Atlantis

The father of Gods "Zeus"

Zeus: The supreme deity of the Greek pantheon

The superior deity of the Greek pantheon. Zeus (or Dias) was the superior god of the ancient Greek, the "father of men and gods" according to Homer. He was the son of Cronus and Rhea and brother of Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera. He was Hera's husband as well.

When Rhea gave birth to a baby, Cronus grabbed it and swallowed it so as to avoid an oracle to happen according to which one of his children was going to dethrone him. Rhea in order to save the last son (Zeus) she was pregnant to goes to Crete (see Theogony 459) and there in a cave of mountain Dikti or Idi she delivered the child and gave it to the Nymphs Adrasteia and Idi and to the Courites. When she returned to her heavenly husband she gave him a stone in swaddling clothes and he swallowed it without any suspicion.

The ancient writers refer to Zeus' nutrition in many different ways. According to one version on mountain Dicte of Crete Zeus drank the milk of a goat named Amaltheia. The goat Amaltheia was a dreadful animal. She came from Sun and her look was so frightening that Titans could not put up with her. That is why they had asked Gaia to hide her in a den in the island of Crete. They took Zeus there. According to many others Amaltheia was a nymph; this is more believable.

According to Athineus Zeus was raised by doves. "They brought him ambrosia from the sides of the ocean. An eagle with sharp claws took the nectar every night from the source and brought it to him through the air. This is why Zeus after beating his father Cronus gave immortality to the eagle and made him a star. As far as the doves are concerned gave them the nice duty to announce the seasons. ". According to others the care of the raise of Cronus' son was assigned to the two daughters of the king of Crete Mellitus, Adrasteia and Melissa.

The Courites danced war dances around the infant, when it cried, hitting their swords on their shields so as not the crying to be heard. They were his protectors. Zeus grew up with many precautions, hidden in the mountains of Crete. Then he had to fight with his father, Cronus, beat him and make him spit out all the children he had swallowed so far. As many were saying Zeus castrated Cronus, like Cronus had castrated his own father, Uranus. Then he released the Cyclops who made lighting for him and later the Hecatonchires. Having become strong with them and even more with Ocean's daughter, Styga, and her children, Violence and Cratos, Zelus and Victory, Zeus fought for ten whole years the Titans, the older "gods", who did not accept him as the leader. And when he threw them in Tartars, was in the need to fight the sons of Iapetus, Atlas and Menoetius, Prometheus and Epimetheus. Then he sentenced Atlas to hold forever the dome and nailed Prometheus in Caucasus. And when the Giants came to take revenge for what happened to the Titans he beat them as well with the help of Poseidon, Athena and Hercules. In the end, he fought with Typhoon, and unbeatable monster, offspring of Tartarus and Earth or Hera. At that time Zeus was in great danger because Typhoon rolled himself with his tails around Zeus' body, cut his neurons and threw him half dead in a precipice. Then winged Hermes helped him stealing the nerves and giving them to Zeus, and Aegipanas stitched them again for him. So Zeus could feel his strength back again and discipline Typhoon.

As a recognized chief Zeus shared the world with his brothers. At the sharing Poseidon got the sea, Hades the underworld and Zeus got the shy and earth. So Zeus became the superior governor and restituted peace in the world, which he governed from the peaks of Olympus. But even then Zeus had problems. He coped with a conspiracy of Hera (his wife), Poseidon and Athena inside his own palace. He avoided being dethroned only with Thetis' action that brought from the depth of the ocean as a supporter of Zeus giant Briareus, respected by everyone. This conspiracy of the palace against Zeus was not the only hostile action of Hera, since according to some variations of the myths Hera had prompted the Titans against Zeus preferring as king of the gods Cronus or Atlas. She even had given birth to Typhoon to Destroy Zeus.

Myths attributed to Zeus many romances with goddesses and mortal women that usually caused Hera's criminal jealousy. According to these Zeus changed into animals, birds, rain, etc., and had intercourse with the ones he fell in love with. So he gave birth to numerous gods, demigods and heroes. That's why most king generations of ancestry were proud of coming from him. His symbols of reign were the lightning, eagle, oak tree and mace. He was worshiped everywhere in Greece. But he was particularly worshiped in Athens, where was build the famous Olympion was built, in Olympia, where the Olympic Games were held on his honor, in Dodona, in Crete, in Ithomi, etc. The Romans called him Jupiter and thought of him above all other Italian gods. Some adjectives attributed to him were stygious (infernal), pluvius (rainy), uvidus (vigorous) and other.

