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Atlantis in Homer and Other Authors Prior to Plato

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Science and Technology in Homeric Epics

Part of the book series: History of Mechanism and Machine Science ((HMMS,volume 6))

It is demonstrated that ancient sources, prior to Plato, mentioned a sacredcircular entity somewhere West of Gibraltar. Homer in the 8th, Hesiod in the 7th BC, Pindar and Hellanicus in the 5th centuries respectively also wrote about it. We do not expect to read the name Atlantisin their texts, since it was invented by Plato as he clearly declares. We know that in the Euro-African region, west of Gibraltar, both in North West Africa and South West Iberia there are several submerged craters which are products of diapyrism. Some of them in Cadiz's bay are large. At least a small one is visible in Andalusia. We explore the case of ancient Erytheia mentioned in early ancient Greek texts as a vanished red island. We propose that in Andalusia's palaeocoast of 1200 BC, a nature-made circularityexisted. In the past, it served once as a religious, cultural site for the nearby maritime prehistoric populations. It was associated with Ibero-Mauretian and Tartessian culture. It was understood, due to its circular shape, by the visiting prehistoric Greeks, as Poseidon's work. It vanished together with Achaeans and Atlantesafter earthquakes and floods. Atlantis' giant islandis Germano-Celto-Iberia, since the concept of the island in prehistory in either Greek or Egyptian was not that of the 5th century BC, because Herodotus added the word peninsulafor the first time. The mythological part of Iberia reflects Heracles' activities. In other words, it reflects the collective unconscious of the prehistoric and historic Greeks in that region of the world. We note the first archaeological finding of an Achaean shard close to Guadalquivir's estuary. Plato's Atlantesis a remote strange and deformed incomplete echo of Sea Peoples' second assault against East Mediterranean countries. The giant continent West of Gibraltar was known to the Egyptians prior to 6th century BC, because of the trade of unique products existing only in South America. In other words, Plato's story about Atlantisbegins to be comprehensible and gradually proved.

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Papamarinopoulos, S.P. (2008). Atlantis in Homer and Other Authors Prior to Plato. In: Paipetis, S.A. (eds) Science and Technology in Homeric Epics. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8784-4_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8784-4_37

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