Plato’s Atlantis Cayce’s Atlantis Background Plato. Plato’s description of Atlantis is found in his two dialogues, Timaeus and Critias. Plato (427-327 B.C.) was a student of Socrates. The speakers in his dialogues are considered to have been real people. It is not known exactly when he wrote these two dialogues, but most scholars believe it was after he visited Syracuse in 360 B.C. Plato attributes the details of the story to a relative, Solon (615-535 B.C.). Solon was given the account from Egyptian priests during a visit to the city of Sais. Critias ends abruptly as an unfinished work. No one knows why Plato did not finish the story, but various scholars have speculated wildly. Despite the impression that modern archaeologists seem to impress upon the public about Atlantis, many other ancient writers also mentioned or wrote about Atlantis. Plato’s student, Aristotle, believed that ancient Troy and Atlantis were somehow connected. One of Aristotle’s students, Theophrastus (circa 330 B.C.), wrote that the Atlantis story was factual, as did the Syrian philosopher Poseidonios (circa 90 B.C.). Strabo, a Greek historian writing in about 20 B.C., wrote a lengthy comparison between Troy and Atlantis’ geographical descriptions. Plato describes a series of worldwide floods culminating in the deluge of the Deucalion. The “Age of the Deucalion” is dated by Greek historians to the end of the last Ice Age, in about 10,000 B.C. Plato stated that Atlantis suddenly sank after a violent series of eruptions and a flood “9000 years” before the present. Thus, scholars have assumed that the date was about 9600 B.C. However, the assumption is that, when Solon told the story, he was giving a date for the destruction of Atlantis in “corrected” years. More specifically, this may have been the timeframe the Egyptian priests utilized in telling the story. Thus, it is possible that the actual date is somewhat earlier than 9600 B.C Edgar Cayce. Between 1923 and 1944, a total of 700 of Cayce’s readings mentioned Atlantis. Thus, of Cayce’s 14,256 documented readings, 4.9 percent contained some Atlantis material. When only Cayce’s “life readings” are considered, 28 percent relate to Atlantis. Cayce’s story of Atlantis can be found in the books by Edgar Evans Cayce, John Van Auken, and others. A comparison between Cayce and Plato’s Atlantis can be found in the book Mound Builders. All of these are available through the A.R.E. Bookstore. Edgar Cayce’s chronology of Atlantis actually varies little from the Plato account. Both placed Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean. Cayce cites 10,014 B.C. as the date of Atlantis’ final destruction. Like Plato, Cayce cited several earlier destructive floods. Cayce, however, gives the dates of these floods: 50,700 B.C. and 28,000 B.C. These floods broke Atlantis into islands causing massive destruction. Cayce’s story actually extends the Plato account relating details from individual’s lives as well as giving an overview of the entire history of Atlantis. Both Plato and Cayce tell of an advanced civilization existing in ancient Atlantis, but Cayce’s description of the civilization is far more technologically advanced. Between the timeframe of 50,000 B.C. to 28,000 B.C., Cayce describes a civilization that had developed power sources, hot-air balloons (made from skins), flying “ships,” advanced forms of communication and electronic transmission, and a mysterious laser-like “firestone” that could be tuned to various levels to produce power. After the 28,000 B.C. destruction of Atlantis, Cayce’s descriptions of Atlantis are far less technological and in line with the descriptions Plato gave about the civilization in 9,600 B.C.: spears, bows and arrows, gardens, and sailing ships. City Description & Dimensions The center city of Atlantis was situated atop a flat hill or mountaintop. On this central hill, temples and gardens were built. The diameter of this area was one-half mile. Three rings of water with two rings of land surrounded the city center. The water rings were connected with canals and a 5-mile canal connected to the ocean. On the land rings were houses, various civic buildings, gardens, and other structures. The diameter of the entire city was only 2-miles. Surrounding the center city was a huge plain and a large mountainous area. Much of this land was of a rural nature with grazing animals, | |
 | |
| | | | | | |