In art, that inspired a lot, he was usually pictured sitting on his throne holding the lightning. Two of his most famous ancient statues were "Olympius Zeus" by Phidias and "Ithomates Zeus" by Ageladus.

Historic analysis - Comments

Zeus as a son of Titan Cronus and Rhea came form the Titans. Although his parents lived according to the Greek mythology somewhere in the ocean, in the island of Makaron, it was necessary that Rhea delivered him in Crete where he was raised by nymphs Adrasteia and Idi or according to others nymph Amaltheia. The Courites protected him with their weapons (swords and shields). But on the mountain where he lived he ate among other things ambrosia or drank nectar. Ambrosia during ancestry was the food of gods and nectar (that came from ambrosia) was their drink. An eagle or dove brought him every night ambrosia and nectar from a source in the sides of the ocean through the air. Could this eagle or dove be a flying device that traveled every night to the island of Makaron (see Atlantis) to bring to the baby food and other supplies that did not exist in Crete? Besides, let's not forget that the newborn Zeus was a "god", that is his blood was royal and his mother raised him to be a king. Zeus after dethroning his father released his brothers from prison ("Cronus ate his children" the myths say "but being gods they were alive"). To establish his reign he had to fight the other Titans in a fratricide, terrible battle of the Titans (Titanomachy). After beating the Titans the new "gods" were suddenly attacked by the Giants who doubted their reign. A new circle of terrible war started, Gigantomachy, in which the new "gods" won again.

Greek mythology says that Zeus built his palace and governed from the top of Olympus (Thessaly) although he grew up in Crete. Despite the fact that he came from the generation of the Titans who lived in the ocean and his father and grandfather (Uranus) governed the world from their palace in the islands of Eden of Makaron, he chose the top of a mountain (not a mountain of Crete where he grew up but a mountain in Thessaly) to live and govern along with the other gods.

This is a real change of the home of the Kingdom of gods, registered in myths. Or did the ancient Greeks or Pregreeks later adjusted myths according to their tradition having them live in their own village? Or is it that the Atlantians who survived the great cataclysm, Deucalion (nephew of Atlas) and his family who survived the destruction of Thessaly moved there his worship (the fact that Deucalion became the king of Thessaly matches this version). All these are under investigation.

However, whichever of the three is true, myths admit that Zeus, although he reigned from Olympus, he contacted his friends the Giants, Cyclops or Titans who lived in the ocean and helped him (for instance Giant Vriires came from the ocean to help him cope with Hera's coup.

Mythical peoples, places and monsters

The islands of the blessed or Elysian fields

The Elysian Fields and the Isles of the blessed (or Fortunate Isles) in the imagination of the Ancient were identical, except that in the first case they are plains and in the second case these are about blessed islands (or for only one island). They were heavenly places on the far side of the earth, westward, near the ocean, which the auras caressed or the gentle breathes of Zephyros that were coming from the ocean, without either freezing or warming them, much. These islands were governed by Rhadamanthus, who performed the commandments of Cronus.

In these heavenly places, the beloved heroes of the ancient Greeks went when they died. There, the "gods" gave them immortality and spent a carefree life, without suffering neither snow nor heavy winters or downpours. The prominent heroes who went there were enjoying everything that the common people could not enjoy on the earth. They spent their hours without any worry about their livelihood, they are exercising, running on their horses, playing pessos, accompanying their songs with the guitar and of course they all eat together crowned. They sit together - chatting and chatting for hours in a fragrant atmosphere, which smells pleasantly from the incense burning over the altars of the gods.

From the sources we know we learn that the Elysian hosted Menelaus, Cadmus, Peleus, Diomedes, Lycus (who was the son of Poseidon and Pleiada Celaeno) and Achilles.

In that blessed place the sun shines day and night without darkness. The land here gives its fruit three times a year. All around the state there are meadows and forests of towering cedar trees and trees with golden fruits. The rivers run in winter - summer quietly without overflowing and polluting the crops, not even drying out.

