Atlantis: A Different Interpretation

Introduction Plato has been termed the Father of Western Philosophy. He composed the narrative that is the source of the story of Atlantis. Since its initial writing this has puzzled most who have read the tale. Atlantis has been placed in numerous locations on the Earth, from the island of Santorini to South America, to the middle of the Atlantic and numerous other places and yet not a single one of the works that have been written about the island of Atlantis which were examined during research have taken into account all of the references supplied by Plato. In reality Plato was using allegory. He was writing only very loosely of a location on Earth and the region indicated was mainly drowned circa 9000 years before Platos era just as he stated. This is the area known as Sundaland, South Malaysia. Hence neither Santorini, nor islands in the Atlantic or South America have any place in the evaluation. Platos main target was not a location on earth but a specific region of the sky and equally precise date. His reference to beyond, (or before) [dependent upon whos translation one reads] the Pillars of Hercules is not a reference to a location on Earth. This refers to a time before the constellation Hercules appeared in its precessional location with the small star Tau Hercules at the celestial North Pole, an era when Hercules was still to the west of the polar region. Correctly, those who have assumed that Plato meant an island on Earth have looked to the west for its location; however, they have had the direction only partially correct as they should have been looking to the heavens and not the Atlantic. Plato used the Pillars of Hercules in two connotations here; for direction, i.e. west and for time. The time indicated is before 7600BC when Tau Hercules was the pole star, an event accurately recorded in Indian annals. The previous pole star was Vega and this was no longer in place at the 9000 years before the time of Plato. Hence it is clear that his statement of before the Pillars of Hercules implies prior to the era of Hercules at pole position. Additionally if one takes the pole star of Tau Hercules and plots the path of the associated stars of the constellation around it then the concentric circles are very close to Platos positioning of canals at Atlantis City. It can therefore be seen that indeed these two apparently disparate entities do have close geometrical affinity to each other. Why a flood? Here we come to the crux of the problem. As noted above the time mentioned by Plato was 9000 years before his era, for arguments sake let us call it 9400BC, which is 1800 years before Hercules was in polar position, or before the Pillars of Hercules. At this point we indeed did have flooding on Earth as the sea level rise after the Ice Age was getting under way with a vengeance at this time. But is this the flood to which Plato was referring? Only in part because Plato was making reference to the same water that the Egyptian sun god Ra used to sail his solar barque, to the same ocean upon which the Indian Varuna sailed, that mentioned in Genesis 1:6-8the heavenly ocean, or to be more accurate and comply exactly with Genesis, the ocean above the heaven as heaven was termed the firmament and this divided the waters above from the waters below, those on earth. 1

So we have India, Egypt and the Bible all agreeing that there was an ocean in the sky. As rain falls downwards and water had not been observed travelling in the opposite direction it was assumed that this freshwater ocean had to exist to give us rain. This ocean is the root of the flood story of the Bible, of the deluge of Gilgamesh and of the Indian Noah equivalent, Manu and indeed of other such tales specifically N Wa Mends the Sky Huai nan zi (Writings of Prince Huainan) from China. The sun, moon and stars were thought to be intimately related to this ocean as indeed was Earth albeit in a less direct way. Explanations 1 The pole star has been mentioned and this plays a crucial role in events. The axis of Earth, indeed of the universe, was seen to pass through the centre of Earth via the pole stars. Plato was well aware of this scenario; in Timeaus 40:C he writes: The Earth He (The Creator) devised to be our nurturer, and, because it winds around the axis that stretches through the universe, also to be the maker and guardian of day and night. Hence if this axis were to be disturbed chaos would result. This axis alignment to the pole was all important. Yet there are seven pole stars to the precessional cyclehence these stars do in fact move and there does occur the visual loss of a pole starYes chaos has resulted and the pillars of heaven have fallen as Chinese flood literature informs us. The loss of the pole star meant that the constellations no longer had their invisible strings attached to the centre of their circling movements, there was no visible controlling element, the pole star could be seen to be moving awayand all was recorded. This recording commenced very early and here we see correlation to flooding on Earth. When Vega moved out of place, simultaneously the same thing happened at the South Celestial Pole and Canopus also moved away from its allotted position. The flooding of low-lying land that began at the end of the last Ice Age commenced around 10,200BC, and eventually severely affected several areas around the world. This also approximates the date when Vega and Canopus commenced moving from their polar positions. Observations indicated that if we loose a pole star then a flood occurs, in this case a flood that continued through 9000 BC as Plato stated and when people were flooded out of Sundaland [South Malaysia]. After slowly travelling through jungle and plain and across hills these folk arrived at Merhgarh in what is now Pakistan. This whole tale of the flood commences here with these people, who incidentally developed the measures that were found across the ancient world. Certainly records were kept and in 8100BC Hercules was very near to the pole position, in fact Tau Hercules was a mere 3 degrees from its closest proximity of of a degree. 500 years later at 7600BC Tau Hercules was at the pole and almost immediately after there was a turndown in climate, a minor return to a freeze in the extremities of Earth and of course the insidious creep of the sea level reversed for a whileA new pole star and the floods have stopped! However this was not to last and by 7100 BC the flooding had returned which of course complied with the loss of this pole star; hence it was assumed that this was the case, no pole star and a flood is the result. By 3300BC we see another change and Thuban in Draconis was within 3 degrees of the pole and yes, the flooding ceased about this 2

