From this data a few geologists of eminence,25 agreeing about the volcanic nature of this part of the Atlantic bed, have come to the conclusion that there must have been an island such as Plato’s island existing in the Atlantic long after the opening of the straits of Gibraltar.
Atlantis proponents (e.g., in online discussions, books, and videos referencing Randall Carlson or similar researchers) interpret the “beach sand” at depth as evidence that parts of the ridge or nearby areas were once above sea level or near coastlines relatively recently (e.g., post-Ice Age or ~20,000 years ago in some claims), potentially linking it to Plato’s description of a sunken island.
Ewing himself presented it strictly as a geological observation without referencing Atlantis, Plato, or any lost civilization.
It includes a reference to the “Atlantis-Plato-Cruiser-Great Meteor Seamount Chain” south of the Azores.
There are real seamounts named Atlantis Seamount, Plato Seamount, Cruiser Seamount, etc., part of a chain extending from the Azores area toward the Great Meteor Seamount.
These names likely come from exploratory ships (like RV Atlantis) or conventional naming practices, with “Plato” possibly nodding to the philosopher in a light or coincidental way.
His most famous work, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882), argued that Plato’s account of Atlantis was largely factual.
Literarily, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World revived interest in Plato’s lost continent and promoted ideas of cultural diffusion and ancient catastrophes that echoed in 20th-century history and works by authors such as Immanuel Velikovsky.
Some researchers attempt to link the labyrinth outline with the harbor of Plato’s Atlantean capital city.
In the Critias, Plato described the harbor as a series of perfectly concentric circles “as if created on a lathe.” The labyrinth follows a spiral path with a slightly offset entrance.
The Temple of Poseidon The Temple of Poseidon was so large—600 feet long, 300 feet wide and appropriately high that even Plato admits it was rather “barbaric” in appearance.
The Temple of Poseidon as described by Plato certainly was different from the stark Greek temples he was familiar with.
The interior of the sacred Temple of Poseidon, as described by Plato, was as ornate as the exterior.
“Plato tells us of an advanced civilization that existed 9000 years before himself when the Atlantic was navigable and traversed by people the world over … One of the most revealing details of Timaeus is its mention of the ‘opposite continent,’ an unmistakable reference to America.
Its inclusion proves not only that the ancient Greeks knew what lay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean 2,000 years before Columbus rediscovered it, but underscores the veracity of Plato’s Atlantis account.”
See description of the main city of Atlantis (Plato, Akashic Records)
Because Menzies has equated the Minoan civilization with the Atiantean Empire, he believes that the great volcanic eruption on Santorini helped create the legend of Atlantis. Much like the myth of Atlantis’s destruction taken from Plato, the resulting tidal waves, deadly gaseous clouds, famine due to destroyed crops, and opportunistic pirate clans finished off the great Minoan Empire, leaving remarkably little behind.
Cedric Leonard said that Menzies and others who believe Minoan Empire and Atlantis were one and the same have mistakenly traced Atlantis back to the Bronze Age instead of the Ice Age as described by Plato, who placed the time of Atlantis atabout 9600 BC.
“Plato describes Atlantis as having subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.’
The Minoan kings never conquered neither Europe nor North Africa. But archeological evidence is abundant indicating that a cohesive ‘megalithic culture’ occupied those very same areas of Europe and North Africa in Mesolithic times (5,000-6,000 years before the Minoan empire began).”Moreover, the area of Atlantis as described by Plato was far larger than that ascribed to the Minoan culture.
Indeed, this has been written about by Plato, who, as you know, was an incarnation of Thoth, who referred to Atlas as the sovereign of Atlantis, appointed by his father Poseidon.
Following Plato, Philo equates matter to nothingness and sees its effect in fallacy, discord, damage, and decay of things.
Orichalcum (Plato, Atlantis)
Orichalcum (Plato, Atlantis)
That island-continent was that Plato described in his famous Dialogues: Atlantis.
Later, the same fate would be the island of Plato, who plunged into the mysterious waters of the North Atlantic 12,000 years ago.
Plato (an incarnation of Thoth) wrote about this, referring to Atlas as the sovereign of Atlantis, appointed by his father Poseidon.
Few men of earth, so young, have reached such heights of fame.7. Now, if you do not waste your life in search for hidden things that men can never comprehend, you may be founder of a school of thought that will insure you endless fame;8. For your philosophy is deeper far than that of Plato, and your teachings please the common people more than those of Socrates.9. Why seek for mystic light within these antiquated dens?
The most famous and detailed classical description comes from the Greek philosopher Plato (c.
Plato presents the story as genuine history preserved by Egyptian priests at Sais.
Plato describes how the Atlantean empire, after expanding its power, launched a massive and unprovoked war of conquest against the peoples of the Mediterranean.
Here is how Plato describes the invasion and its aftermath:
[…] At a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished.” — Plato, Critias
I see a lot of posts about "other sources on Atlantis" besides Plato, and they don't actually talk about ancient sources but mostly 1800s and 1900s "esotericists", New Age channellers, things like that.But there are many ancient sources who write in agreement with Plato and even add some more interesting details.
