(#4) Ok, I'm Doing Atlantis Now

Maybe it's been hiding in plain sight all along.

There are certain things that we just cannot let go. Perhaps one of the longest grudges that humanity has ever held consists of our anger at Plato for not telling us, plainly, whether Atlantis was real or just a fictional allegory used to teach us a lesson about national hubris. For some reason, despite millennia of searching, we will not give up on fighting over the existence of this place and its possible location.

I too hold this grudge in my heart, and today, I’m going to take out some of my anger by dumping proverbial fuel onto the proverbial fire of this era-spanning debate. Do I think Atlantis is pure fiction? Or do I believe it’s really somewhere out there for us to find? The answer may surprise you.

Artistic rendition of Atlantis. Via Science Photo Library.

♫ Under the Sea ♫

Human beings are not content with the natural abilities of their bodies. We can’t swim underwater for long periods of time, so we use scuba gear. We don’t possess wings, so we build aircraft. We can’t survive without oxygen, so we wear spacesuits. We seem to have an insatiable fascination with the parts of our world that are not possible for us to reach without technological assistance. And this could not be any truer for how we view the depths of the sea.

Atlantis is commonly seen as a lost city resting on the ocean floor, preserved and ready for excavation, like an aquatic Pompeii. Many have attempted to find it, but to no avail. It seems as though, in the popular imagination, Atlantis is similar to the underwater Gungan world on the planet Naboo in Star Wars. This perception embedded itself into our cultural psyche, and when we search for Atlantis, we try to find it with this expectation in mind.

So, when we come across alternative views of if/where Atlantis existed that do not fit the mold, it may surprise us at first. Keep this idea of cultural imagination in mind as you read along, as it will come up again at the end of this piece.

Now, I’m going to consider a possible location for Atlantis that bears no similarity to its typical representation.

A possible location that is not underwater but in the desert.

Specifically, the Sahara Desert.

Hear me out.

Where Did We Even Get the Idea of Atlantis?

How good of you to ask! As with everything, the story of Atlantis can be traced back to the ancient Greeks [Even yogurt. I am tired of the current Greco-Turkish Twitter War on the origins of yogurt. It’s called Greek yogurt. End of debate]. Of Plato’s numerous works are two dialogues called Timaeus and Critias, both written around the mid 4th century BC. These are the only extant accounts we have of Atlantis, but it bears emphasizing that Plato’s account is supposedly based on a story originating in Egypt. In Timaeus, we read a description of Atlantis that gives us some clues about its size and location:

“Many, in truth, and great are the achievements of your State, which are a marvel to men as they are here recorded; but there is one which stands out above all both for magnitude and for nobleness. For it is related in our records how once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic Ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot. For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, 'the pillars of Heracles,' there lay an island which was larger than Libya and Asia together; and it was possible for the travelers of that time to cross from it to the other islands, and from the islands to the whole of the continent…” Timaeus, Section 24d-24e.

So, according to Timaeus (the individual speaking in Plato’s dialogue), Atlantis represents a brazen nation bent on attacking their neighbors in Europe and Anatolia. It is worth clearing up some of the language used in this passage, as its meaning is different today than it would have been thousands of years ago. Atlantis was supposedly situated outside the Strait of Gibralter (AKA the “Pillars of Heracles”) and is bigger than ancient Libya and modern-day Turkey (sort of). Despite its size and military prowess, Atlantis would meet a brutal fate. Timaeus recounts,

“But at a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished; wherefore also the ocean at that spot has now become impassable and unsearchable, being blocked up by the shoal mud which the island created as it settled down.” Timaeus, Section 25c-25d.

So, we know that somewhere in the Atlantic, the island-nation formerly known as Atlantis rests in peace. We also know that some 2012-level natural disasters befell the poor Atlanteans, so much so that it only took a period of 24 hours to send their homeland to the bottom of the ocean. And yet we Americans have the audacity to complain that we have the real problems.

“But wait!” You might be thinking. “You just said that Atlantis could be somewhere in the Sahara Desert. Where did you get that idea? Doesn’t Plato make it clear that Atlantis it located underwater?

Yes, that is made abundantly clear in Plato’s writing. But there’s another part of his dialogues on Atlantis that made me rethink the “underwater hypothesis,” a part that describes Atlantis as bearing eerie resemblance to an eroded structure that we have found on the African continent.

Let’s continue with Plato, only this time, we’ll read what he has to say in Critias. According to the eponymous character, Atlantis looks a little something like this:

“Looking towards the sea, but in the center of the whole island, there was a plain which is said to have been the fairest of all plains and very fertile. Near the plain again, and also in the center of the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side…[It was made up of] alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water…each having its circumference equidistant every way from the center.” Critias

You should definitely read the story of how Atlantis came to have this exact configuration. It’s a hoot. Greek etiologies on anything are always entertaining. Anyhow, these extra details on Atlantis’ layout are crucial, especially as it relates to its concentric rings of land and water. Allow me to explain.

The [Sahara] Has Eyes

They say you can see the Great Wall of China from space. You can also see all the light pollution we generate at night. Even more, you can see the African continent “look” right back at you.

Astronauts have been able to take some incredible pictures of what is known as the Eye of the Sahara, or the Richat Structure. Located in the deserts of Mauritania, the Eye has been winning staring contests with astronauts (and maybe even aliens) since the first manned missions into outer space. Here is an excellent photograph to illustrate what I mean.

The Eye of the Sahara. Via Earth from Space.