timepermanently on this occasion as the sea level had risen over 300 feet since the Ice Age and the sea had reached its peak.

The great sage Manu, [Maharaja Dhruva] son of Vivasvat, practiced austere fervor. He stood on one leg with upraised arm, looking down unblinkingly, for 10,000 years Extract from Frazer Sir James G. Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, vol. 1. Macmillan & Co., London, 1919. Summarised from pp. 185-187 [Adapted by Frazer from Mahabharata Varna Parva CLXXXVI] The text should read 1,000 years but as with many of these ancient Indian periods it has been increased by a factor of 10. The illustration is the constellation Hercules with the pole star Tau Hercules shortly after midnight at midwinter 7600BC. Platos circular City with its canals was apparently based upon the circles inscribed by the stars of this constellation circling around pole star Tau Hercules.

Explanations 2 It was this pole star /flood scenario that prompted the flood tale as stated above. The religious accounts however were a reference to the chaos in heaven when the pole star moved out of place. The creator god of India was Brahma and the Indian Noah, Manu, was a manifestation of Brahma. In some versions he did not need a menagerie in his vessel as reported in the Hebrew version as Manu created afresh at the end of each flood. In effect a pole star means 1000 years of a creation period while the flood indicates 3600 years of watery destruction. 3600 years is a canonical value derived from the observance of the loss of both Vega and Canopus to the onset of Tau Hercules and maintained in various forms in the texts since. However by the time of the writing of the Book of Revelations the times between these stars was better understood and in this book a clearer explanation is given. Here seen a description of Kings fallen and standing and one of these [Polaris] is seen in the text as Jesus. Manu [Indian Noah] was directly associated with Maharaja Druva or Druvaloka the Pole Star Manu was a grandson of Brahma the creator as indeed was Druva. Here he is seen 3

