Atlantis the Lost Continent Finally Found Read online

  PROF. ARYSIO SANTOS

  ATLANTIS

  THE LOST CONTINENT FINALLY FOUND

  Copyright © 1997–2015 by Prof. Arysio Nunes dos Santos

  Legal Deposits of this book have been made both in the Library of Congress (Washington, DC) and in the Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) for purposes of International Legal Copyright Protection.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, including the Internet, without prior permission in writing from the publisher or the author.

  Published by Atlantis Publications.

  Rua Prof. Sálvio Nunes no 40. Belo Horizonte (MG) - CEP: 30.310.300 – BRAZIL. Tel.: (1)646-472-5944.

  Miami Office: 20230 NE 3rd. Court - Unit 6 - Miami (FL) - USA.

  Tel.: (1)305-999-0030.

  Internet Site: http://www.atlan.org - E-Mail Address: [email protected]

  Logo and Cover Design: Rodrigo Friche.

  Line Art and Graphic Editing: Ney P. Junior; Tatiane Lima. Text Editing and Proofreading: Pradip Purtej Singh.

  Cataloging-in-Publication (CIP) Data available on demand.

  First Edition Published in June 2005

  ISBN: 0-9769550-0-8

  Runoko Rashidi, The Ancient Sumerians

  A Note of Caution on Internet Links

  Introduction

  Indonesia, the Remnants of Sunken Atlantis

  The Word “Island” in Plato

  The “White Island” of the Universal Traditions

  Plato’s Atlantis Was a Tropical Paradise Even During the Ice Age

  The Quest for Lost Atlantis Is Only Now Feasible

  A Major Scientific Revolution in the Making

  Chapter 1 – Indonesia as the True Site of Eden

  Forewarning Note

  Introduction

  Indonesia as the True Site of Eden

  Eden Was in Fact Lemurian Atlantis

  The Seminal Exodus

  Chapter 2 - Atlantis and the “Atlantic Ocean”

  The Reality of the Civilizing Heroes

  The Bible Is Right After All

  The Elusive Sunken Continent Revealed

  The Great Rift and Hesiod’s Khasma Mega

  Chapter 3 - What Really Happened During the Last Pleistocenic Ice Age?

  The Actual Cause of the Ice Ages

  Thermal Runaway and the Quaternary Extinctions

  The Collapse of the Holy Mountain

  The Meaning of the Myth of the Primordial Castration

  Egypt, India and the Origin of the Legend of Atlantis

  Atlantis and the Illusions of Darwinian Uniformitarianism

  The Krakatoa Volcano and the “Innavigable Seas” of Atlantis

  The Chimerical Atlantises

  The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Donnelly’s Atlantis

  Chapter 4 - Indonesian Atlantis and the Four Rivers of Paradise

  The Four Rivers of Paradise

  The Flood and the Destruction of Paradise

  Chapter 5 – Atlantis in America

  Introduction

  The Foundering of Aztlán (Aztec)

  The Foundering of Tolán (Maya)

  The Atlantes of Tula (Mexico)

  Chapter 6 – Atlantis in Ancient Cosmograms

  The Mountain of Sunrise and Sunset

  The Cross of Atlantis

  The Plan of Atlantis as a Replica of the World

  The Sacred Geometry of Atlantis in America and Elsewhere

  Chapter 7 – Atlantis in Ancient Maps

  Plato (427 BC–347 BC)

  The Idealized Maps of Atlantis

  Homer, Crates and the Map of Hecatæus of Miletus

  The Map of Eratosthenes

  The World Conception of Cosmas Indicopleustes

  The Map of Grazioso Benincasa

  The Map Presented King Henry VII

  Chapter 8 – The Many Pillars of Hercules

  Ptolemy’s Map of Taprobane

  The Many Pillars of Hercules

  The Global Extent of the Former Atlantean Empire

  Atlantis and Its Great Plain

  Chapter 9 – Atlantis in Minoan Symbolism

  The Logo of Atlantis Publications

  Chapter 10 - The Atlantic Ocean of the Ancients

  Introduction

  The Case of Ys Brazil

  Setting Out to Disprove Atlantis

  “Like Oil, Atlantis Is Wherever It May Be Found”

  Three Proofs of the Above Conclusions

  The True Location of Paradise

  Columbus and the Interposed Americas

  Back to the Suda

  Chapter 11 - The True Pillars of Hercules

  The Tabular Comparison

  The Case of Cuba and the Caribbean Islands

  Crete, Cyprus, Malta and Other Mediterranean Locations

  Robert Sarmast and the Cyprus’ “Discovery”

