# Was Atlantis once a continent, or just an “unusual” once-upon-a-time…Myth? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899 "2015-01-15T15:51:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/21 "2015-01-15T18:12:10Z")
Of course Atlantis isn’t real. That’s silly. Lemuria, on the other hand … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/22 "2015-01-15T18:33:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So what? Real men have jumped off of tall buildings. Does that mean we should start taking tales of Superman seriously? As far as this silly “myth becoming reality” is concerned, if I find a penny, and the tale is passed down from friend to acquaintance that I found some coins, and from acquaintance to stranger that I found a wad of cash, and so on and so on until it is “known” far and wide that I have struck it rich…myth _stays_ myth, and I still have only a penny in my pocket. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Reality, my friend. “Oh, my God! I found a penny!” “You bastard!” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/23 "2015-01-15T18:57:51Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Real islands have been washed over or split in half by storms and earthquakes. Atlantis might not be real, but similar things have happened to real islands Yes, but we know enough now about the topography of the seabeds to know where all those islands were – and none were ever just west of the Straits of Gibraltar. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/24 "2015-01-15T18:59:49Z")
> [@XT](#): > > I’d say that it’s fiction (with a purpose) that’s based on real things Plato knew about (the island of Thera for instance, or other cities in the region that had been lost to the sea, hit by a tsunami, etc) and not made up out of whole clothe, so to speak. By one theory it was the volcanic eruption on Thera/Santorini that destroyed the Minoan civilization of nearby Crete – so, there might have been some kind of folk-memory of that event with which Plato was familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/25 "2015-01-15T19:05:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One of these days therte might be a satisfying Atlantis book or movie. But I won’t hold my breath waiting. Bit of a hijack, but Atlantis turns up in **Prospero’s Children** , by Jan Siegel, and its sequels. I’ve only read the first one, but it’s a good book. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/26 "2015-01-15T19:25:53Z")
Why do we even have to ask what the appeal is? Rich and powerful nation brought low by their failings? Phrased like that, you’ll see the story _everywhere_. Sodom and Gomorrah for example. As for Atlantis in particular… there are some decent theories that Plato (or the people who made up the story he wrote down) were inspired by some of the volcanoes near Greece. In particular, the circular rings of Atlantis suggest volcanic islands or craters. We know that some islands around there were destroyed quite violently. From there, it’s a pretty simple jump for the originators to imagine that someone lived there who deserved to be destroyed. Besides the resonance of the story, Plato is part of the core Western education curriculum, and has been for a very, very long time. If you only read one philosopher in your entire life, it’ll be Plato. I really don’t understand why so many otherwise-intelligent people spend so much time tracking down Atlantis like it might be true. Especially those people who go so far off track that they’re looking at satellite images of the Brazilian rainforest. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![dunkleosteus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkleosteus/32/9331_2.png) [@dunkleosteus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dunkleosteus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/27 "2015-01-15T19:27:56Z")
In general, I would interpret Plato’s direct writings about Atlantis as fiction. We know that the island he describes doesn’t exist and never did exist. Beyond that, I think things get a bit grayer. Plato’s contemporaries make reference to Atlantis as both fact and fiction. Rather than saying that one party was fooled and the other not, I think it’s possible they’re each talking about different truths. We’ve agreed that Plato was certainly making a large portion of his story up, but it’s possible it’s still based in some sort of fact- that is that there was a culture in contact with the ancient Greeks that was based somewhere to the west (and there are some, by name that are recorded in history). I think it’s possible that some of Plato’s contemporaries recognized his allusion. It’s also possible that his allegory simply became popular and people just adopted it to further their own ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/28 "2015-01-15T19:47:19Z")
