others—Maatale Hill
Mexico, Tarahumara—People fighting—Tata Dios—Boy and girl— Climbed Lavachi Mountain
Mexico, Huichol—Grandmother Nakawe—Woodman and family— Mountain near Santa Cantarina—Built a box
Mexico, Aztec—Tezcatlipoca—Nata, Nina—Hollowed log
Mexico, Michoacan—Tucupaha—Texpi, wife—Boat-like log
Mexico, Cholula—Xelhuaz, six brothers—Mount Tlaloc—Changed into fish
Mexico, Maya—Coxcox, Xociquetzal—Mount Colhuacan—Raft
Mexico, Toltec—Titlacahuan—Our Father and Nene—Hollowed out log
Mexico, Mixtec—Puma-Snake and Jaguar-Snake—Two boys— Creator-of-All-Things restored the world
Mexico, Zapotec—God angry with giants—Ocelotepeque—House made from rock slabs
Guatemala, Maya—Saiyamkoob who built first cities—Four Becabs— Canoe attached to rope in the sky
Venezuela, Makiritare—Kuamachi and Grandfather Mahanama— Canoe
Venezuela, Yanomano—Rahaririyoma—Omauwa and Yoawa— Climbed mountain—Cut down trees and floated on them
Venezuela, Tamanaque—The sea broke against mountains—Few people left—Encamarada mountain chain—Canoes
Venezuela, Caribs—Amaicaca—Mount Tamancu—Canoe
Guyana, Arekuna—Makunaima and four brothers—Made basket
Guyana, Sarawak—Aiomun Kondi—Wise chief Marerewana and family—Tied canoe to a tall tree
Brazil, Pamarys—Rumbling ground—Uassu and wife—Climbed highest trees
Brazil, Rio de Janeiro—Twin sons of a great wizard, wives—Climbed tree fashioned into a canoe
Brazil, Cape Frio—Medicine man Tamendonare and Ariconte— Climbed trees on highest mountain
Brazil—Coroado—Members of three tribes—Swam for the mountains
Brazil, Caraya—Anatiua—Few people—Two peaks
Colombia, Chibcha—Chibchachum—Chibcha people—Earth swallowed waters
Ecuador, Jivaro—Great cloud fell from heaven—Man, wife and two sons—Climbed palm tree on highest mountain
Ecuador, Canari—Two brothers—Climbed Mount Huacaynan
Peru, Guanca, Chiquita—Ocean broke its bounds—Six people— Floated into caves on highest mountains
Inca, Peru—Stargazing Llama—Shepherd, six children—Mount Ancasmarca—Floated in a box
Peru, Qechua—Tamta Namca and Paria Caca—Climbed Pullao Tree which formed arch between mountains
Bolivia, Chiriguano—Aguara-Tunpa—Boy, girl—Large leaf
Paraguay, Chorote—Door opened in tree—Boys—Carried by white bird
Chile, Araucania—Two great serpents made sea rise—People took refuge on Mount Thegtheg
Argentina, Tierra del Fuego—Lexuwakipa—Ice covering world melted—Yaiaasaga, others—Reached five mountaintops— Canoes

Myth collector H. S. Bellamy estimated that there are altogether over five hundred Deluge stories, each and every one possessing the same essential outlines of a hero or remnant saved from a watery catastrophe, in association with a boat and/ or mountain. Dr. Johannes Riem, in his extensive study of the subject, remarked:

“Among all traditions there is none so general, so widespread on earth (and so apt to show what may develop from the same subject material according to the varying spiritual character of a people) as the Flood tradition. The fact of the Deluge is granted because at the basis of all myths, particularly nature myths, there is a real fact, but during a subsequent period to the event, the material underwent transformation, giving to it its present mythical character and form.”

Some conservative scholars have argued that the reason for the universality of the Flood story is because of its dissemination by early Christian missionaries. But there are several counter-arguments against such a view.

First, we find no equally widespread legends based on any of the other Biblical miracles, which is what one would expect if missionaries were responsible for creating legends. As one commentator pointed out, we should certainly have found more stories about Christ than any others, for, “missionaries who dedicated their lives to spreading Christianity usually spent their time imparting the spiritual truths of the Gospels, not Jewish history,” of which the Flood story is a part. There are recorded instances that when missionaries actually did relate the Genesis narrative of the Flood, they were interrupted by the indigenous peoples, who told them their version of the same story. The indigenous peoples, however, rarely knew of any other Bible account.