  No Such Cataclysm Ever in the Times of Man

  Bob Ballard and the Black Sea Flood

  The Ramayana and the Vadavamukha

  Opening of Sunda Strait

  Starting to Bear Fruits

  The Results for the Mediterranean Locations of Atlantis

  Chapter 12 - The Celtic Shelf, Morocco and Tartessos

  The Many Islands Ahead

  The Dualism of Hercules and Atlas

  Gades, Gadeira, Cadiz and Gadir

  Chapter 13 - Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean

  Pole Shift and the Force of Sacred Traditions

  Taprobane and the Atlantic Islands

  Chapter 14 - Diodorus Siculus on Atlantis

  The Atlantean Origin of Agriculture

  The Celts and the “Pious Ethiopians” of Taprobane

  The Connections With Atlantis

  Diodorus, Plato and the Two Hesperias of the Ancients

  Homer and the Islands of the Blest

  The Twin Ethiopias, the Two Hesperias and the Dual Spains

  Hercules’ Twelfth Labor

  The Legendary Cassiterides and the Mysterious Source of Tin

  The Split Mountain and the Twin Tree of Life

  Chapter 15 - The Jewish Encyclopedia on the True Site of Eden

  The Authority of Thomas Aquinas

  Dante on the Location of Paradise

  Rabbi Nahamanides and the Jewish Traditions

  The Zohar and Alexander’s Visit to Paradise

  The Pishon, the Nile and the Ganges

  Chapter 16 - The Case of Taprobane and Sunda Strait

  Introduction

  Pindar, Plato and the Pillars of Hercules

  The True “Pillars of Hercules”

  The Perfect Fit of the Indonesian Site

  Plato and the Prehistoric Crossings to America

  Atlantis (General)

  Catastrophism, Ice Ages, Geology and the Flood

  Archaeology and Egyptology

  Sea Peoples

  Mythology and Religion

  Archaeoastronomy

  Crete

  Troy, Mycenae, Hittites

  Contents

  Dedication and Acknowledgements............................................................ iii

  Preface ....................................................................................................... v

  Introduction ............................................................................................... 1

  Part I - The True History of Atlantis ..................................................... 29

  Chapter 1 - Indonesia as the True Site of Eden ..............................
............ 30

  Chapter 2 - Atlantis and the “Atlantic Ocean” ............................................. 43

  Chapter 3 - What Really Happened During the Pleistocene? ...................... 60

  Chapter 4 - Indonesian Atlantis and the Four Rivers of Paradise ................. 75

  Part II - Ancient Cosmograms, Maps and Symbolisms ...................... 83

  Chapter 5 - Atlantis in America ................................................................ 84

  Chapter 6 - Atlantis in Ancient Cosmograms .............................................. 96

  Chapter 7 - Atlantis in Ancient Maps ........................................................ 110

  Chapter 8 - The Many Pillars of Hercules .................................................. 126

  Chapter 9 - Atlantis in Minoan Symbolism ................................................ 143

  Part III - The Many Sites of Atlantis .................................................... 151

  Chapter 10 - The Atlantic Ocean of the Ancients ....................................... 152

  Chapter 11 - The True Pillars of Hercules ................................................... 173

  Chapter 12 - The Celtic Shelf, Morocco and Tartessos ................................. 206

  Chapter 13 - Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean ............................................ 218

  Part IV - Paradise and the Far Eastern Atlantis ............................... 233

  Chapter 14 - Diodorus Siculus on Atlantis ................................................ 234

  Chapter 15 - The Jewish Encyclopedia on the True Site of Eden ............... 270

  Chapter 16 - The Case of Taprobane and Sunda Strait .............................. 284

  Bibliography ........................................................................................... 297

  Endnotes ............................................................................................... 303

  Subject Index ......................................................................................... 347

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to all those who believe, like myself, that the legend of Atlantis is something more than just a fable or a moral tale invented by Plato or some other ancient mythographer. I hope that the three decades which I have joyfully dedicated to the research of Atlantis were not altogether lost, and that at least some of the seeds which I have scattered far and wide will fall on fertile ground and grow to bear further seeds, turning this type of research into a reputable academic discipline serving the welfare of all mankind.

  Acknowledgements

  This book is the result of some 30 years of research. Over these many years, several people have helped one way or another. Some people helped with expert advice, some with suggestions of themes for research and clarification, others by providing answers to our specialized questions, still others by pointing out errors of substance, and so forth.

  Above all, I want to thank my many readers and fans for the support they have provided reading my site and my books and publications, and for the many questions they posed, which forced me to dig deeper. Among these early supporters I name Frank J. Hoff and Renato R. Carneiro, who provided both help and encouragement.

  This research would not have been possible without the unfailing help of my wife, who became the “man of the house” while I was lost navigating the South Seas in the wake of Ulysses, Jason, Hercules, Aeneas, Gilgamesh, Alexander, and a host of other ancient explorers. And I also want to thank all my four children, each of whom helped in a great many ways: Bernardo, Carlos, Antonio and Andrea. My blessings and my thanks to them all.

  Arysio Nunes dos Santos, February 2005

  Preface

  “What became of the Black people of Sumer?” the traveler asked the old man; for ancient records show that the people of Sumer were Black. “What happened to them?” “Ah,” the old man sighed. “They lost their history, and so they died.”

  Runoko Rashidi, The Ancient Sumerians

  Thousands of books have been written on Atlantis since its existence was first disclosed by Plato, the prince of philosophers, some two and a half millennia ago. One may well wonder whether a new book on the subject is really needed. Can anything new actually be said about Atlantis?

  The answer is a most emphatic yes!