is as the constellation Hercules that contains the pole star Tau Hercules. Druva was allocated the position of the polestar. Dhruva, I shall award you the glowing planet known as the polestar, which will continue to exist even after the dissolution at the end of the millenniumAll the luminaries in the sky circumambulate this planet Srimad Bhagavatam 4.9.20 Plato took his circles for the citys canals from this constellations movements around the pole star. It was the period after the loss of the pole star Vega to which Plato was referring regarding flooding and he used the constellation Hercules for the Atlantis City description. From his reference to circa 9400BC it appears likely that he was aware of the movement of people to Merhgarh in that era. There is no doubt of the association here as dated to 7500-8000BC we have skeletons at Merhgarh that are identified via dental morphology as being derived from Sundaland. Of note here also is the fact that these people were building in brick at Merhgarh at that era and the brick dimensions comply with the measures systems of India and the Middle East of millennia later and indeed are related to the British Imperial System, at least to its foot value. Hence they were well developed intellectuallyas coincidentally those of Platos Atlantis appeared to be. Hence Plato has taken knowledge of a relatively advanced group of people and mixed it with happenings in the sky and on Earth to create a tale that is correct in its astronomical features and also in part in its anthropology. The dimensions of his city were developed partly from the circles inscribed in the sky by the stars of the constellation Hercules and partly from the Earths then known diameter of 7920 [British] miles. [Greeks gave various counts of different stade values for Earth diameter but when evaluated they without exception resulted in this value.] Plato devised a stade value by calculating the difference in height between the globular Earth and a globular representation of the volume of a cube of sides the same length as the Earths diameter. The calculation result was exactly 1200 miles or 6336000 feet, represented at Atlantis by a single stade of 633.6 feet. Plato mentioned a continent across the sea. Of course this is not America as seen from Europe. His island of Atlantis is a star, there were other islands in his texts which logically meant other stars. The Milky Way is composed of literally millions of stars, in effect a landmassPlatos mysterious continent across the heavenly ocean. Of course while this short narrative explains the broad outline of the scheme devised by Plato there are details he used that are not explained here such as how he managed to have an educated Greece prior to Egypt or even why he wrote the tale in the first place. All Atlantis interpretations seen in the research for this evaluation have utilised variations to Platos text such as attempts to bend his writing to suit the loss of Santorini, yet Plato was very precise in his narrative and there is no need to stray from his text. All that is required is a little knowledge of the way that the skies were used in allegorical fashion in the ancient world. Effectively stories were invented, such as the Atlantis tale and that of the flood as in Genesis to ensure that important astronomical information was remembered before the advent of writing. Characters took the place of stars such as Noah for the pole star who needed a boat to be safe until he could re-embark to his allotted locationof course in a new constellation as a different pole star hence the necessity for a new creation in the Indian version.

Circle

Radius (stades) 2.5 3.5 5.5 7.5 9 10.5 13.5

Radius degrees 3.5357 4.95 7.7785 10.6071 12.7285 14.85 19.0928

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

From City Centre Mountain = 90 86.4642 85.05 82.2214 79.3928 77.2714 75.15 70.90714

Hercules Stars (Pole = 90) 86.73 85.76 82.25 79.66 76.28 75.33 70.26

Difference

+ 0.2658 + 0.71 + 0.0286 + 0.2672 - 0.9914 + 0.18 - 0.64714

7600 BC: Tau Hercules at closest to Pole (within 0.75 degree). Comparison to Platos Atlantis City canals
Difference in decimal degrees + 0.2658 + 0.71 + 0.0286 + 0.2672 - 0.9914 + 0.18 - 0.64714 Difference in minutes of arc + 15.948 + 42.6 + 1.716 + 16.032 - 59.484 + 10.8 - 38.8284

Hercules circles

Atlantis circles

Comparison between Constellation of Hercules and Atlantis City

Dimensions in stades of Atlantis City The dimensions of the city were specified by Plato to be as follows: Centre island diameter = 5 stades = 3,168 British feet (Earth representation) Canal 1 = 1 stade = 633.6 feet st Outer side of 1 circular canal = 7 stades = 4435.2 feet Outer side 2nd land zone = 11 stades = 6969.6 feet [4400 x 1.584] Canal 2 = 2 stades = 1267.2 feet [inches in 105.6 feet] Inner side mid land zone = 15 stades = 9504 feet [6 x 1.584 foot cubits (reed) =9.504 feet] Centre line of mid land zone = 18 stades (racecourse) = 11404.8 feet Outer side of mid land zone = 21 stades = 13305.6 feet Canal 3 = 3 stades = 1900.8 feet [inches in 1.584 feet] The inner side of outer land zone = 27 stades = 17,107.2 British feet = 16,200feet using a foot value of 1.056feet. Note that 10.56 feet is the reed value utilised in the flood story in Genesis along with its cubit of 1.76 feet and Noah was born in the year 1056.

