Was Atlantis Real? Or Just a Bedtime Story?B2 

An island where perhaps the most advanced civilization in the world lived. A land of flying machines, unknown power sources, and a world seemingly made of dreams and fantasies. Could such a place really have existed? Or was it just that, nothing but dreams and fantasies? There are many who support the theory that not only did Atlantis indeed exist, but also that its destruction led to the changing of mankind’s advancements as a species. It is hard to believe that such a world existed even when there is proof, as there is an equal amount of proof claiming that it never existed. At least, not in the way that it is portrayed in history.

The legend of Atlantis began with Plato telling of the island in his two dialogues Timaeus and Critias. They are called dialogues in the way that he writes them, like a huge discussion between ‘characters’ of note in history. Plato claims that what they are saying is true, or, more to the point, that his writings hint that it is a recount of history that these figures recalled from their own knowledge and experiences. The only thing is most of Plato’s original works pertaining to this have been lost in time so there is no way to figure out just whether or not this is fact or fiction. The historical recounts taken from the dialogues are said to be made up from Plato taking several different myths and legends, throwing them all together in like a big story pot of fiction and after thirty minutes of letting it simmer you get the story of Atlantis. The story of a military nation who conquered parts of Europe and Asia with sights apparently on the whole world.

So Athens, the great Greek power that it was, formed an alliance with some other nations and fought against the Atlantis threat when others had given up. They won and it is said that Atlantis then lost favor with the gods and was so destroyed in a terrible earthquake and sunk beneath the waves to be lost to the world forever. Now that area in the Atlantic Ocean is supposedly impassible and unsearchable because of all the muck and mud that the island, well more of a continent really, churned up as it sank.

Modern science in this day and age has searched the area where the island was supposed to have stood and not really turned up much. They have searched the site where Atlantis was supposed to have stood but there is nothing that can conclusively decide that, yes, it was indeed here in this very spot in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of this fact, there have been several more guesses, which is all that they can be even if some are educated guesses, where they place Atlantis all over the world. From Doggerland in the North Sea, to Sweden, the Canary Islands and even Antarctica, the list goes on and on for more places but to list them all would take up most of the page. Each of these sites and the many others have been ruled out for one reason or another, though the fact that they were even suggested puts more holes in Plato’s claim that Atlantis was indeed real. When clairvoyants and psychics start making guesses and claims, it may be time to jump ship onto a more creditable myth and legend.

Still, the draw and obsession with Atlantis does not seem to be dying down anytime soon. Hollywood has used it in several movies and television series, creating engaging and oddly believable histories as to just what was Atlantis and how it affected the world. Stargate, both the movie and the multiple series spin-offs, has used Atlantis as a reference for the main story line. They claimed that the island was founded by a super-advanced alien race who subjected the human species to do their bidding and worship them as gods. Of course, humans being who we are revolted against such tyranny and chased them from the world. Atlantis was lost beneath the waves when the aliens left. It was found later in the series and used as an entire series on its own, where the characters lived in the city and were working on unlocking its hidden secrets.

Being a sucker for the thought of a civilization founded by aliens this is perhaps my favorite opinion of Atlantis and its origins. I like to think that there were aliens, who arrived on our planet and set up camp on an island somewhere, or perhaps the ship itself was an island and they were there before mankind was able to use tools. There they sat watching us grow and evolve, maybe helping every so often when it looked like we were close to a breakthrough but just lacking in that final nudge to accomplish some major goal. Look at the pyramids. There are many speculations on how it was likely that they were made, but still someone would have to have had given them the idea in the first place. When Atlantis sank, some of the people must have survived, so who is to say that when they landed on shore they did not impart some of their knowledge to our ancestors?