  After all, the riddle of Atlantis has never been solved thus far to the satisfaction of most people, the academic experts in particular. Hundreds of possible locations have already been proposed as the site of Atlantis. Some authorities think that Atlantis is located on an island such as Crete, the Azores, Ireland or Espartel, or even the Canary Islands or the Antilles, the Florida Keys, etc..

  Other people think that it is a continental location such as Africa, America, Western Europe, Antarctica and so on. More recently – after we pointed out in detail the fact that Plato specifically speaks of Atlantis as definitively having sunk under the sea – some researchers have concentrated on submerged locations such as the Celtic Shelf, the North Sea Shelf, or sunken regions off Spain (Tartessos), off Cyprus, off Gibraltar and so on.

  We have also long been pointing out – for the first time ever in connection with Atlantis – that the sea level rose by 130 meters and more ever since the end of the last Ice Age and that, in consequence of this reality, Plato might well be right, after all. As a result of this enormous rise in sea level, several regions, often of a continental extension, sank in several regions of the world: in Indonesia (Sunda Shelf), in Europe (Celtic Shelf, North Sea Shelf), in the Americas (the Antilles Shelf), and so forth.

  Plato also gave the specific date of 11,600 BP [Before Present] for the Atlantean cataclysm of long ago. And this date exactly corresponds to that of the catastrophic end of the last Pleistocene Ice Age and the so-called Younger Dryas event. Now, such exact coincidences are highly unlikely in practice, as all physicists well know, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of many geological experts, who stolidly cling to the now sorely outdated Uniformitarian theories of Darwin and Lyell.

  It therefore stands to reason that it is in these now sunken regions of the world that people must begin their quest for Atlantis, if they really want to find it. This is far more logical than just relying on the ever-changing though often negative opinions of experts on the many disciplines directly or indirectly related to Atlantis: Geology, Climatology, Evolution, Anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistics, Comparative Religion and Mythology, Paleoanthropology, etc..

  In other words, we must heed scientific facts and reason rather than mere opinions, no matter how authoritative. Scientific theories and expert opinions are no more than mere speculation, often very poorly founded and suggested as a mere working hypothesis of a tentative character. As Plato teaches in his remarkable Critias, one of his two dialogues on Atlantis, these opinions keep changing with time, and are hence unreliable, in contrast to Tradition, which is perennial.

  This constant evolution is really the essence of the Scientific Method, the one recommended for doing Science by epistemologists and philosophers such as René Descartes and a host of others.

  To put it otherwise, where Atlantis and its location are concerned, we must first look for and list all the possible candidates. Then, and only then, we must retrofit them to Plato’s words and statements, in order to verify if the two can be reconciled in some way.

  The non-conformities must be deemed unexplained paradoxes or anomalies, to be studied further and clarified with additional research and more reliable data.

  Do this for every possible candidate, and let the best candidate stand up, becoming the tentative starting point as the best prospect. Then, begin to gather further data, both traditional and new, and see which candidate best fits the new evidence. Then, try to predict what telltale features will probably be found.

  Repeat this over and over again, until all entries are exhausted. Above all, look for the confirmation of
these specific predictions: past tropical climate in the Ice Age; Pleistocenic fauna and flora; archeological and geographical evidence, immense mineralogical and gemological riches, and so forth. Eventually, when the right candidate is finally found, all items will start to fall in place, as if by magic.

  In a sense, the present book is a dramatic break with the past reality where academics carefully avoided the subject of Atlantis. It is an attempt, by a professional scientist trained in the Scientific Method and in Epistemology – the philosophical science concerned with the framing of theories and their scientific analysis – to systematically study, perhaps for the first time ever, the various existing theories on Atlantis’ location and its unavoidable scientific reality.

  What is even more curious is the fact that my original intention was to dispel the physical reality of the myth of Atlantis and related traditions such as the reality of the Flood, of Eden and other such mythical Paradises which I, like most of my academic colleagues, deemed the result of religious zeal or sheer superstitions held by backward natives or extremely ignorant ancients.

  Much to my surprise, the vast sunken continent which I discovered in the region of Indonesia turned out to be the only candidate which consistently withstood all attempts at dismissal, even after all the other alternative candidates had been thoroughly eliminated for one or more reasons impossible to overcome in any reasonable way.

  In order to find the truth, you must first prepare yourself to cope with it. Otherwise, you will not be able to believe even your own findings. Truth might be so utterly unbelievable as to require an entirely new paradigm in both Science and Religion. In order to accept such novel truths, you must make your mind a razed board where new ideas might be written.

  This vast sunken continent, which we might call Sundaland or Australasia – or, even more appropriately, Atlantis or Eden – endured and refused to go away. This after a series of consistent failures to find discrepancies with either known geological facts or the traditional descriptions such as the ones given by Plato, Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Diodorus, Pliny, and a host of other authorities, from Greece and other places both European and otherwise.

  Suddenly, as if by magic, the pieces of the giant jigsaw puzzle all began to fall in place. The more facts I adduced, the more I researched this region of the world, the more the predictions of Plato and other mythographers started to come out as true: a tropical climate in the Ice Age; a vast continental extension now sunken, but formerly subaerial, inhabited and crisscrossed by many rivers and canals, etc..