Second, the Flood story was found among remote tribes never reached by any missionary, and their traditions were recorded by secular anthropologists who had no interest in verifying the Genesis narrative. The famous nineteenth century naturalist Humboldt discovered after investigating a number of South American tribes who had never before seen a European that:

“The belief in a great deluge is not confined to one nation singly; it makes part of a system of historical tradition, of which we find scattered notions among the Maypures of the great cataracts, among the Indians of the Rio Eravato which runs into the Caura, and among all the tribes of the Orinoco.”

Humboldt even went so far as to examine in detail the rock strata local to each tribe, to determine whether the flood stories had originated from natives observing fossils in sedimentary rock. But no fossils hat could give rise to such a tale were present. More curious yet was the fact that there were stories of world-engulfing deluges preserved among peoples who had never seen the sea, lakes or great rivers. The legends were thus not based on the Bible; neither were they the product of imagination.

Humboldt concluded that the legends had their origins in a firmly rooted racial memory common to all peoples.

Not only do we find in the various Flood legend descriptions of the general story of hero, deluge, boat and mountain, but they also reveal minor correlating details of a remarkable nature. Byron C, Nelson, in his survey study of deluge stories, noted that animals were saved in legends of the Babylonians, Persians, Syrians, Welsh, Lapps, Alaskans and the Cree. Birds were sent out from the boat according to the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Chinese, the Papagos and Michoacans of Mexico, and people of the Anaman Islands.

Flood scholar Filby found that the Greek Deucalion built an altar after the Deluge, as did Manu—the Hindu Flood hero—as well as the Polynesian and Maori Noahs, who offered up burnt seaweed.

In Genesis, a rainbow appeared after the waters had dried up. To the African Basuto tribe there were four rainbows after the Flood, one in every direction. To the Hawaiians, the Creator rode down on a rainbow to speak to their hero, Nu-u.

In some cases the details are uncanny: Ignatius Donnelly observed that the Toltecs of ancient Mexico recorded that the waters of the Flood rose above the highest mountains one caxolomolati--in Toltec measurement, the equivalent to the Biblical fifteen cubits of Genesis 7:20.

LeHaye and Morris, Flood legend collectors, analyzed 215 legends, and came up with the following statistics of correlated specifics:

Favored family -- 88%
Remnant forewarned -- 66%
Survival by boat -- 70%
Flood due to wickedness -- 66%
Animals saved -- 67%
Survivors on a mountain -- 57%
Birds sent out -- 35%
Rainbow appeared -- 7%
Sacrifice made -- 13%

James E. Strickling, a researcher in the field of statistics for industrial quality control, went one step further and did a statistical analysis based on a number of these same correlations. His findings were significant: The details of similarity, he discovered, are far above what the laws of chance would have permitted had these legends been concocted independently, rather than from a common source. And what was that source? Strickling’s conclusion: a universal memory of a catastrophic event.

Just what that catastrophic event was is not hard to guess. William F. Albright, commenting on the universal deluge stories, stated:

“It is very difficult to separate the myth found all over the world from tremendous floods which must have accompanied successive retreats of the glaciers in the closing phases of the Pleistocene Age. In other words, the Flood story goes back, in one form or another, at least ten or twelve thousand years.”

And this is precisely the same time frame which Plato stipulated was when Atlantis was destroyed in a cataclysm which affected the entire world.

Significantly, the very same date for a global destruction, and the beginnings of a “new world,” have been preserved in the calendars and festivals of almost every ancient culture. We know from Egyptian astronomical observations that Egypt’s calendar was based on a solar cycle of 1,460 years, and the last recorded cycle ended in A.D. 139; the Assyrians and Babylonians possessed lunar periods of 1,805 years each, the last recorded one ending in 712 B.C.E.; the Hindus had a combined luni-solar time measure composed of 2,850 years each, with one terminated in 3102 B.C.E.; and the Mayas counted in heptads or seven-fold baktuns of 2,807 years each, with a baktun completed in 3113 B.C.E. Taking these cycles together, we can figure backward to a specific period when they all appear to have begun about the same time:

A.D. 139 + 8 Egyptian cycles = 11,542 B.C.E.
712 B.C. + 6 Assyrian-Babylonian cycles = 11,542 B.C.E.
3102 B.C.E. + 3 Hindu cycles = 11,652 B.C.E.
3113 B.C.E. + 3 Mayan cycles = 11,534 B.C.E.