Gorgon-Medusa

The head of Gorgon-Medusa Medusa was a horrible monster who instead of hair had snakes, huge teeth like wild boar, bronze hands, and gold fins to fly. Her eyes were so frightening that they petrified whoever dared to look at them. It was one of the Gorgons, a race of women for which Hesiod wrote that they were living beyond the ocean, on the edge of the earth, near Night.

Diodorus Siculus claims that the Gorgons were warlike people, just like the Amazons, and they lived where the Atlanteans themselves. Medusa Gorgon was the leader of this people. Medusa-Gorgon and Poseidon gave birth to giant Chrysaor, who lived beyond the ocean. Later, Chrysaor became the king of the red place, the island of Erythia of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Greek tradition refers to the Perseus campaign in the northwest of Africa, where the Atlas Mountains is located. There, he faced the hostile army of the Gorgons and he conquered the queen of Medusa Gorgon and he decapitated her.

Ambrosia

In ancient times ambrosia was called the food of Greek gods, as nectar was called their drink. From the taste of these two or even only the immortality of the gods of Olympia was based. Our old traditions show even mortals to become immortal only when they are anointed with ambrosia, as was the case with Demophon, Achilles and others. On the other hand, the word itself does not reveal anything other than immortality, some writers treat it in some cases instead of immortality.

Ambrosia is sometimes put on the importance of ointment to treat wounds or cleanser. For example, Hera cleanses her skin with ambrosia make it look nicer.

But other writers want ambrosia as a source in the Garden of Hesperides. This tradition shows that it is the same place where, according to Homer (Odyssey, H, 62), the pigeons brought Ambrosia to Zeus during his infancy and were obliged to pass by flying from the Stone Plates, which were rocks in the west of Scylla and Charybdis (note: it is considered to be the Sicilian strait).

The Civilization of Atlanteans

Atlanteans were self-luminous and self-made. The native Atlanteans developed a great civilization in their state, which has been transmitted to all their places of residence.

In almost all places of the world, where the Atlanteans have set foot in, there are magnificent remains of their civilization. The origin of these samples is regarded by mythology and ancient history as unknown. But through tradition they appear Titans in superiority (e.g. Iapetus, Atlas, Prometheus etc.), Giants in spirit and body, Cyclops for hardwork, Chief leaders with prestige and force, conquerors, heroes and even gods (Cronus, Poseidon, Hermes (son of Maia, daughter of Atlas), Proteus, Nereus, Triton, Mixchoatl - god of Maya, Tlaloc and Cihuocoatl - gods of Aztec etc.).

All these were Atlanteans that carried on their shoulders the weight of the world - the way the figure of Atlas is characteristically depicted. Furthermore, Ptolemy named after “Atlas” his geographical maps.

Plato, the philosopher of ancient times, provides us in the dialogue of “Critias”, with evidence for the civilization, the way of life, the technical achievements, and the administration of the Atlanteans. In this dialogue of 350 BC, he gives astonishing details “for the civilization of a nation that was named Atlanteans”, which have been taken by the notes of Solon and ended to the grandfather of Critias, then to Critias the grandson and finally to Plato. I divide the descriptions of Plato in three chapters for the needs of this site.

The civilization of the Atlanteans from other sources:

Apart form Plato’s description (Solon notes), we have information for the Atlanteans from other known sources or even traditions and myths of other ancient nations that lived after the Atlanteans. Many evidence of Central America betray the inhabitance of the Atlanteans.

