Atlantis is a mysterious phenomenon that excites the curiosity of scientists all over the world, starting from ancient times. Did it exist? If there was, where. Who were the Atlantes and why they died.
The name "Atlantis" itself has a romantic, magical echo. It evokes the image of a continent that once served as a home for a great civilization, whose roots date back to ancient times and are now lost in the abyss of the Atlantic Ocean.
The image of Atlantis has the same powerful appeal as any of the collective images created by Western civilization - from the Holy Grail to the idea of a superman. For more than two millennia it has been a source of inspiration for mystics, philosophers and writers of different cultures. The most familiar description of Atlantis is contained in science fiction literature: this topic was developed by dozens of authors, starting with Jules Verne. In the novel "20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1869), the hero Verna Pierre Aronax goes on an underwater journey with Captain Nemo, who shows him the majestic ruins and rows of high columns like the Greek temples, covered with a swinging cover of seaweed. Aronax is delighted and awe at the sight of the remains of this high culture, the oldest in the history of mankind. The whole scene, of course, takes place at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the traditional "place of rest" of the sunken continent. The idea of ancient people like us - another human race that founded civilization at the dawn of time - is shrouded in a romantic halo and has a strange, almost excruciating appeal.
Over the millions people have accepted the reality of Atlantis almost as a creed. The statements of mystics and pseudoscientists are no less fantastic than the literary images created by Jules Verne and his followers. Hundreds of books are devoted to attempts to recreate the Atlantean civilization on fragments of information extracted from myths, as well as from materials of geological and archaeological research. In general, there is agreement that Atlantis was completely destroyed by a grandiose cataclysm some 12, 000 years ago, simultaneously with the death of the mammoths and the end of the last glacial age. It is asserted also that Atlantis was a homeland of all civilizations, and ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Central America represent only its pathetic similarity.
The Atlantean civilization is said to have been as advanced as ours, if not more perfect. Atlanteans were either destroyed by a natural catastrophe - an asteroid strike or a sudden shift of layers of the Earth"s crust - or they destroyed themselves by crazy experiments with "cosmic" energies. It was often claimed or assumed that the atlantes had a strikingly advanced technology, albeit with a strong occult coloring. Using the mystical properties of crystals, they flirted with forces that would have been better left alone, and as a result they succeeded in only one thing: they destroyed their civilization in the flames of nuclear fire.
Such ideas were seriously expressed in a number of books, the authors of which usually stated that they could get information about Atlantis from "paranormal" sources (see "Edgar Casey about Atlantis" in the section). Atlantis is no longer considered a fairy tale or a legend. Many reputable scientists tend to believe that it existed in reality. No myth, no legend is born in an empty place. There is a reason for everything. And for this mysterious continent, which may have existed in reality, too. Most people are of the opinion that Atlantis has something to do with Greek myths and legends, but this is only partially true. The story of Atlantis is indeed rooted in the world of Ancient Greece, but strictly speaking it does not refer to myths and legends, such as the story of Jason and the Argonauts, or of Theseus and the Minotaur (see "Introduction" in "Legendary History"). Such legends were the "public property" of the ancient Greeks; centuries after centuries they were formed and improved by the efforts of poets, playwrights and storytellers. Details could differ, but the themes and main characters were part of the common heritage dating back to the Bronze Age. The history of Atlantis is quite different, because here we have only one witness: the Athenian philosopher Plato (427-347 BC).
This is a absolutely different story that needs to be examined in greater depth.