The fact that these various ancient calendral cycles come within a century of each other only 12,500 years ago is above and beyond mere chance, and strongly suggests this period was important as commemorating some global event so significant as to be remembered by civilizations on opposite sides of the world from each other.

The event remembered seems to have had something to do with 1) floods, 2) the day of death, 3) the new year day and/ or 4) the heliacal rising of the Pleiades stars—all sometime in the month of November. All over the world, we find special days set aside that had a terrible importance to them.

According to Noah’s diary, preserved in Genesis chapters 7 and 8, the Deluge that destroyed the world commenced on the 17th day of the 2nd month, and ended on the 27th day of the 2nd month a year later. In the Jewish calendar, the 2nd month—Cheshvan—corresponds to the end of October and the beginning of November. Ancient Jewish tradition claims that Noah, on observing the Pleiades on the eastern horizon with the rising Sun, took this as a sign for him and his family to enter into the Ark.

Among the ancient Egyptians was the tradition that Osiris, before becoming god of the underworld, was set afloat in a wooden box for a year’s time, and according to Plutarch, the god was shut up in the box on the “17th day of the month of Athyr,” which originally occurred in November. Athyr was also known as “the shining season of the Pleiades.” Early Egyptian religion regarded the Pleiades as the direction the soul took on its departure from life to the kingdom of Osiris.

The ancient Assyrians held ceremonies for the dead in the month of Arahsamna, our October-November. They believed that in that month the Sun God and the God of the Pleiades became Lords of the Land of the Dead, and that the same month was also sacred to the god of rain and thunder.

The Babylonians associated November with the god Marduk, who they called the Lord of the Deep, and Lord of Abundance, who caused the rains to fall.

The Persians began their New Year in November, or the Mordad month—the month of the angel of death.

The Hindus likewise held the Durga, a celebration of the dead which was originally connected with their New Year, in November. A very early Brahmin calendar discovered at Trivalore named November as Kartica, “the month of the Pleiades.”

The Hottentots of southern Africa gave reverence to their supreme god, Tsui-Goab, when the Pleiades rose. He was the god of storms, rain and thunder.

In many Polynesian islands, the beginning of the new year was regulated by the rising of the Pleiades at sunset, while November was the month to pray to the spirits of the dead.

A native story related to Captain Cook upon his discovery of the Hawaiian islands, links the heliacal rising of the Pleiades with the memory of a great catastrophe: “At that time the earth became hot, the heavens turned about, the sun darkened, while the moon shone brightly, at the time of the rise of the Pleiades—and the Earth came out of the debris.”

A three days’ jamboree feast is held every year in November by the Australian Indigenous Peoples, in which they paint their bodies in imitation of the skeletons of the dead.

In Europe, the Anglo-Saxons called November blood-month; the Celts kept their New Year in November; and in Ireland, Scotland and Wales late October and early November were remembered as a time for ghosts--still preserved in our present tradition of Halloween. The Pleiades were associated by the ancient Britons with great cataclysms and inundations that were said to have shaken and drowned the world.

When the Spanish conquistadors invaded the Incan empire of Peru, they were amazed to find the Incas celebrating a festival called Ayamarca, the “carrying of the corpse,” on precisely the same day as they themselves observed All Souls’ Day, November 2nd. The traditional date of the Peruvian ceremony can be traced to the rising of the Pleiades which was once remembered as having been seen in November with the Sun. The Incas also constructed great years or cycles on the basis of a simple calendar which was regulated by the Pleiades. With this calendar and its festivals are also found flood traditions and primitive death myths associated.

The ancient Mexicans in particular had a devout reverence for the Pleiades as the symbol for the ending of one world and the assurance of the creation of a new one. The Mexicans had two calendars—one based on a 365-day cycle, and the other on a 260-day cycle—and every 52 years when the two came together, the high priests chose victims to be sacrificed in order that the great cycle would repeat again. On the night the two calendars merged (which usually took place in October to December), the priests watched for the Pleiades to reach their zenith, at which time the hearts of their sacrifices were cut out and burned, and fire kindled in the chest cavities, and lit torches were sent by messengers to light the fires in all the temples and homes, to burn continuously for another great cycle of time.