The Aztecs come from Aztlan tribe. Atlatl was a mechanism that hurled javelins. Their first capital was named Tenochtitlan. In Mexico, Guatemala and the USA there are many ancient names of places, e.g. Etla, Metla, Atitlan, Atlanta etc., with atl or tlan as prefix or ending of the word. Mayas in Peru believed they are the “children of Pleiades”, that were the daughters of Atlas. The endings of the words in their “gods”, such as Tlaloc, Mixcoatl, Quetzalcoatl and the noble Nachuatlatl, reveal their origin. The trident of Pisco in Peru was the symbol of Poseidis - Atlantis. Antitlan, a volcano in Guatemala, greeted Atlas, Anti-Atlas and the Saharan Middle Atlas, the mountains of Morocco in north Africa. The traces of the same ancient civilization are spotted from America to the Persian Gulf. These legends become history with the new found at times in the Atlantic Ocean.
The first astronomer of earth was Atlas who had access to the oracle at Delphi, is referred by Hesiod. The names, “Pleiades, Hyades, Orion, Ursa” etc. that Homer copied by secret sources of the oracle, belong to the heroes of Atlantis and originate from Atlas. “The Sons of the Sun” and “Heliads” following the Atlanteans in east and west had knowledge on astronomy. The Aztec astronomical calendar includes the personification of Sun, signs of the zodiac, unknown symbols and ideograms. Two structures in Palenque and Teotihuacan look like observatories. Proteus, who guided Hercules to Atlas, had knowledge in astronomy and navy. In the astronomical calendar of the island Anti-Cythera there is a reference in the words Pleiades, Sun, Hesperia, reminding of Atlantis. All these convince us of the progress Atlanteans made on astronomy and other relevant fields.
According to Homer, the boats of Poseidon race (of Nausithous etc.) were automotive. They could pass through the mist without the help of helms and captains and there was no fear in being lost or damaged. Aolecentaur used in his fleet the windbags of Aeolus. Odysseus narrates similar old stories. The Atlanteans commanded a fleet of 1200 boats, according to Plato. One Aztec statue in the Museum of Mexico looks like a mechanical device of loading liquid gases and has the folds of a windbag. It is labeled Xolotl, the God of Winds and was worshipped by Aztecs. Oannes were coming out of sea in diving-suites inside a huge egg. Furthermore, Hercules traveled in Hesperides within a copper earthenware jar. The “egg” and the “jar” are described as boats or submarines. All these convince us that Atlanteans had many boats motivated by liquid gases.
The Pleiades "took out wings, flew and became stars", tradition says. The Mayan Quetzalcoatl, descended from the Pleiades with a metal bird. The Phaethon (of Atlantean Generation) was climbing in the sun with a chariot that was driven by winged horses and burned.
Hermes was more fortunate, as was Quetzalcoatl. Hermes with his wings, the Aphrodite's belt and the Caduceus, was flying everywhere. Phrixus also managed to fly by the flying ram with the "golden fleece (wool)".
The bronze Talos was flying around in Crete.
Enkidu flew, too, with a bronze bird.
On the Easter Island some people came by flying machines, calling them "people - birds" (this island we believe was the place of Atlantean exile). A trident in a mountain of Peru led to "Nasca Airport".
Ancient dishes found in Tibet describe an adventure of people who landed, necessarily, with the flying machines in the Himalayas.
The Stymphalian birds launched, from above, flaming arrows.
Daedalus and Icarus (of Atlantean origin - lived after the flood) were trying to make a device with wings to fly.
All these and other elements, such as the ancient plans found to resemble aircrafts, as well as the "pilot of the Palenque burial plate", convince us that the Atlantes had invented, after many failures (Pleiades who flew and were lost, Phaethon burned ) perfect flying devices. As a fuel, they should use liquefied petroleum gas as well as for their ships.
Many elements that we have gathered and consider them to be scientifically important lead us to the view that the Pyramids of Egypt and Central America were made by the Atlantes and used as tanks - a liquefied gas storage. After thousands of years, Pharaohs in Egypt used them as graves and presented them as works of their own. The achievements of science in our century, however, led researchers to review this belief. So, many opinions have been expressed. Let's add our own view ...

Ancient statues of king Atlas that betray the influence of Atlantis to Greece and other countries.

atlas

Marble statue of Atlas lifting on its shoulders the earth (found in the Museum of Neapoli in Italy)

Sculptured statue (460 BC) in the metope of the Zeus temple in ancient Olympia, in which Atlas (in the middle), the giant, carries the heavens. On the right there is Hercules and on the left a nymph. This statue is found in the museum of Olympia.

Architectural sculpture of Atlas in the ancient theater of Dionysius.

atlasakraganta

Architectural sculpture of Atlas in Acragas of Sicily.