Coastal Plain

Mountains

Sea Atlantis City

100 ft wide canals crossing plain at one stade intervals. [1 in 100 shown here for clarity.] Coastal plain dimensions: 3000 stades at 633.6 feet x 2000 stades at 633.6 feet = 86400 square British miles

Sea

Atlantis Plain dimensions and relation to Atlantis City

The dimensions of his city were developed partly from the circles inscribed in the sky by the stars of the constellation Hercules and partly from the Earths then known diameter of 7920 [British] miles. [Greeks gave various counts of different stade values for Earth diameter but when evaluated they without exception resulted in this value.] Plato devised a stade value by calculating the difference in height between the globular Earth and a globular representation of the volume of a cube of sides the same length as the Earths diameter. The calculation result was exactly 1200 miles or 6336000 feet, represented at Atlantis by a single stade of 633.6 feet. Plato mentioned a continent across the sea. Of course this is not America as seen from Europe. His island of Atlantis is a star, there were other islands in his texts which logically meant other stars. The Milky Way is composed of literally millions of stars, in effect a landmassPlatos mysterious continent across the heavenly ocean. Of course while this short narrative explains the broad outline of the scheme devised by Plato there are details he used that are not explained here such as how he managed to have an educated Greece prior to Egypt or even why he wrote the tale in the first place. All Atlantis interpretations seen in the research for this evaluation have utilised variations to Platos text such as attempts to bend his writing to suit the loss of Santorini, yet Plato was very precise in his narrative and there is no need to stray from his text. All 7

Mountains

that is required is a little knowledge of the way that the skies were used in allegorical fashion in the ancient world. Effectively stories were invented, such as the Atlantis tale and that of the flood as in Genesis to ensure that important astronomical information was remembered before the advent of writing. Characters took the place of stars such as Noah for the pole star who needed a boat to be safe until he could re-embark to his allotted locationof course in a new constellation as a different pole star hence the necessity for a new creation in the Indian version. The Indian texts make it quite clear that Manu or Brahma was the pole starotherwise known as Druvaloka, the term for this star. Reinforcing the abilities of these ancient people, the Indian Saptarishi Calendar commenced at the spring equinox in the year 6676BC. This was set out to cover 2,700 year cycles. The Saptarisi calendar commenced at the start of the Age of Gemini and the Greeks accepted this era for the birth of the god Dionysus111 years prior to the start of the Saptarisi. Pliny gives a BC date of 6786.75 BC for the birth of Dionysus, based upon the ascension to the throne of Alexander. From the time of Father Liber [Roman Bacchus or Greek Dionysus] to that of Alexander the Great, [356-323 BC, ascension in 336 BC] one hundred and fifty-three kings of India are reckoned, extending over a period of six thousand four hundred and fifty-one years and three months.33 Pliny the Elder, The Natural History (eds. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A.) Chap 21 V 8 We note that the commencement of the celestial age was not a clearly marked date as it depended upon the visual vernal equinox sunrise being central between two constellations hence either of these two dates could be seen as acceptable in that ancient era. The books by Harry Sivertsen and Steve Redman from which this information is drawn contain a vast amount of information that will further verify what is written here. They were over 20 years in the making and as seen here, explain just what the flood story, that of Atlantis and the religious works in reality portrays and why this is case. The works explain fully the derivation of the measurements used such as the stade value seen at Atlantis. These works in fact will indicate precisely where the learning that has prompted a search for a lost civilisation was developed and give a good idea of the extent of that knowledge. The works have been for their accurate analysis and can be found at:Read Measurements of the Gods Online or purchase paperback version at CompletelyNovel www.completelynovel.com/books/165320 Read Deluge: From Genesis to Atlantis Online or purchase paperback version at CompletelyNovel www.completelynovel.com/books/165322

Both works which are over 500 pages in length can be freely read on-line or purchased as a crisp PDF download or a more conventional hard copy version. Harry Sivertsen June 2011 Contact:- h.sivertsen@btinternet.com