Of utmost significance is the fact that, astronomically, one of the last cycles when the Pleiades rose with the Sun in the month of November occurred twelve millennia ago. Here, then, is a universal memory that embraces almost every major ancient society on the globe, pointing backward to a specific period as being a time of catastrophe and upheaval.

The fact that the period also conforms closely with the beginning dates of the major ancient calendral systems, as well as with Plato’s date for the sinking of Atlantis, cannot be brushed aside as mere coincidence. We are clearly not dealing with myth, but with what must have been an historical event that was so disturbing to humanity as to etch itself deeply in the memories and fears of the collective inner psyche.

An important description of early Atlantis is found in Homer’s Odyssey, preserved in the hero Odysseus’ adventures in Scheria, the abundant land of the Phaeacians. After being captive for seven years by the Calypso, one of the daughters of Atlas, Odysseus was finally allow to leave, and built a raft to sail away from her island of Ogygia. On his departure, Calypso gave the wandering seafarer specific directions to guide him: “Watch the Pleiades and late-setting Bootes, and the Bear which turns in one place and points at Orion, and alone has no share in the washings of the Ocean” (i.e., does not dip below the horizon). “The goddess bade him to keep the star group upon his left hand, as he journeyed over the waters, for seventeen days.”

Now the “Bear” that “turns in one place and points to Orion” is Ursa Major, or the Big Dipper, which circles Polaris, the North Star. By keeping this “star group” on “his left hand,” Odysseus thus sailed on an eastward course. The Pleiades are in the east, and Bootes is in the west: By observing the former in front of him, and the latter directly aft, the hero would also have kept to an easterly course--but because of the nightly rotation of the stars, utilizing this stellar alignment would have caused him to drift to the south as well. Odysseus’ direction, then, was east-southeast.

Homer specified that Ogygia, Odysseus’s departure point, was an island in “Oceanus,” the Atlantic, and that Scheria, to which the hero eventually arrived, was washed by the same waters. That Odysseus was not in the Mediterranean as some commentators have tried to place his voyage, is further made clear by Calypso’s observation: From the Mediterranean, the “Bear,” Ursa Major occasionally sinks below the horizon, but the goddess stated that a different condition existed--from Odysseus’ location, the Bear circled the sky, constantly remaining above the horizon. What this means is that the hero had to have been sailing waters farther north in attitude than those of the Mediterranean. Taking the latitudinal requirements into account, as well as the direction of travel and time, Ogygia can be identified with Nova Scotia on the North American coast. Sailing the Atlantic east-southeast for seventeen days would have brought Odysseus to the Azores. But here Homer described not a group of small islands but rather a very large and fertile land.

As Odysseus approached Scheria from the north, the first thing he saw were “shadowy mountains,” the island looking like “a giant shield rising from the murky sea.” His raft wrecked in a storm, Odysseus swam about in vain along a forbidding shore having “no harbors, channels, with headlands jutting out, and surfs crashing against reefs and cliffs.”

The storm and ocean currents finally swept him around the island, where the hero finally spotted a more hospitable coast upon which to come ashore, with harbors, a city and a fair-flowing river transversing a wooded plain. Plato, in his description of Atlantis, had likewise noted that the island, while mountainous along the northern coast, also possessed a broad and fertile plain crisscrossed by rivers to the south, where also was located Atlantis City.

In Odysseus’ subsequent sojourn in Scheria, we meet time and again with observations and descriptions that bear striking parallels with Plato’s Atlantis: The plain of Scheria was most fertile, and favored by climate and wind, with harvest directly following harvest, without end. Homer mentioned olive trees, vineyards, poplars, pears, apples, figs, pomegranates, and exotic fruits and vegetables--some of the very same flora that Plato mentioned adorning Atlantis.

Plato, we remember, described Atlantis City as being built in a series of alternating rings of land and water, each land ring surrounded by a wall, and canal entrances between the water rings were guarded with towers. Homer depicted Scheria’s city as the “round city,” designed “in separate islands, crowned with rising spires, and deep entrenchments, and high walls of stone, that gird the city like a marble zone.”

The Phaeacian city also had an excellent harbor “full of ships” nearby—like Atlantis City, with its adjacent harbor, filled with the naval commerce of many nations. Repeatedly Homer characterized the Phaeacians as “lovers of sailing”—the Atlanteans, with 1,200 ships and 240,000 sailors, were in their last days also a predominantly sea-faring people.