This post also hopes to answer the famous question: "Did the ancients believe the story of Atlantis?".If Plato made up the whole story as a narrative device, a metaphor or an allegory, as claimed by academics, then surely the ancient authors who came after Plato, and in particular his students, would have understood this immediately, right?
Let’s see what the ancient authors who came after Plato wrote about Atlantis:
So much so that he and others even accused Plato of having copied the whole Republic from the Egyptians and of having used the story of Atlantis to demonstrate that the Athenians truly once lived according to that perfect constitution.However the dialogues only "pretend" that the antediluvian Athenians correspond to the inhabitants of the Republic, they are not even presented as perfect and they also perish in the same cataclysm of Atlantis, so this kind of accusation makes no sense to me.Crantor adds that the details narrated by Plato are true and confirmed by the prophets of the Egyptians who report how this story could still be found written on columns in Egypt!
(3) - Syrianus, the Neoplatonist and once head of Plato's Academy in Athens, considered Atlantis a historical fact.
(4) - Strabo, the famous Greek geographer and historian, wrote in full agreement with Plato's claims that the story of Atlantis was true and not a fiction.
(5) - Plutarch recounts Solon's journey to Egypt, IT IS HE who gives the name "Sonkis" (Sonchis) to the Egyptian priest with whom Solon spoke, not Plato.
So it's interesting that most people know the name of Sonkis but they think it comes from Plato and therefore they think Plato is the only source on Atlantis.
Aristotle (circa 384-322 BC), a student of Plato, is CONSTANTLY cited for his alleged criticisms of the story of Atlantis.
He supposedly wrote: "[Plato] the man who invented it also destroyed it", too bad this statement only made it's appearance in the 1800s, (one of the many damages done by the so called period of Enlightenment).
This misunderstanding was perpetuated until the end of the 21st century.Scholars who actually analyzed Aristotle's work found no justification for the claim that Aristotle dismissed Plato's Atlantis as an invention. No surviving text from Aristotle mentions Atlantis, in all the works we still have (Metaphysics, Physics, Politics, Ethics, etc.), there is no passage about Plato’s Atlantis story.
It is true that some ancient authors, mentioned by Proclus for example, were skeptical of the story, as we are about to see, and Renaissance and Enlightenment writers probably projected this skepticism onto Aristotle, since he was already seen as Plato’s intellectual “critic”, however scholars today generally agree: there’s no direct evidence Aristotle said anything about Atlantis. It's a ghost reference born in the 18th–19th centuries.
There were actual ancient philosophers, Neoplatonists even, who considered the story of Atlantis a metaphor or allegory of "the natures that are perpetual or are generated in the world", "images of the oppositions that pre-exist and exist in the cosmos" etc, but Proclus reminds them how Plato has always affirmed the veracity of the story: "the narrative is surprising in the extreme, but it is true in every respect", "and if it is true in every respect it cannot be true only in part or in appearance or only in its symbolic meaning".
Porphyry saw in it a struggle between souls and the hylic/material Daimones (harmful to souls, who ‘wage war’ on the latter when they descend into becoming); thus all the myths relating to Osiris and Seth, or to Dionysus and the Titans, were handed down symbolically by Plato, due to his eusebeia, through the war narrated in Atlantis.
They were philosophers who interpreted myths based on their own beliefs or their religion, they didn't even agree with each other...So in short, there wasn't a single clear allegorical or metaphorical meaning in Plato's Atlantis story, the fact that there were these philosophers who interpreted it differently doesn't prove it was an allegory or metaphor, it only proves that people like to interpret things however they want, they still do today...
It's crazy that today there are people who confidently claim that the story of Atlantis is an invention, because Aristotle supposedly said so (ignoring all other ancient authors, most of which CORROBORATE Plato's story).Some PHDs (and college kids) like to speak from their ivory towers, insisting that "obviously Plato invented the whole thing as an allegory", "It’s self-evident that Plato made it all up as a metaphor,” or lecturing others with lines like: “You don’t even understand why Plato invented Atlantis, or what role it played in his philosophy"...If it really were so "obvious" and "self-evident" that Plato made it all up as an allegory, why did so many ancient authors (historians, geographers...) believe the story?Literally the only ones who disagreed were philosophers who didn't even agree with each other, or people who didn't even care about the veracity of the story as much as they cared about their own philosophical or religious beliefs.
Plato did create some allegorical tales, like the allegory of the Cave, but he always EXPLAINS that it's an allegory.
The result is completely different from Plato's story.
Some people like this story because it doesn't involve continents sinking and other details people find unacceptable...However this story is incompatible with Plato's Timaeus and Critias, it cannot be used as a source for Atlantis, it's like it's own parallel universe or weird fanfiction...
I haven't seen anybody explain why it should even be considered a good source on Atlantis, why we should dismiss Plato, especially when we have other authors who corroborate Plato...
Plato introduces Atlantis in Timaeus (21e–25d) and Critias (108e–121c), founded by Poseidon.