© Theodoros Paschos, Greece, 2000

the author's name in Linear B

The war between the Atlanteans and the Athenians

The martial clash between the ancient Athenians and the attacker Atlanteans is described in the two plays of the ancient Athenian philosopher Plato "Timaeus" and "Kritias", in which it is clearly mentioned that everything written "is not a fictitious legend but a true story" :

The dialogue "TIMAEUS" according to Plato

In his dialogue "Timaeus" Plato (427 - 347 B.C.) mentions among others the story which Kritias narrated which he knew by the old tradition. This story, as Kritias says, is true and it had been written since very ancient times in Solon's notes. Solon had visited ancient Egypt (in 590 B.C.) where the priests led him to the sacred town Sais in the delta of the Nile river. In that town there was the temple of Niith (Athena in Greek) which was the goddess in which believes the inhabitants as their leader and founder of the city. Inside that temple they revealed him the ancient secrets which were written in books and stones with hieroglyphic symbols. Some of the secrets that the priests translated to Solon were the following:

That the city of Sais was organised and civilized in the sacred letters eight thousand years ago. The ancient inhabitants of the city of Athens had already developed a civilization a thousand years before (that is 9000 years before Solon's visit). This happened before the great flood. The goddess Naith (Athena) who was the common protector of the city of the fellow citizens of Solon and Said, brought up people and shed her light firstly on Athens and then Sais.
That there was one more great power at that period, Atlantis, which fought with all the world, including Athenians.

We mention, translated to the modern Greek language, what the priests of Sais told about the second subject, which interests us, to Solon (The notes in the parenthesis are ours):

"...Many and great achievements of your city (note: it refers to Athens as it was before the grate cataclysm) are written here (note: it means carved in the stones of the temple of Sais) so as (the city) to be admired. However, one stands out in grandeur and heroism. Because our writing say that your city faced once a great power, which was invading at the same time, to the Europe and Asia, "coming rushingly from the Atlantic open sea". Because then, that open sea (pelagos) could be walked, because in his entrance, there was an island (land) in the mouth which you now call Hercules Stones (note: it means Gibraltar). This island was larger than Libya and Asia together, and through it travelers could go to other islands.

(25) and from those islands, afterwards, to all the endless continent which was found around that real Ocean. Because these places, any of which are inside the strait which we mentioned, they look like a harbor which has a narrow entrance , those (out) however of the strait are a real ocean and the ground (land) which surrounds them can undoubtedly and very correctly be called a continent".

"In this island, Atlantis, "The Atlantic island" was formed a great and wonderful power of kings which ruled the whole island and "many other islands and places of the continent". Apart from those places, mostly, from the inside part to Libya, dominated up to Egypt, and from the side of Europe until Tyrrhenia (note: this is how was West Italy called). All this power, after gathering and forming a unit, it attempted with a rushing out to enslave both yours and our place, and all the places to the inside of the narrow pass (Hercules Stones). It was then, Solon, that the power of your city shone to the eyes off all people for its heroism and its bravery. Because it surpassed everyone in courage and the arts which were enforced to war, at the beginning as head, leader of the Greeks, and later when she remained alone, when the other rebelled, after it had faced innumerable great dangers, it beat the invaders and setup triumphs. Therefore, all those who hadn't enslaved yet, it prevented them from being slaves and released bravery all the others, who lived as we did, in the inside, where are the limits of the Hercules stones".

Δ. "Later, however, because happened horrible and terrifying, earthquakes and floods, a terrible a day and night was enough for all your army to disappear all at once. The earth opened and shallowed them and after that sang and disappeared the island of Atlantis. For this reason, until now, that pelagos is impassable and unexplored because it really impedes the mass of mad to the shallow rocks which were left in that place after the sinking of the island..."

The author's name in Linear B

The administration of the State

Plato, in the dialogue of “Critias”, is firstly referred to the war between Athenians-Atlanteans, the origin of the Atlanteans and their technical achievements while, finally, he makes a reference to the administration of Atlantis (word-by-word translation):

"...Atlantis was administrated by ten kings. The council of the ten with Atlas as a leader or the king of the central nation from the Atlas genre, took decisions for every case of the island, according to the laws of Poseidon. The same council judged the king who infringed the law. They organized, for the sake of this trial, a special ritual by sacrificing bulls, making libations and taking oaths that they will judge according to the laws written on the relevant pillars. They wore a beautiful azure uniform and hung on them a golden table, where they wrote the verdict.

The law that controlled the mutual affairs and the power of the kings was curved, as ordered by Poseidon, on a brass pillar, placed in the central temple of the God. The oath taken by the kings included horrible curses for those who would violate it. As for the other topics, kings exercised absolute power to their subjects, but obeyed to the laws and honored god, by whom they came from.