The Atlanteans, too, possessed 10,000 war chariots and 60,000 light chariots, and one of the land rings of Atlantis City had a race-course along its entire length. Homer noted that the Phaeacians traveled in “chariots, high-built, with good wheels, fitted with a hood” or canopy.

The king of Scheria, Homer wrote, was a direct descendant of the god Poseidon—just as Atlantis, ruler over Atlantis, was Poseidon’s son. Homer stated further that the Phaeacian ruler was a “king among kings,” a commander over other “scepter-bearing kings” who were subordinate to him. We are reminded of the supremacy of Atlas, who reigned over his brothers, and held sway over the other kingdoms and colonies of the Atlantean empire.

These kings, Plato also informed us, met together “at the Temple of Poseidon, wither also the people gathered every fifth and sixth years alternately, to be consulted about public affairs, and to inquire if anyone had transgressed anything.” Homer described how, in the middle of the city of Scheria, “Thee was the assembly place, around a fine temple of Poseidon, fashioned from deep-embedded stones.” The Atlantean kings sacrificed bulls to Poseidon; Homer, on three different occasions, depicted the Phaeacian monarch sacrificing heifers, oxen and bulls to the same god.

Near to the Poseidon Temple and king’s residence, Plato related how a four-acre garden existed that had, “two streams of water, one of warm water and the other cold. They (the Atlanteans) constructed buildings around about them, and planted suitable trees; also cisterns, some open to the heavens, others roofed over, to be warm in winter; there were the king’s baths, and the baths of the private persons.” Homer tells us about the garden of the Phaeacian king:

“Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect crowned, this through the garden leads, its streams around. To various use their various streams they bring; the people one, and one supplies the king.”

It is clear that Homer and Plato were describing one and the same land.

One could argue that the parallels between Scheria and Atlantis might have been the result of “borrowing” by one writer from another. But a closer examination reveals that Homer and Plato received their information from separate, independent sources, for each author also offered details not given by the other, yet which are complementary to the combined narrative of the whole.

Plato, for example, only briefly mentions the residence of the Atlantean king, but does describe the Temple of Poseidon. Homer, however, through Odysseys’ eyes, stops to depict the Phaeacian king’s home with great marvel: It was a high-roofed hall, faced on the exterior with bronze walls accenting friezes in dark blue. At the entrance was large bronze doors, gold portals, with silver doorposts and lintel; on either side stood gold and silver sculptured dogs on guard. Inside, tapestries of a weaving surpassing any of the Greeks or Egyptians hung in decoration. Armchairs for royalty were spaced evenly along the walls, as were pedestals on which youths stood at night, holding flaming torches for light. In the center of the hall, highly polished tables, with golden pitchers and silver basins, were laid out with food and wine for guests. Present also were small pools and baths where the king, his counselors and citizens received libations of water and olive oil on special occasions. The hall was large enough, too, to provide floor space for contests in boxing, wrestling, jumping, running, weightlifting and archery.

This rich splendor and lavishness of the king’s palace, as given by Homer, matches the majestic opulence of the Temple of Poseidon, described by Plato, which we mentioned earlier.

Another interesting highlight that Homer offered us is a more detailed history of the origins and rulers of the Atlantean people than given by Plato. According to the poet, the Phaeacians first dwelt n the land of Hyperia (Hyperborea) in the far north. While inhabiting that region the people were attacked by a gigantic race, called the Cyclops (the same as the Gorgon-Neanderthalers?). The Phaeacian king at that time was Nausithoos, who was the son of Poseidon and Periboea, the daughter of Eurymedon, once ruler over another titan race, the Giants (a Lemurian-Mwvian race, related to the gods Poseidon, Zeus and Hades?). Nausithoos led his people out of Hyperia, escaping the further onslaughts by the Cyclops, and settled in Scheria (The route they took was very likely over a land bridge connection between northern Europe and Atlantis) As an interesting parallel, in the Norse sagas, the dwellers of Asgard guarded a land bridge called Bifrost against an invasion by the “mountain-giants and frost-giants from the north.”

Upon reaching Scheria, Nausithoos and his people built their capital city, “set walls around the city, built houses, made temples to the gods, and divided up the fields.” Nausithoos died, and his son Alcinoos reigned—and he was the king who Homer had his hero, Odysseus, meet during his exploits. So Homer’s description dates back to the second generation of rulers. Alcinoos had a brother named Phrexenor who died at an early age; the king married his daughter, Arete, and together they fostered a daughter of their own, Nausicaa, as well as five sons, three of them named Laodamas, Hallos and Clytoneus.