In other news, I’ve discovered that Santa Claus is real. Of course the real Santa Claus has had a lot of mythology built up around him that isn’t true, but the germ of the legend of Santa Claus has been confirmed. He is a middle-aged white guy named Steve who lives in Florida after his divorce, and of course he wears normal clothes and has no magical powers. He’s also thin, beardless, hates children and never gives presents. Steve being the “real Santa Claus” is about on the level of claiming that a few islands that had volcanic eruptions or tsunamis are the “real Atlantis”. However it turns out that there actually are a few “submerged continents”, most notably the [Kerguelen Plateau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerguelen_Plateau). However, it’s been mostly underwater for 20 million years. So it’s not likely to be the, you know, source for the legend of Atlantis. ---
**Author:** ![Watchtower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/67e7ee/32.png) [@Watchtower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Watchtower)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/29 "2015-01-15T20:11:08Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > True, but to cross posts here, there are people who are kinda-sorta like Batman, too. Doesn’t mean you’ll find him if you look around the rooftops of NYC (or Atlantic City) hard enough. > > A brief allegory based on some vague historical precepts is a very tiny oyster from which oceans of stew have been made. (ETA: How… homeopathic.) Let us leave Dr. Hahnemann, and his Homeopathy out of this for now. That was going to be my next thread! I was attempting to get some feedback as to why so many people (profane, intellects, and in between) were/are attracted to the tale, besides opinions on the possibility of having existed in reality, even as just a landmass, apart from the detailed descriptions of its civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/30 "2015-01-15T20:15:03Z")
> [@Watchtower](#): > > . . . Why so much dedication by the masses, many highly intelligent, to the legend; what is the lure? . . . It’s a good story. Humans are all about good stories. Some make a [Beautiful Katamari](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katamari_Damacy) out of themselves where stories are concerned. (See[crank magnetism](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Crank_magnetism).) > [@Watchtower](#): > > . . . And why all this recent hype of some discoveries, claiming they are turning a myth into a reality? . . . . Hyping a discovery using the name Atlantis is not the same as performing research looking for Atlantis. In fact the hyping of discoveries is usually not done by researchers, but by academic PR departments, freelance science writers, and freelance woo writers. Due to its popularity, the name Atlantis is great clickbate and it can be applied to many archeological, oceanographic, and other research results to draw in the eyeballs. In **Foucault’s Pendulum** , Umberto Eco’s characters set out to write the ultimate crank book by stringing together as many recurring far-fetched stories as they can. They think it’s a joke, but they find out that there are people who are seriously doing the same thing in reality and who further assume that if they can create story links between two old stories, that makes the stories more likely to be true. If you string a long enough necklace of stories, they believe, no matter how unlikely the stories are to be true, the necklace must be true and it will retroactively make the individual stories true. There are people out there looking for Atlantis beads for their Foucault’s Necklace. If you slap that name on your article or blog post, you will attract them. Your hit count will rise. ---
**Author:** ![Watchtower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/67e7ee/32.png) [@Watchtower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Watchtower)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/31 "2015-01-15T20:16:00Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > By coincidence, I recently noticed that the “Talk” page for the Wikipedia entry on Atlantis was surprisingly contentious, with a couple of commenters (perhaps the OP included?) objecting strenuously to Atlantis being characterized as “fictional.” That was not me! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/32 "2015-01-15T20:16:19Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > In other news, I’ve discovered that Santa Claus is real. Of course the real Santa Claus has had a lot of mythology built up around him that isn’t true, but the germ of the legend of Santa Claus has been confirmed. He is a middle-aged white guy named Steve who lives in Florida after his divorce, and of course he wears normal clothes and has no magical powers. He’s also thin, beardless, hates children and never gives presents. Maybe not the best example, considering that there really is a historical basis for the character of Santa Claus. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/33 "2015-01-15T20:19:43Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > However it turns out that there actually are a few “submerged continents”, most notably the [Kerguelen Plateau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerguelen_Plateau). However, it’s been mostly underwater for 20 million years. So it’s not likely to be the, you know, source for the legend of Atlantis. Well, that assume the absence of Ancient Aliens, so we can’t really be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/34 "2015-01-15T20:19:54Z")
> [@Watchtower](#): > > Let us leave Dr. Hahnemann, and his Homeopathy out of this for now. That was going to be my next thread! I was attempting to get some feedback as to why so many people (profane, intellects, and in between) were/are attracted to the tale, besides opinions on the possibility of having existed in reality, even as just a landmass, apart from the detailed descriptions of its civilization. If you are just interested as to why the tale of Atlantis is fascinates people and cause them to make up stories about it, then you might want to ask a moderator to move this to a different forum. If, on the other hand, you want us to consider the possibility that Atlantis was _real_, you are going to have to come up with something better than the fevered imaginations of those that came after he who spoke of it very briefly in a bit of fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Watchtower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/67e7ee/32.png) [@Watchtower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Watchtower)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/35 "2015-01-15T20:33:13Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m sensing an “Atlantis” obsession here, considering **Watchtower’s** rather unusual response [in this IMHO thread about starting over on a new Earth.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18053924#post18053924) Not obsession, just curiosity as to why so many fish, big and small alike, have taken the bait, me included. Let me be clear, as I do not mean to be casting a vote either way, yet. As far as starting over on a new earth, I elected a tale of possible fantasy to use for another, also futuristic fantasy. Although not in the original story, others have stipulated that some survivors of Atlantis immigrated to other continents and established other civilizations. I got my idea from that, since it met the theme for the new earth. That was all, if you must know. ---
**Author:** ![Watchtower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/67e7ee/32.png) [@Watchtower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Watchtower)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/36 "2015-01-15T20:46:11Z")
> [@vd](#): > > In reply to one of the few bits of the OP not already picked apart: > > Cite for any significant research not being conducted for infotainment purposes? Hey, I did not want to be taken apart, just wanted to know how some of you feel about it. And I was not meaning to do a lot of work here, as I clearly was wanting help. Please look it up for me, will you? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/37 "2015-01-15T20:52:42Z")
> [@Watchtower](#): > > Hey, I did not want to be taken apart, just wanted to know how some of you feel about it. And I was not meaning to do a lot of work here, as I clearly was wanting help. Please look it up for me, will you? Ummm, no. Around here, when we make claims such as this one: > [@Watchtower](#): > > I stated “unusual,” because it is an unfinished account, and also because it has not been considered a myth by many, even today, as there are historical and scientific speculations still going on; not to mention costly field research in trying to locate and identify the remains of Atlantis. we are pretty much expected to back them up ourselves. What do you know of costly field research in trying to locate and identify the remains of Atlantis? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/38 "2015-01-15T20:58:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Maybe not the best example, considering that there really is a historical basis for the character of Santa Claus. My contention is that the mythical history of this so-called “Saint Nicolas” was actually based on Steve. ---
**Author:** ![Watchtower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/67e7ee/32.png) [@Watchtower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Watchtower)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/39 "2015-01-15T21:04:01Z")
> [@vd](#): > > In reply to one of the few bits of the OP not already picked apart: > > Cite for any significant research not being conducted for infotainment purposes? An expedition in search of an alleged pyramid near Cay Sal was organized in 1978 by Ari Marshal, a Greek industrialist interested in the age-old legend of Atlantis. His expedition actually took closed-circuit television footage of a pyramidal mound off the Cay Sal Bank at a depth of over 750 feet. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899/40 "2015-01-15T21:06:43Z")
> [@Watchtower](#): > > An expedition in search of an alleged pyramid near Cay Sal was organized in 1978 by Ari Marshal, a Greek industrialist interested in the age-old legend of Atlantis. His expedition actually took closed-circuit television footage of a pyramidal mound off the Cay Sal Bank at a depth of over 750 feet. What reason did he have to believe that the pyramid was tied to Atlantis, and what evidence afterwards, if any, was found that tied it to Atlantis? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-atlantis-once-a-continent-or-just-an-unusual-once-upon-a-time-myth/709899.md?page=3)