Every share (department) of the country was a hundred stadions (18.500 square meters) in extent, while all together came to sixty thousand.

The inhabitants of the country were innumerable and therefore lived in equally divided areas in villages and mountains having each one a leader. The leader of every area was obliged at wartime to mobilize soldiers and sailors and arm coaches.

During mobilization, people from all areas gathered ten thousand coaches, each one equipped by a couple of horses that pulled them, one coachman, two accompanying horses with two riders, two infantrymen heavily armed, two archers, two experts in throwing sling and three grinders and three men throwing stones. In the royal city they mobilized 4 sailors per region corresponding with each of the 1.200 boats. In the rest nine provinces the same system took valid. In this way everything was classified.

The Atlanteans ruled over many other islands of the sea and around their Continent. As soon as they organized their country so perfectly, they expanded towards Egypt and Tyrrhenia and later to other places of the earth. They stayed in Europe and seized all of their then known countries and the known areas of Asia. However, as mentioned in the beginning, the troops that marched out against Greece, while managed to seize the coasts of southwest Peloponnese, did not occupy Athens, according to the Sais scripts.

The dwellers of Atlantis lived peacefully, made good use of what earth provided and developed their culture. They had high morals, obeyed to the rules, leaders, priests and fortune-tellers, who took care of their health and convenience.Their morals “reflected honesty and bravery in all circumstances”. They did not have feelings of hatred and could control themselves without being carried away by passions. As long as they lived in their land they have not been taken over by wealth and comfortable life. They were pious and fair.

But later, when their faith to god was lost, the corruption begun. The divine-immortal element has been mixed many times with the mortal and dominated over the human ethics. People did not have the power to retain their harmony and their behavior was horrid. They became arrogant regarding themselves as the best nation and were obsessed by the passion to increase their wealth and power.

When Zeus saw how these kind people were being driven to misery, decided to punish them so as to be more careful. He then invited all the gods to their most gorgeous palace and said to them..."

At this point the dialogue of “Critias” ends, but Plato with the phrase in the beginning of this dialogue “as mentioned previously” is referred to “Timaeus”.

Zeus (Dias)

Zeus was the chief deity of the pantheon for the ancient Greeks, the “father of humans and gods” for Homer. He was, according to Greek mythology, son of Cronus and Rhea and brother of Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera (also husband). As soon as Rhea delivered him, she hid the infant Zeus in a cave on Crete in order to save him by Cronus, who swallowed his sons, because of the fate that one of them would dethrone him. There he was nursed by the nymph (or female goat) Amalthaea. After Zeus grew to manhood he led a revolt against the Titans and Giants and succeeded in dethroning Cronus, with the assistance of his brothers Hades and Poseidon, with whom he then divided dominion over the world. During the draw, sea fell in Poseidon, the lower world in Hades and in Zeus the sky and the earth. So Zeus became a ruler and dispensed justice to the world by the foot of Olympus.

Ancient statues and temples in honor of Zeus

Represantation of statue of Dias in ancient Olympia

Statue of Zeus in ancient Olympia. This sculpture is a fictitious reconstruction of the statue of Zeus, created by the ancient sculptor Pheidias in 435 BC in the temple of Zeus in ancient Olympia. It was one of the most perfect masterpieces of ancient Greece. Its height was 13 m. The mantle and jewels were made of sheets of gold. Its body, face, right shoulder, arms and the lower part of its feet were made of ivory. The god hold in its right hand the Winged Victory made of gold and ivory symbolizing his victory against Titans. In his left hand there was a sceptre, 4 m. high that ended in an eagle, symbol of his power. The pedestal of the statue was made of azure of Eleusis marble and had luxuriously graven images (Sun on his chariot, emerging Venus, Amphitrite and Poseidon, Hera, Hermes and Hestia, Athena and Hercules etc.). This statue has been plundered in 80 BC by Sulla and in 393 AD by Alaric, chief of the Visigoths.

