Source: Man Whence How And Whither (1913 reprint 1946)
by Annie Besant; Leadbeater, C. W
Atlantis: A Glimpse into Its Greatness
This page follows chapter X of Man: Whence, How and Whither (1913), “The Civilisation of Atlantis”. Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater present the book as a record of clairvoyant investigation. Everything below is what they say they saw.
They write that Atlantis peopled Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and the Americas, and built empires there. For the city itself they quote W. Scott-Elliot’s The Story of Atlantis (1896). They say they helped collect the material for that book.
The City of the Golden Gates
In Scott-Elliot’s account, a wooded park with the villas of the rich surrounded the city. Mountains to the west supplied its water.
The city itself was built on the slopes of a hill, which rose from the plain about five hundred feet.
W. Scott-Elliot, quoted in Besant and Leadbeater, ch. X
A spring rose in the Emperor’s palace gardens on the summit. Its water ran down in cascades through three circular canals, one below the other. A fourth, rectangular canal took the water to the sea. The outer moat ran about (19.3 kilometers) by ten.
- Upper Belt: a circular racecourse, large public gardens and the houses of court officials. It also held the “Strangers’ Home”, a palace where visitors stayed as guests of the Government.
- Middle and Lower Belts: houses and temples. The poorer houses stood in the lowest belt to the north and outside the outer canal. Their people mostly worked in shipping.
Other towns stood behind great earth banks faced with overlapping metal plates. The authors say these stopped spears, swords and arrows, but not attacks from the air.
Advanced Technology and Scientific Achievements
According to the book, Atlantean air-ships dropped bombs that burst in the air and released a poisonous vapour. Other weapons fired sheaves of fire-tipped arrows like rockets. The authors link these weapons to the battles in the Hindu epics and Puranas.
The knowledge required for their construction was never made common.
Besant and Leadbeater, Man: Whence, How and Whither, ch. X
The book also describes forces that are now lost. One drove both air-ships and water-ships. Another made the earth repel heavy bodies, so huge stones could be lifted with ease. These forces were controlled by will-power, not by machines.
Science and Clairvoyance
The authors say clairvoyance was a normal tool of Atlantean science. Scientists could watch processes of nature that most people cannot see.
- Sunlight sent through coloured glass helped plants and animals grow.
- Breeders crossed wheat with grasses to make new grains.
- Less successful crosses produced wasps from bees and white ants from ants.
- The seedless banana came from a melon-like plant full of seeds.
Use of Metals and Alchemical Practices
Gold, silver and aurichalcum were used for decoration and household utensils. According to the book, these metals were more often made by alchemy than mined. Armour for pageants was sometimes made entirely of precious metal.
Dietary Habits
The common people ate meat, fish and even reptiles. Whole carcasses were cooked over large fires. The upper classes ate the same food, but the Court kept its banquets quiet. The Divine King and those close to him ate only grains, vegetables, fruits and milk.
Governance in Atlantis
Government was autocratic. The book says no system could have been better for the people under the Divine Kings.
The whole scheme of government was planned out by the Wise for the benefit of all, and not by special classes for their own advantage.
Besant and Leadbeater, Man: Whence, How and Whither, ch. X
- Governors: each governor answered for the welfare of his province. Crime or famine counted as his failure.
- Selection: officials came mostly from the upper classes. Promising children from any class went to higher schools to train for the State.
- Universal education: the authors credit primary education for all, and the Toltec land system, with the absence of poverty. Even slaves were well fed and clothed.
- Gender Equality: women could hold any office.
Sex was no disqualification, as it is now, for any office in the State.
Besant and Leadbeater, Man: Whence, How and Whither, ch. X
Threats and Decline
The book says trouble began when power passed from the Divine Kings to “younger souls”. Wealth and luxury grew and slowly undermined the civilisation.
Knowledge was prostituted to individual gain, and control over the powers of nature was turned from service to oppression.
Besant and Leadbeater, Man: Whence, How and Whither, ch. X
Atlantis fell, in this account, despite its achievements. The authors say the lead then passed to a “daughter” race, which they expect to rise higher than Atlantis in later centuries.
