posted on Jan, 24 2011 @ 10:16 PM
Atlantis is an ancient mythical island, whose existence and location have never been confirmed. The first references to Atlantis are from the
classical Greek philosopher Plato, who said it was engulfed by the ocean as the result of an earthquake 9,000 years before his own time, which would
be well into the most recent Ice age. Plato claimed it was somewhere outside the Pillars of Hercules, now known as the Strait of Gibraltar.
According to Critias, 9,000 years before his lifetime, a war took place between those outside the Pillars of Heracles and those who dwelt within them.
The Atlanteans had conquered the Mediterranean as far east as Egypt and the continent into Tyrrhenia, and subjected its people to slavery. The
Athenians led an alliance of resistors against the Atlantean empire and as the alliance disintegrated, prevailed alone against the empire, liberating
the occupied lands. "But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men
in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea."
There have been dozens—perhaps hundreds—of locations proposed for Atlantis. Most of the historically proposed locations are in or near the
Mediterranean sea (islands such as Sardinia, Crete and Santorini), and locations as far as Antarctica, Indonesia and the Caribbean. The submerged
island of Spartel near the Strait of Gibraltar is a proposed location which would coincide with some elements of Plato's account; location (just
outside the Pillars of Hercules) and date of submersion (9000 years before Plato).