The Book That Defined the Modern Perception of Atlantis

Map of Atlantis successful the Atlantic Ocean, Athanasius Kircher, 1664. Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

The legend of Atlantis dates backmost astatine slightest 2,400 years, to erstwhile Plato archetypal wrote astir it. Numerous historians aboriginal referred to this mislaid mythical island. However, 1 modern-era publication has had specified a profound interaction that it has mostly shaped the public’s cognition of Atlantis. What is this book, and however important was its influence?

The publication Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882)

The modern publication that has astir powerfully shaped our cognition of Atlantis is Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, written by Ignatius L. Donnelly successful 1882. Ever since its publication, radical astir the satellite person been captivated by the ideas it promoted.

To enactment it simply, Donnelly took Plato’s relationship to beryllium fundamentally accurate. He believed that Atlantis was a real, monolithic land successful the mediate of the Atlantic Ocean that predated each different known civilizations.

Plato claimed that Atlantis existed immoderate 9,000 years earlier the clip of the Greek lawmaker Solon. This would spot this legendary civilization astatine astir the twelvemonth 9600 BC. While galore modern researchers person argued that Plato’s figures were distorted oregon greatly exaggerated, Donnelly accepted these numbers astatine look value.

Furthermore, helium accepted that Plato’s geographical descriptions of Atlantis were mostly close arsenic good and agreed with the communal thought that Plato placed Atlantis extracurricular the Mediterranean. This was based connected the mentation of the “Pillars of Heracles” successful Plato’s relationship arsenic the Strait of Gibraltar.

Atlantis’ relation successful satellite history

To Ignatius L. Donnelly, the beingness of Atlantis was not a specified curiosity; it represented a cardinal portion of satellite history. Given that Atlantis was supposedly an land successful the mediate of the Atlantic Ocean, Donnelly believed this determination made it ideally situated to beryllium the root of myths and customs connected some sides of the Atlantic.

He argued that the archetypal precocious civilization originated connected Atlantis and that nations dispersed retired from this cardinal point. Although, according to Donnelly, precocious civilization archetypal developed connected Atlantis, helium did not reason that each nations were straight descended from the Atlanteans themselves. Rather, helium wrote the following:

“Atlantis was the archetypal spot of the Aryan oregon Indo-European household of nations, arsenic good arsenic of the Semitic peoples, and perchance besides of the Turanian races.”

Because of this, modern commentators mostly condemn the publication for promoting ideas of radical superiority. However, careless of his comments astir the ethnicities supposedly descended from the Atlanteans, Donnelly believed it was the Egyptians who astir intimately preserved the archetypal spiritual traditions of Atlantis.

Donnelly’s evidence

A large facet of the publication Atlantis: The Antediluvian World is that Ignatius L. Donnelly argued for a conception known arsenic hyperdiffusionism—the thought that each large taste concepts astir the satellite originated from a azygous cardinal source. The evident grounds for hyperdiffusionism was a cardinal portion of Donnelly’s argument.

One elemental illustration of the benignant of grounds Donnelly utilized is the wide beingness of past flood myths. Cultures from each implicit the satellite person stories astir a large flood successful the distant past. The Greeks, for example, had the story of Deucalion’s Flood. In his book, Donnelly argues that this improvement resulted from survivors of the demolition of Atlantis fleeing to some sides of the Atlantic.

Another illustration is the prevalence of prima worship connected some sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The Egyptians worshiped the sun—their main deity was a prima god—and the aforesaid applies to the Incas successful Peru connected the different broadside of the Atlantic, whose main deity was Inti, besides a prima god.

Aside from hyperdiffusion, Donnelly pointed to different types of supposedly much nonstop evidence. For example, helium claimed that the Azores Islands were remnants of what was erstwhile a ample landmass successful the Atlantic Ocean.

Problems with the Atlantis manuscript

This publication has greatly influenced the mode the modern nationalist thinks astir Atlantis. Even among scholars, Donnelly helped found a inclination of viewing Plato’s relationship of Atlantis arsenic a humanities communicative alternatively than an allegory, which profoundly changed the people of probe connected the subject.

With the passing of time, the world viewpoint toward this publication has grown progressively negative. It is wide dismissed contiguous arsenic pseudo-historical and pseudoscientific, and galore criticisms person been leveled against Donnelly’s arguments.

For instance, the full conception of hyperdiffusionism has travel nether fire. Scholars present reason that abstracted cultures often developed akin traditions and myths independently. It is surely existent that astatine slightest immoderate of the connections mentioned by Donnelly are alternatively generic—sun worship being 1 specified example.

In addition, galore of Donnelly’s claims are present known to beryllium categorically inaccurate. For example, modern studies person shown that the onshore astir the Azores drops to a plateau of astir 1 thousand meters beneath oversea level. Furthermore, determination are raised beaches connected the Azores, indicating that they were erstwhile lower—not higher—relative to oversea level.

Based connected these and galore different criticisms, Donnelly’s publication connected Atlantis is nary longer respected. Nevertheless, it remains fashionable among definite circles.