Locations...a discussion

Many ancient philosophers viewed Atlantis as fiction, including (according to Strabo), Aristotle. However, in antiquity, there were also philosophers, geographers, and historians who believed that Atlantis was real.Other ancient historians and philosophers believing in the existence of Atlantis were Strabo and Posidonius.

Sometime back,i watched a documentary on the "History Channel",which dealt with the question as to whether it would be proper to say atlantis existed or not.Here they discussed the various locations that over the years have been speculated as Atlantis of Plato or not..based on this,and some surfing of the net done on my own,i have compiled the following speculative list of sites...while checking out the sites we will keep four elements as elucidated by Plato, in mind..they would be:

1.A vast state existing around 9000 BC
2.The city layered out in concentric circles,with waterways.
3.The buildings made of white,red or black bricks.
4.The presence of a strong bull sacrifice cult.
5.Elephants roaming the land.
6.Destruction of the city on a single night by a natural calamity,with the city sinking beneath the ocean.

Our first location would be "Malta".this came into prominence during the scond world war,when malta held out bravely againt a nazi offensive.Around this time the intriguing ruins of megalithic temples,dating back to 5000BC,1000 years before Egypt rose to prominence were discovered.These incredible feat of engineering left people flabbergasted,and the speculations of it being the lost atlantis started..so let us review the place with our 6 point checklist-
1.Does not qualify:as this was dated back to 5000 BC and not Plato's 9000 BC.
2.Partly qualifies:there are remains of some mysterious tracts but not any concrete proofs.
3.Does not qualify:buildings of white,black n red have not been identified.
4.Qualifies:there are evidences of bull worship.
5.Partly qualifies:elephants might have existed.
6.Partly qualifies:there are evidences of flooding,and some of the sites maybe present under the water as well.But nothing can be said for certain.

the second location would take us to the Bahamas.Famed psychic Edgar Cayce first mentioned Atlantis in a life reading given in 1923, and later gave its geographical location as the Caribbean, and proposed that Atlantis was an ancient, now-submerged, highly-evolved civilization which had ships and aircraft powered by a mysterious form of energy crystal. He also predicted that parts of Atlantis would rise in 1968 or 1969. The Bimini Road, found by Dr.J Manson Valentine, was a submarine geological formation just off North Bimini Island, discovered in 1968, has been claimed by some to be evidence of the lost civilization (among many other things) and is still being explored today.Other names that should also be mentioned here are those of divers Greg and Lora Little,who have devoted a lot of their time on the exploration of this Bimini Road.
now for our checklist:
1.cannot say:the structures found cannot be identified as belonging to a certain era as yet.
2.does not qualify:no evidence of waterways.
3.does not qualify:no evidence found.
4.does not qualify:no evidence found.
5.does not qualify:no evidence found.
6.cannot say:though the structures found are under water,but whether they came to being there because of some natural calamity or not cannot be determinded.

the third location would be more southern,in Cuba.In december 2001,a marine engineer named,Pauline Zelintsky,found huge structures under the sea,which she found had stricking similarities to the mayan structures.These structures appeared manmade,but their immense depth,around 2000 feet made the geologists skeptical,as they opined that it should be found in the depth of around 100feet only.Another intersting angle here was in the oral parodies of Mexico,a tale akin to atlantis also existed.so let us inspect it on our cheklist:
1.cannot say:as no evidence of its timeline has been discovered.
2.does not quaify:no evidence found.
3.does not quaify:no evidence found.
4.does not quaify:no evidence found.
5.does not quaify:no evidence found.
6.partly qualifies:As these structures are obviously manmade,so there are chances of it being drowned due to some catastrophe.

Now again,we go across the Mediterranean,to come to our fourth location,to an island which is close to ancient greece,which was blown to slytherins by a natural disaster.In 1960's archeologists discovered a well preserved Minoan city,around Crete region,the advanced island culture of Santorini.This location comes closest to being the lost Atlantis,but let us review in our checklist:
1.does not qualify:this civilization isnt that old.
2.qualifies:evidences of circular layering and waterways.
3.qualifies:the are buildings of red,black and white found.
4.qualifies:there is a strong cult of bull worship.
5.does not qualify:there are no evidences of elephants.
6.partly qualifies:there are evidences of a natural disaster,a volcanic eruption,which might have led to a tsunami.but the site found is not under water,but buried beneath the earth,and ashes.

Peter James is a British author and historian who has advanced several controversial theories about the chronology of Mediterranean civilizations, the Middle East, and Egypt. His theories are not generally accepted by mainstream historians or Egyptologists.
James has also hypothesized about the location of Atlantis. By first claiming that references to mythological Tartarus by Plato were in fact meant to identify a Lydian king by the same name, he goes on to identify Atlantis with a hypothetical lost temple city called Tantalis, corresponding to modern-day Manisa in Turkey. This is the most recent attempt at defining the location of atlantis.

In my next article i will briefly talk about what Peter James claims to be the real atlantis..so long friends..:)