> The Columns of the god Zeus in Athens

The Pillars of the god Zeus
(in Athens)

The author's name in Linear B

The technical achivements of Atlanteans, the climate and subsoil

Plato, in his dialogue of “Critias”, after having been primarily referred in the war between Athenians - Atlanteans and the "Genealogy of the Atlanteans" (see here), is then referred to their progress in technology and to their most important technical achievements. The favourable climate and the rich subsoil played a vital role in this progress. The translation of the text is word-by-word:

"...The country was rich and productive. There was abundance in all goods of life. Atlantis was distinguished for its expanded flora. Its vegetation was luxuriant. There were many tall and big trees, with plenty of vegetables, soft and dried fruits. It fed many tame and wild animals, and a great number of domesticated elephants. The subsoil was rich in noble and valuable metals, mainly copper, bronze, gold, silver and tin. Bronze was evaluated after gold. They also used ivory mostly in decorations.

The climate and environment, “the dominant mild temperature of seasons”, was ideal for the evolution of people’s intelligence, high virtues, sobriety, discernment, power and grandeur. All the inhabitants were pro-labor, progressive and gradually developed an enviable and incomparable civilization.

They constructed mines and foundries, and also small industries where they elaborated metals used also in their dreamlike constructions.

All the necessary means for their life and their tools were made of fine metals. The emblems of kings and leaders, the sacred ware, the craters and cups for the libations and the ornaments were all made of pure gold. Many of their statues were made of gold and ivory together with silver and bronze.

They constructed grandeur structures, majestic palaces and other mansions, temples, altars, big bridges, arches, harbors, shipyards and navy yards, canals, artificial lakes, large boats, chariots and plenty of statues, monuments, tombs and pyramids. Their temples were made of colored boulders and those of great importance were covered by golden, silver, tin or bronze plates. The temples had a trapezoid shape.

The central palace was gorgeous. It stood imposing on a hill. Its walls were built with huge carved stones in black, white and red color, ornamented with tin. On the one hand they chopped the huge stones in order to build the mansions in the stony soil and on the other hand they constructed in the interior two deep store rooms for boats, having the same roof of rock.

The wall of the Acropolis was faced with bronze, that seemed as if shining through flames.

In Acropolis there was situated the beautiful temple of Poseidon, made of ivory and gold. The statue of god was stood in a chariot with six winged horses and it was so high that reached the roof of the temple. It was surrounded by one hundred Nereids sitting on delphins. The altar was also found in the Acropolis and was similarly beautiful as the temple. There were still plenty of statues.

The mansions and the Acropolis were surrounded by water rings connected with passages that led to the center. The passages were blocked by gates placed between towers - guardhouses - and above them there were bridges. Their opening had space for a trireme, which could sail underground below the bridges.

The water rings of the Acropolis were connected with sea - which was fifty stadions (9.250 meters) apart - by a canal of three square measures (88,71 meters) width and one hundred feet (25 meters) depth. At the edge of the canal there was a vast entry with a great capacity for the boats to pass through rings.

The big harbor near Atlantis, the capital of the united kingdom, was spacious and always full of boats and merchants from all over the world. The stores for the ships were full of triremes and enough equipment placed in order. The fleet of Atlantis was consisted of 1.200 different boats.

Regarding their other constructions, many of them were made of colorful blended stones that looked exquisite. They constructed, in the fertile land, an artificial lake of ten thousand stadions (1.850 square kilometers), where they conveyed the surplus of water for the summer. The lake water was channeled through ditches and dikes to the plain in order to water the fields. In this way, they regulated cultivation and mowed twice a year!

In the sacred forest of Poseidon, there were springs with cold and hot water and roofed outdoor tanks. In Atlantis, there were also gardens with plants and flowers, gymnasiums and a hippodrome.

Up on the hills, they constructed lakes with dams, connected with wide dikes and rivers coming from the plain. In these lakes, they accumulated the pieces of wood, chopped them and then released water so as to sweep them off the dikes towards the plain."

...and the dialogue of “Critias” by Plato continues with the "Administration of the State" (see here).

(Museum of Atlantis): Representation of Atlantis structure formed in
three rings of water and three rings of land, according to Plato.

The author's name in Linear B

Subcategories

Atlantis Museum

Mythology

Ελληνικά και ξένα στοιχεία μυθολογίας σχετικά με την Ατλαντίδα. Άμεσες ή έμμεσες αναφορές για την Ατλαντίδα στη μυθιστορία-μυθολογία των αρχαίων λαών, Ελλήνων και άλλων. Ιστορική ερμηνεία των μύθων