Atlantis in the Old Testament

The divine stone, that eventually destroyed the successive empires.

The divine stone comes from Daniel 2:31-45. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon dreams of a great statue, and Daniel explains the dream. The statue is made of different materials, and a stone destroys it.

The statue and its four metals

The usual reading gives each part of the statue to an empire:

• Head of Gold: the Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar.
• Chest and Arms of Silver: the Medo-Persian Empire.
• Belly and Thighs of Bronze: the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great.
• Legs of Iron: the Roman Empire.
• Feet partly of Iron and partly of Clay: a divided kingdom, often read as the later Roman Empire.

There is another reading. The metals can stand for the four ages of Atlantis.

The Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age of Atlantis

Daniel 2:34-35: the stone becomes a mountain

In the dream, a stone that no human hand cut strikes the statue’s feet. All the metals break into dust, the wind carries them off, and the stone grows into a mountain.

“While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.”

An alternative translation

This version says the metals “were turned into one” before they became dust.

“Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were turned into one, and became as dust from the harvest floor, and the wind swept them away so that no trace of them was found. But the stone that smashed the idol became a great mountain and filled all the land.”

Read with the four ages, the dream tells one story. Gold, silver, bronze and iron end together in a single blow. A new mountain then fills the land.

Agamemnon’s dream and Nebuchadnezzar’s dream

In Book 2 of Homer’s Iliad, King Agamemnon also gets a message in a dream. Both kings receive a divine message while they sleep.

The purpose is different. Agamemnon’s dream is part of a myth driven by the wishes of the gods. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is a prophecy about the future of empires.

Isaiah 2:12-17: the fall of the proud

Isaiah 2:12-17 describes “the Day of the Lord.” On that day, everything high and proud is brought low.

Isaiah 2:12-17 (NIV)

The passage runs from cedars and mountains to towers, walls and ships. It ends with human pride humbled.

12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), 13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, 14 for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, 15 for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, 16 for every trading ship and every stately vessel. 17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

The fall of Atlantis

Plato tells of a rich and advanced people who were once in harmony with the divine. Over time they grew greedy and hungry for power. The gods punished them, and Atlantis sank into the ocean.

Isaiah’s day judges the same pride. Verse 16 names “every trading ship and every stately vessel.” That line fits a rich sea power brought low.

Isaiah 42:4 and the islands

Isaiah 42:4 says that “the islands will put their hope” in the teaching of the servant of the Lord. In Isaiah, “islands” or “coastlands” usually means far-away lands.

One reading is that these islands include distant island nations like Atlantis. This is a possible reading, not a proven one. It works only if the memory of such a nation was still known in the ancient world.

Mount Los Atlantes

The reading gained weight in 2024. That year, research on the Mount Los Atlantes seamount off the Canary Islands described a submerged mountain that was once a chain of islands. Its setting resembles Plato’s description of Atlantis. More on this find: Evidence of Atlantis found in August 2024.

Tyre: a pattern the prophets knew

Tyre shows what such a story looked like to the prophets. It was a rich island city that lived by its ships and trade.

Isaiah 23 is a prophecy against Tyre and the end of its wealth. Ezekiel 26-28 describes its destruction for pride.

Tyre is not Atlantis. But its fall follows the same line as Plato’s story: a proud sea power, great wealth and a sudden end.

The gate of heaven and the breastplate stones

Two smaller details are worth noting. In Genesis 28:17, Jacob calls the place of his vision “the gate of heaven.” This can be read as a portal between heaven and earth.

Exodus 28:17-20 describes the breastplate of the high priest. It held a set of precious stones. The Old Testament never uses the word “crystals,” but these stones had a sacred role.