The details of this history given by Homer are admittedly different from those presented by Plato, but only in minor respects. The names of the principles, except for Poseidon, are not the same--but we know that Plato’s appellations for the Atlantean ancestors and kings were derived from Solon, who had translated the names into Greek. Homer’s source on Atlantis, on the other hand, being more detailed in respect to the early rulers and their offspring, may have preserved names closer to the originals.

One other difference to note between Plato’s and Homer’s description of the Atlanteans involves their communications with other peoples. Plato depicted Atlantis as an aggressive empire, actively colonizing the Americas, Europe and Africa, and warring against the many prehistoric nations of the Mediterranean. Homer, however, pictured Scheria as isolated, “far from bread-earning men,” with the Phaeacians suspicious of all foreigners, and trading little with them. One must remember, however, that Plato was describing Atlantis in its last days as a decadent empire; Homer’s source, on the other hand, gives us a view of Atlantis in a far earlier time, during the reign of its second king, and only a generation away from the settling of Atlantis itself. Between Homer and Plato, then, we are given insights into two different eras of the history of Atlantis—at its beginning and at its end.

And what both Plato and Homer described likewise coincides with what the Genesis record has to say about the early and final history of the Antediluvian people.

As noted earlier, long before Atlantis completely disappeared beneath the Atlantic amid natural catastrophes, the land had been subject to several previous convulsions, namely, the disappearances of its European and African land bridges, its reduction from a large continental mass to three islands, and subsequently its further reduction to only one large island. Homer records that another earth upheaval took place during the reign of king Alcinoos, which nearly ruined Atlantis City. The god Poseidon became angered against the Phaeacians for harboring Odysseus, and determined to punish them for this misdeed. Homer tells how a returning Phaeacian ship, within sight of Scheria’s city, was suddenly “turned to stone and rooted beneath,” growing quickly into a “great mountain,” a “tall mountain” that “hid the city” from outsiders. What we have here, couched in fabled terms, is the description of a volcano that rose from the ocean floor directly off the Atlantean coast in front of Atlantis City, and blocked the City’s docks, preventing shipping to the outside world. Homer related that king Alcinoos and his counselors sacrificed twelve bulls to Poseidon as an appeasement, in order to remove the mountainous obstruction. Homer did not conclude the story, but the language strongly suggests that the supplication was heard, and the volcano sank back into the sea. It is noteworthy that this has been the characteristic of several volcanic islands that have appeared in the Atlantic within more recent history. They erupt violently, build up a cone-crater of island proportions quickly, then—in a few weeks or months after activity has stopped—they sink slowly back into the sea, or the ocean waters quickly erode them away.

As a final point of discussion we may raise the question as to whether the Atlanteans possessed sophisticated forms of power and machinery. It is interesting that Homer, in the Odyssey, refers to the Phaeacians possessing special ships in very remarkable terms. In a conversation with Odysseus, king Alcinoos discloses:

“Tell me your land and your district and your city, so that the ships that are steered by thought may convey you there. For there exists no pilots among the Phaeacians, and there are no rudders at all such as other ships have, but the ships themselves know the intentions and minds of the men. They know the cities and fertile fields of all men, and very swiftly, shrouded in a mist and a cloud, they traverse the gulf of the sea. There is no fear at all for them that they suffer harm or be lost.”

On his trip aboard a Phaeacian ship, Odysseus describes the craft with these curious words: “Her stern was raised up, and behind her there surged a great purple wave of the loud-roaring sea. She ran swiftly and steadily, nor could the circling hawks, the nimblest of winged things, have kept up, so rapidly did it run as it cut the waves of the sea.” Odysseus further reported that the Phaeacian ship traveled from the Atlantic to his home in Ithaca, Greece, in a single night. If the journey took eight hours, it means the two thousand miles’ distance could only have been covered at speeds of 250 miles per hour or more. The descriptions and speed are clearly not that of an ordinary sailing ship, but match that of a modern hovercraft or hydrofoil. We have evidence here that Homer’s Phaeacians—who were also Plato’s Atlanteans and Genesis’ Antediluvians—possessed automatic pre-programmed navigation systems as well as power sources and means of propulsion equal to what we possess for sea craft today.

[Copyright 2009. Joseph Robert Jochmans. All Rights Reserved.]