The Richat Structure is essentially an eroded elliptical dome composed of sedimentary rock. It was formed from subterranean volcanic activity millions of years ago, which “popped” out the original elliptical dome over time. Images of the Richat Structure reveal three concentric circles in the middle, in addition to two more circles towards its outer rim.

Presently, it resides in the desert. It is worth remembering, however, that the Richat Structure has spent a large chunk of its existence surrounded by the lush green of a bygone era of a more “tropical” Sahara region. See, the Sahara Desert was a vast grassland as recently as 6000 years ago. Researchers have been able to retrospectively estimate that what is now the Sahara Desert was actually the recipient of tropical levels of rainfall. As a result, the barren, rocky sight that is the Richat Structure was once green, teeming with wildlife, and maybe even surrounded by bodies of freshwater (especially in the depressions between its rings).

All of these things would have made the Richat Structure an attractive spot for human beings, too. Archaeological evidence has uncovered traces of human habitation on and around the Richat structure. Currently, all we know is that there seems to be an abundance of Paleolithic stone tools and even some Neolithic spearheads scattered about the Richat Structure. So far, no made-made structures have been found. This, however, neither confirms nor denies their existence. In any event, what we know as of now is that the current opinion on the Richat Structure is that it was most likely used as a seasonal home by hunter-gatherers back when the Sahara resembled the greener parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

But even if we cannot confirm that a powerful kingdom once thrived on the Richat Structure, we can still point out a number of similarities it bears to Plato’s descriptions of Atlantis. Its concentric circles match what Critias has to say about its makeup. There very well could have been freshwater bodies surrounding the rings of land given the amount of rainfall that used to soak the Sahara region. Furthermore, the Richat Structure is located well outside of the Strait of Gibraltar and relatively near the Atlantic Ocean, given its location in modern-day Mauritania. All that being said, it is worth repeating once more that the archeological exploration of the Richat Structure is far from complete, and it remains to be seen if there are traces of a more sophisticated civilization that once settled the area.

With that in mind, the makeup of the Richat Structure certainly looks a lot like what Plato wrote concerning Atlantis [and if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be…]. Perhaps you may disagree with me, and I fully expect that many of you will take issue with my interpretation of the Eye of the Sahara. If that’s the case, then please consider this:

What if I haven’t been looking for the literal Atlantis? What if this entire time I’ve been searching for something else?

Remember what I said about imagination?

Will the Real [Atlantis] Please Stand Up?

Growing up, almost all of us either read or listened to the fairy tales compiled by the Brothers Grimm. Typically, these watered-down versions of the darker, more violent originals entranced our childlike imaginations while also teaching us valuable lessons about courage, honesty, and other virtues. These stories were almost never inspired by actual historical events, but they were influenced by the environments in which they were told. In that sense, I guess, those fairy tales are “true” stories.

In Timaeus and Critias, Plato uses the bloodthirsty and warmongering Atlantis as a literary foil to the virtuous Athens. The tales of Atlantis’ prideful exploits and its subsequent downfall are highly symbolic. This does not mean, however, that I think Atlantis is pure fiction. I do believe it is based on something in the general “environment” of the wider world near the ancient Mediterranean. That something, to me, is most likely the Richat Structure.

“But why would Plato select such a random landform to serve as the setting for his story about Atlantis?” you may be asking.

Well, for starters, we still don’t know if Atlantis was once occupied by a more powerful civilization at some point, one that was at least mature enough to where it could project its presence to different Mediterranean nations. But it is more likely that the legend of Atlantis reached Plato’s ears from sources that had been influenced by a game of “generational telephone.”

Do you remember playing telephone? By the end of it, the message that was first transmitted is barely recognizable. It’s a small example of what happens to oral traditions when they get passed down generation after generation. One of the most famous and widespread examples of “generational telephone” [a term I just made up] is that of the Cosmic Hunt myth.

Everyone knows the Big Dipper of the Ursa Major constellation, but what a lot of people don’t know is that there is a common mythology about it that is at least 15,000 years old. Cultures across northern Eurasia and the Americas, from the ancient Greeks all the way to the Iroquois, have stories about the origin of the Big Dipper that sound rather similar. In essence, each story, despite its variations, consists of a prey animal being pursued by hunters, grievously wounded, then taken up into the heavens and transformed into the “bowl” of the Big Dipper. In some versions, the hunters also join the now-celestial animal in the night sky and become the Big Dipper’s “handle.” It is unknown precisely where this story came from, but it has to be at least 15,000 years old to account for its crossing of the Bering land bridge. You can read more about the Cosmic Hunt myth here. For our purposes, just a cursory understanding of it is sufficient.

I bring this up because if something as seemingly “trivial” as a tale about the origins of a constellation can survive millennia and travel across continents, then a story about a magnificent landform can do the same. Could it be that the Richat Structure inspired the imaginations of the Paleolithic peoples that called it home to the point of spurring them to develop a mythological tale about its origins? Could it then be that these early stories took on a life of their own and were slowly amended, embellished, and glamorized to the point of developing into a fantastical mythology of a mighty kingdom? What if Atlantis is real, and we have just been looking in all the wrong places, expecting it to look a certain way that is far from accurate?

Oh, Atlantis. You who have eluded many an archeologist, historian, and amateur explorer alike — I think I may have found you. I somewhat feel sorry for you, having been so misunderstood and misrepresented for so long. All this time, you have been hiding in plain sight (at least, according to me), practically mocking us for taking so long to find you.

I love this intellectual journey you’ve set me on, but I still hate you for it.