The Lost Continent
One of my favourite applications that has been created by the introduction of the internet and modern technology is Google Earth. It is a fantastic tool and is continually being updated and improved. You can, literally, spend days wandering around cities and countries. There is however a few anomalies on the GE. One of which has been seized upon by journalists as evidence of Atlantis, the lost island first mentioned by the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato, in his works the Timaeus and Critias. He portrayed a great naval power lying beyond the pillars of hercules [Gibraltar on the European side, and any number of two or more pillars on the african side, such as Jebel Musa in Morrocco]. The Pillars guarded the entry into the Atlantic and in the time of antiquity, passing through them marked the unknown world. Beyond the pillars sat Atlantis according to Plato. There are others, more modern historians who believe it may be located in the med. The island of Thera, a volcanic island destroyed by its own force.
There are a few places within Western culture that still holds in the collective conscience as mysterious lands that epitomised 'good' civilisation. They still intrigue the modern mind. Although the new generation of children are perhaps lost to these mysterious civilisations. As with Atlantis, there is the British tradition of Arthur's Camelot, which has always fascinated me, and I am of the camp that I think Wales seems the most likely place, but there are many others who would argue other areas are more appropriate to the legend. The isle of Avalon, though I am certain that this does tie into glastonbury as that whole area would have been under water and the tor area would have made an isle within a large water flooded area.
They are intriguing to us because they are almost impossible to pin point, in the main because they come from a time when we have no record or the record we have uses locations we no longer are aware of, especially in the case of placing the battles of Arthur. With Atlantis, we have a description of a large and powerful naval power. A land which has been taken more seriously than it was in classical times when Plato mentioned it. Like Arthur, Atlantis could well be a collection of legends and myth intertwined by Plato and moulded into a singular narrative. The destruction of Atlantis in one day and night, seems only achievable by a natural but catastrophic event (such as the destruction of Thera, which is often argued to be the inspiration of the destruction), but the romance of an idea is hard to shift from the psyche and Atlantis to me is one. The idea of a higher society at its peak, perhaps bought low by it's own power and corruption removed by a catastrophic accident, almost as a divinely inspired punishment. Another great by product of the Atlantean and Arthurian legends is the total vagueness of evidence so you can build stories upon them from your own imagination, because there are no right or wrongs.
Atlantis could have been destroyed by their own hubris, a punishment of the Gods, for attempting to become Gods. They may have destroyed themselves, to prevent their advanced technology falling into the hands of the new empires forming around them, a noble sacrifice. they may never have existed at all. All three are equally as valid you can make of myths what you wish really. That's the point and attraction of them, their malleable nature.
Here are the images from Google earth;
As you can see here is the image taken from Google Earth, that has caused the furore. Those of a classical bent noticed the layout of lines was classical in the extreme, both in the view of ancient town planning and fortified camp layout. Sadly not to be, as Google point out, it is explained as the sonar residue of ships mapping the sea floor. A shame, as the romantic within me hoped for.
Yet Google Earth has been quite revolutionary in some ways and it has at times revealed areas we never knew of. The strongest of these was to reveal a large woodland, which had never been mapped at all and now was revealed on google earth. An expedition was sent out to explore the forest and found a whole host of new species of animals.
There are a few places within Western culture that still holds in the collective conscience as mysterious lands that epitomised 'good' civilisation. They still intrigue the modern mind. Although the new generation of children are perhaps lost to these mysterious civilisations. As with Atlantis, there is the British tradition of Arthur's Camelot, which has always fascinated me, and I am of the camp that I think Wales seems the most likely place, but there are many others who would argue other areas are more appropriate to the legend. The isle of Avalon, though I am certain that this does tie into glastonbury as that whole area would have been under water and the tor area would have made an isle within a large water flooded area.
They are intriguing to us because they are almost impossible to pin point, in the main because they come from a time when we have no record or the record we have uses locations we no longer are aware of, especially in the case of placing the battles of Arthur. With Atlantis, we have a description of a large and powerful naval power. A land which has been taken more seriously than it was in classical times when Plato mentioned it. Like Arthur, Atlantis could well be a collection of legends and myth intertwined by Plato and moulded into a singular narrative. The destruction of Atlantis in one day and night, seems only achievable by a natural but catastrophic event (such as the destruction of Thera, which is often argued to be the inspiration of the destruction), but the romance of an idea is hard to shift from the psyche and Atlantis to me is one. The idea of a higher society at its peak, perhaps bought low by it's own power and corruption removed by a catastrophic accident, almost as a divinely inspired punishment. Another great by product of the Atlantean and Arthurian legends is the total vagueness of evidence so you can build stories upon them from your own imagination, because there are no right or wrongs.
Atlantis could have been destroyed by their own hubris, a punishment of the Gods, for attempting to become Gods. They may have destroyed themselves, to prevent their advanced technology falling into the hands of the new empires forming around them, a noble sacrifice. they may never have existed at all. All three are equally as valid you can make of myths what you wish really. That's the point and attraction of them, their malleable nature.
Here are the images from Google earth;
As you can see here is the image taken from Google Earth, that has caused the furore. Those of a classical bent noticed the layout of lines was classical in the extreme, both in the view of ancient town planning and fortified camp layout. Sadly not to be, as Google point out, it is explained as the sonar residue of ships mapping the sea floor. A shame, as the romantic within me hoped for.
Yet Google Earth has been quite revolutionary in some ways and it has at times revealed areas we never knew of. The strongest of these was to reveal a large woodland, which had never been mapped at all and now was revealed on google earth. An expedition was sent out to explore the forest and found a whole host of new species of animals.
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