Still, Ballard says, the legend of Atlantis is a 'logical' one since cataclysmic floods and volcanic explosions have happened throughout history, including one event that had some similarities to the story of the destruction of Atlantis. Ocean explorer Robert Ballard, the National Geographic explorer-in-residence who discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, notes that 'no Nobel laureates' have said that what Plato wrote about Atlantis is true. Possibly Based on Real Events?įew, if any, scientists think Atlantis actually existed. But Plato's writings about Atlantis are the only known records of its existence.

Plato said Atlantis existed about 9,000 years before his own time, and that its story had been passed down by poets, priests, and others. 'Pick a spot on the map, and someone has said that Atlantis was there,' says Charles Orser, curator of history at the New York State Museum in Albany. There are many theories about where Atlantis was-in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Spain, even under what is now Antarctica. There was a great capital city on the central island. The lush islands contained gold, silver, and other precious metals and supported an abundance of rare, exotic wildlife. Their home was made up of concentric islands separated by wide moats and linked by a canal that penetrated to the center. They created a utopian civilization and became a great naval power. The founders of Atlantis, he said, were half god and half human. Plato told the story of Atlantis around 360 B.C. It has a lot of elements that people love to fantasize about.' 'It's a story that captures the imagination,' says James Romm, a professor of classics at Bard College in Annandale, New York. So why is this story still repeated more than 2,300 years after Plato's death? If the writing of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato had not contained so much truth about the human condition, his name would have been forgotten centuries ago.īut one of his most famous stories-the cataclysmic destruction of the ancient civilization of Atlantis-is almost certainly false.

Atlantis word