Atlantis Connection: Atlantis does not fit here, as Plato describes it as a later, advanced civilization with organized society, unlike the lawless, effortless Golden Age.
Atlantis Connection: Atlantis could be seen as emerging in this era, as Plato describes its founding by Poseidon, an Olympian (Critias 113c–e).
Atlantis Connection: Atlantis, described by Plato as a naval power with military prowess (Critias 119a–b), could fit here as a society growing in ambition and martial strength.
However, Plato’s emphasis on Atlantis’s later corruption suggests a stronger fit in the Iron Age.
Plato does not connect Atlantis’s destruction to repopulation, but the survival of Deucalion and Pyrrha could represent a broader renewal post-catastrophe.
Atlantis’s sinking leaves no survivors in Plato’s account, so it does not directly contribute to repopulation but could be part of the same global reset.
In Plato’s Critias (113c–115b), Poseidon founds Atlantis, granting it to his mortal descendants.
In Plato’s Critias (121b), Zeus upholds divine law against Atlantis’s hubris, reflecting a similar role as a guardian of order.
While Hesiod does not mention Atlantis, his flood myth in Catalogue of Women (Fragment 2–5) connects Deucalion to Greek origins, paralleling Plato’s destruction of a corrupt society.
Plato’s Atlantis lacks a direct Prometheus link, but his role as humanity’s benefactor (Theogony 507–616) could imply he aids survivors like Deucalion, connecting the myths through human resilience.
Plato’s Atlantis can be integrated into Ovid’s Iron Age as a civilization that rises under Poseidon’s Olympian influence and falls due to Zeus’s punishment for its corruption, paralleling the flood that ends the age.
This integration preserves Ovid’s narrative while incorporating Plato’s allegory as a specific instance of Iron Age decline and divine retribution.
Geological evidence supports major underwater catastrophes during the Younger Dryas, including massive landslides and meltwater pulses, potentially linked to the subsidence of landmasses in the Atlantic, aligning with Plato’s timeline.
The Younger Dryas (circa 12,900–11,600 years ago) culminated in Meltwater Pulse 1B, a significant oceanic discharge from melting ice sheets, coinciding with Plato’s date for Atlantis’s subsidence following its war with proto-Athenians.
Plato’s reference to the Phaeton myth suggests a cometary impact triggering floods and fires, contributing to Atlantis’s destruction.
Wallis avoids using “God” due to its manipulative historical associations, preferring “source of the cosmos.” Drawing from Plato and the New Testament’s theos, he views humanity as emanations of this source, interconnected and free from separation anxiety.
Hybrids from Lemurian unions were relocated to a vast continent in the Atlantic, reduced to 10 islands by volcanism, known as Atlantis from Plato’s accounts.
Plato’s Timaeus and Critias describe Atlantis as a advanced island empire sunk 9,000 years before his time (around 12,000 years ago total), matching the text’s timeline and volcanic/impact destruction.
It's one of the reasons why I'm interested in the story of Atlantis actually, because that that is the date—11,600 years before our time, 9,000 years before the time of Solon is the date that Plato gives for the submergence of Atlantis.
That island-continent was that Plato described in his famous Dialogues: Atlantis.
Later, the same fate would be the island of Plato, who plunged into the mysterious waters of the North Atlantic 12,000 years ago.
Scholars have proposed North Africa as the site of the legendary Atlantis described by Plato.
Hofmann places the Pillars of Heracles at this gulf, aligning with Plato's accounts of Atlantis beyond these pillars.
He asserts that this location matches Plato's description of Atlantis, including its geography, size, and features like surrounding mountains and fertile plains.
These theories connect Plato's narrative to North African landscapes, where ancient seas and lakes may have supported advanced civilizations.
Plato's account (sinking ~9,600 BCE) occurs during the 3,000-year decline phase in Oliver's narrative, after the story's main events (~11,160 BCE, per the book's Atlantean calendar, or ~10,114–12,000 years before 1886 CE).
Oliver depicts the peak empire as vast (~10–15 million km², spanning ~4,800–5,200 km east-west and ~3,200 km in plains extent), while Plato describes a smaller landmass (>2.5 million km², with a central plain ~205,000 km²).
Oliver captures the intact early phase, Plato a reduced remnant amid decline, before final vanishing.
*Plato describes Atlantis as an island larger than ancient Libya and Asia (referring to Asia Minor) combined.
While no exact area is stated, these measurements imply a total landmass of roughly 10,000,000–15,000,000 km², assuming a rectangular or oblong shape, far exceeding Plato's estimate.
This supports Plato depicting an earlier, intact phase, while Oliver details the surviving core before its final loss.
Plato's account in Timaeus does not describe Atlantis sinking to the ocean floor.
In Plato's account of Atlantis, this term describes the muddy shallows left after the island's subsidence, blocking sea passage.
In Plato's account of Atlantis, he mentions a mysterious metal known to the ancients but lost today.
According to Plato, orichalcum was valuable, second only to gold.