Atlantis & Lemuria

Rome, October 13 - Top scholars have gathered in Rome this week to discuss the exciting and controversial idea that Sardinia is the lost island of Atlantis . The theory, developed in a book by the Italian journalist Sergio Frau, has drawn international acclaim but also fuelled heated criticism .Despite selling 30,000 copies in Italy, a detailed 20-point appeal by 250 academics has dismissed the book, claiming it sensationalizes Sardinian history .But the theory received a major boost last year, when the United Nations cultural heritage body UNESCO organized a symposium on the issue in Paris, suggesting the idea was worth serious consideration. Academics, archaeologists, geologists and historians from across Italy are now meeting in Rome's Accademia dei Lincei tolook at the theory in closer depth and discuss possible paths of future research .The meeting has also been timed to coincide with the opening of an exhibition on Frau's ideas, originally shown in Paris last year.

"Atlantika" uses Frau's book, "The Pillars of Hercules", as a springboard for exploring theories and ideas on the legendary island and its whereabouts. Neither the location nor the existence of Atlantis have ever been confirmed .The first documented mention of the island dates back to ancient Greek philosopher Plato - circa 427-347 BC - who said it was destroyed by a natural disaster, possibly a tsunami .Traditional theories have placed it somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean because Plato said it was beyond the Pillars of Hercules which, according to another ancient writer, Erathosthenes, were at the Strait of Gibraltar .But Frau believesErathosthenes, a librarian and geographer who lived in Alexandria in the third and second centuries BC, got it wrong and that the Pillars of Hercules were actually on Sicily .Frau had his brainwave after seeing a print of two maps of the Mediterranean as it was in the Bronze Age .One showed Tunisia and Sicily almost touching; the other, of the Straits of Gibraltar, was remarkably similar .Frau thinks Erathosthenes moved the pillars because in the 120 years between Plato's era and his, the Greek world changed dramatically, and the strait between Sicily and Africa was no longer at the outer reaches of the Empire .

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Millions of Americans, particularly women, share paranormal beliefs and experiences "that don't fit under any religious umbrella," says Christopher Bader, one of the Baylor University sociologists analyzing the Baylor Religion Survey.Overall, 52% of people surveyed say they believe in prophetic dreams. More than 40% agree that places can be haunted and that ancient advanced civilizations, such as Atlantis,once existed, just as writers from Plato to psychic Edgar Cayce have described.One question, however, drew such wide agreement that Bader suspects researchers' intent was unclear.

"We asked whether 'Some alternative treatments are at least as effective as traditional medicine,' " and 74.5% said yes. "We were thinking of crystals, aromatherapy. ... But people may have read the question to mean acupuncture, vitamins or herbs," which have been scientifically studied and are widely used. About 25% use the Internet or books to research the prophecies of16th-century astrologer Nostradamus, ghosts, yoga, astrology and UFOs, the survey found. Findings don't surprise Matthew Gilbert of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, which promotes research of "the frontiers of consciousness." "People are embracing a larger reality of what it means to be human. ... Maybe those who have unusual experiences recognize that while their religion didn't explain them, it doesn't mean they didn't happen."

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A volcanic eruption that may have inspired the myth of Atlantis was up to twice as large as previously believed, according to an international team of scientists.The eruption occurred 3,600 years ago on the Santorini archipelago, whose largest island is Thera. Santorini is located in the Aegean Sea about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of modern-day Greece. The massive explosion may have destroyed the Minoan civilization based on nearby Crete.Writing in this week's issue of the journal Eos, a team of Greek and U.S. researchers estimate that the volcano released 14 cubic miles (60 cubic kilometers) of magma—six times more than the infamous1883 eruption of Krakatau (Krakatoa). Only one eruption in human history is believed to have been larger: an 1815 explosion of Tambora, in Indonesia, which released 24 cubic miles (100 cubic kilometers) of magma. The researchers, partially funded by the National Geographic Society, obtained the new data by conducting the first seismic survey of the seabed near Santorini. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.) Previously, scientists had been forced to guess the size of the eruption based on ash deposits found in Turkey, Crete, Egypt, and the Black Sea.

A Hundred Feet Thick Using techniques similar to those employed by oil companies to search for offshore deposits, the research teamfound a ring of volcanic deposits extending all the way around the Santorini archipelago. The deposits averaged 100 feet (30 meters) thick and extended about 19 miles (30 kilometers) in all directions, says Haraldur Sigurdsson, a volcanologist at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, who led the research. During the eruption, the material that formed the deposits would have plunged into the sea as pyroclastic flows—hot, fast-moving mixtures of gas, ash, and molten rock.

As these hit the water, they would have kicked up massive tsunamis. "In a very similar setting, [the milder] Krakatau produced 100-foot [30-meter] tsunami waves," Sigurdsson said. Other pyroclastic flows would have been comprised of pumice—a frothy rock so light it floats. These flows,......

By Dr Iain Stewart

Introduction: Quite why a story written 2,500 years ago by the Greek philosopher Plato continues to capture the public imagination is a mystery in itself - a mystery fed by countless books, films, articles, web pages, and now a Disney cartoon. It has spawned a rich populist sub-culture (much of it internet-based) which pits the passions and imaginations of committed 'Atlanteans' against the orthodox analysis of the scientific mainstream. Part of the contemporary appeal of the Atlantis story has no doubt been fed by scientists. Historians, archaeologists and geologists have also entered the debate to contest the various literary, historical or geographical elements of the story. Currently - following Bernhard Zangger's new book presenting the archaeological case for Troy as the true inspiration for Atlantis - we have the BBC Horizon documentary 'Helike - The Real Atlantis' staking the same claim for the Classical Greek city of Helike. Atlantis, it seems, remains a very bankable media product.

'So what do we actually know about Atlantis and its demise?' So what do we actually know about Atlantis and its demise? The answer is not much. Plato's story comes to us from two short pieces, Tinnaeus and Critias, believed to have been written in the decade or so before his death in 348 BC. In these, he presents an apparently true account of an ideal society that existed many millennia before the Classical Greek times in which he was writing. According to Plato, Atlantis was a great island (larger than Libya and Asia combined) in the Atlantic Ocean, but its control extended beyond the 'Pillars of Heracles' into the Mediterranean as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia (Italy). Its powerful and remarkable dynasty of kings arose directly from Poseidon, god of sea and of earthquakes, though this divine and heroic lineage gradually became diluted by mixing with mortal stock. The resulting degeneration of this noble civilisation led it into a war with its former ally, Athens, and culminated in its cataclysmic destruction, which Plato dates as 9,000 years previously...