How the Greek Alphabet Reveals Where Atlantis Really Was

Tablet with Linear B Script from the Palace of Knossos, 1375 BC. Credit: TimeTravelRome. CC BY 2.0/flickr

The hunt for the legendary lost land of Atlantis continues to fascinate researchers. However, a item that is commonly ignored successful the hunt for Atlantis is the information that Plato’s relationship of this mislaid civilization includes respective references to Greek writing. Interestingly, these references to the Greek alphabet tin assistance america to enactment retired wherever Atlantis truly was.

What Plato said astir the Greek alphabet successful the clip of Atlantis

In Plato’s Timaeus, written successful the 4th period BCE, helium presents an relationship of Solon of Athens speaking to an Egyptian priest. The priest, from Sais, tells Solon the communicative of Atlantis. Solon is evidently funny arsenic to wherefore his ain people, the Greeks, person nary cognition of Atlantis.

The clergyman tells Solon that this is due to the fact that of what happened sometime aft the events involving Atlantis. According to the priest, the Greeks suffered a unspeakable societal collapse. He said to Solon:

“Whereas conscionable erstwhile you and different nations are opening to beryllium provided with letters and the different requisites of civilized life, aft the accustomed interval, the watercourse from heaven, similar a pestilence, comes pouring down, and leaves lone those of you who are destitute of letters and education.”

According to this, the Greeks had formerly been capable to write. However, arsenic happened each present and past with different nations, a earthy catastrophe caused them to suffer their writing.

The nonaccomplishment of penning successful the Greek Dark Ages

Does this statement by the Egyptian clergyman correspond to thing from genuine history? It does indeed. It matches what happened astatine the extremity of the Bronze Age, which was besides the extremity of the Mycenaean Era. Notice what the clergyman went connected to accidental to Solon:

“There formerly dwelt successful your onshore the fairest and noblest contention of men which ever lived, and… you and your full metropolis are descended from a tiny effect oregon remnant of them which survived. And this was chartless to you, because, for galore generations, the survivors of that demolition died, leaving nary written word..”

The ‘fairest and noblest contention of men’ who formerly lived successful Greece would logically beryllium the rich and almighty Mycenaeans. At the extremity of the Bronze Age, this civilization experienced a major societal collapse. This was caused, successful part, by earthy disasters that occurred astatine that time, specified arsenic tsunamis striking Greece.

After the twelfth period BCE, Greece fell into the Dark Ages. As the Egyptian clergyman said to Solon, the survivors near nary written word. The play of Greek illiteracy continued until the ninth period BCE. At that time, they adopted the Phoenician alphabet, creating the Greek alphabet which has continued until today.

How the Greek alphabet reveals the information astir Atlantis

This accusation successful the Timaeus is precise valuable. When explaining wherefore the Greeks did not cognize astir Atlantis, the Egyptian clergyman did not accidental that the events involving Atlantis occurred earlier the Greeks had an alphabet. Rather, helium mentions that the usage of penning among the Greeks was mislaid during their societal collapse.

Therefore, the events involving Atlantis indispensable person occurred during the epoch of past successful which the Greeks had an alphabet oregon immoderate different benignant of script. Or, astatine most, Atlantis could lone person existed precise soon earlier the Greeks archetypal started to write, truthful that those who had known Atlantis would person had the accidental to constitute astir it.

The Mycenaean Greeks, earlier the Greek Dark Ages, utilized Linear B arsenic their penning system. This archetypal emerged among the Greeks successful the mediate of the 2nd millennium BCE, oregon astir 1500 BCE. Therefore, Atlantis could not person existed overmuch earlier past astatine the earliest.

However, it besides cannot person existed after astir 1200 BCE, due to the fact that that is erstwhile the Bronze Age Collapse began, and the Egyptian clergyman intelligibly placed Atlantis earlier the play of illiteracy that began with that collapse.

The information astir Atlantis based connected this evidence

Based connected this evidence, the existent Atlantis indispensable person been a federation that was inactive astir betwixt c. 1500 BCE astatine the precise earliest and c. 1200 BCE astatine the precise latest.

This helps america enormously successful discovering the existent Atlantis. The basal communicative of Atlantis is that it was a affluent and almighty civilization that ruled implicit 1 main island, and respective others, and fought a warfare against the Greeks. The Greeks were the victors, overthrowing the mighty Atlanteans and ending their dominance.

Within the play betwixt 1500 and 1200 BCE, determination is lone 1 federation that fits this basal profile: the Minoans. This is not surprising, due to the fact that galore scholars implicit the decades have suggested that the communicative of Atlantis comes from distorted accounts of the Minoan civilization.

They were a affluent and almighty civilization that ruled implicit Crete and galore of the Cyclades, including Santorini, which bears a striking resemblance to Plato’s statement of the layout of Atlantis. Many of the Minoan customs are akin to those described by Plato too. And crucially, they fought a warfare against the Mycenaean Greeks successful c. 1450 BCE, which they lost.

The chronological grounds revealed by the Greek alphabet powerfully supports the decision that the communicative of Atlantis came straight from the Minoan civilization.