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Real Tsunami May Have Inspired Legend of Atlantis
LiveScience ^ | 09 Oct 2009 | Charles Q. Choi

Posted on 10/10/2009 8:07:16 AM PDT by BGHater

The volcanic explosion that obliterated much of the island that might have inspired the legend of Atlantis apparently triggered a tsunami that traveled hundreds of miles to reach as far as present-day Israel, scientists now suggest.

The new findings about this past tsunami could shed light on the destructive potential of future disasters, researchers added.

The islands that make up the small circular archipelago of Santorini, roughly 120 miles (200 km) southeast of Greece, are what remain of what once was a single island, before one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human antiquity shattered it in the Bronze Age some time between 1630 B.C. to 1550 B.C.

Speculation has abounded as to whether the Santorini eruption inspired the legend of Atlantis, which Plato said drowned in the ocean. Although the isle is often regarded as just an invention, the explosion might have given rise to the story of a lost empire by helping to wipe out the real-life Minoan civilization that once dominated the Mediterranean, from which the myth of the bull-headed 'minotaur' comes.

The primary means by which the eruption potentially wreaked havoc on the Minoan civilization is by the giant tsunami it would have triggered. However, the precise effects of this eruption and killer wave have been a mystery for decades.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: akrotiri; atlantis; calliste; catastrophism; eberhardzangger; godsgravesglyphs; plato; santorini; thera; tsunami; volcano
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Some others:

The Atlantis between Spain and Morocco. The Expedition Revealing discoveries.
The wave that destroyed Atlantis [Destroyed by a giant tsunami?]

1 posted on 10/10/2009 8:07:17 AM PDT by BGHater
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To: SunkenCiv

Sunkenciv ping.


2 posted on 10/10/2009 8:07:45 AM PDT by BGHater ("real price of every thing ... is the toil and trouble of acquiring it")
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To: BGHater

Where Was Atlantis? Sundaland Fits The Bill, Surely!

3 posted on 10/10/2009 8:12:54 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

I concur, SE Asia[Indonesia] fits.


4 posted on 10/10/2009 8:15:59 AM PDT by BGHater ("real price of every thing ... is the toil and trouble of acquiring it")
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To: blam
Biblical Plagues and Parting of Red Sea caused by Volcano
5 posted on 10/10/2009 8:16:05 AM PDT by blam
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To: BGHater

If you ever get the chance to travel to Greece, I would highly recommend some island hopping including a stop at Santorini. It is a gorgeous island. Make sure you visit Akrotiri(?) this is the city that was buried by the volcanic eruption that is still being uncovered.

Its pretty cheap once you get there.


6 posted on 10/10/2009 8:16:38 AM PDT by Kandy Atz ("Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want for bread.")
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To: BGHater

I visited a distant cousin this past summer, and her husband told me he has figured out where Atlantis is. And that Atlantis and the Garden of Eden are one and the same.

I’ve read a couple of pages of his “knol”, but that’s about it.

http://knol.google.com/k/john-nichols/atlantis-eden-hiding-the-tree-of-life/2vfxjftuay98o/9#


7 posted on 10/10/2009 8:17:03 AM PDT by hoppity
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To: BGHater
Santorini Eruption Much larger Than Originally Believed


8 posted on 10/10/2009 8:19:35 AM PDT by blam
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To: BGHater

There are multiple areas around the world they figure could be Atlantis, if it ever really existed.

Santorini is one of the more favored spots.


9 posted on 10/10/2009 8:56:40 AM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: BGHater

The Minoan civilition was on Crete, a different island not near Santorini.
Asia wouldn’t do because of the reference to the pi;;ars of Hercules.
There’s a very detailed description in Plato’s account.


10 posted on 10/10/2009 9:13:40 AM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: kabumpo
The size of Atlantis described by Plato doesn’t fit with anything near Crete or the Med. at all.
11 posted on 10/10/2009 9:24:09 AM PDT by BGHater ("real price of every thing ... is the toil and trouble of acquiring it")
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To: BGHater

Nor does the time frame. Both are off by a factor of 10.


12 posted on 10/10/2009 9:48:25 AM PDT by redangus
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To: BGHater

Actually, the ruins of Atlantis are in New Jersey, a few miles northeast of Hammonton. I say this confidently because they’ve already been ‘located’ everywhere else and then not found there. ;^)


13 posted on 10/10/2009 9:54:44 AM PDT by Grut
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To: Grut
You're wrong. Abraham Lincoln used to summer in Atlantis. My family vacationed there and enjoyed the

Of course now "The Donald" owns the casinos and Atlantis is sinking into the sea once more!

14 posted on 10/10/2009 10:38:23 AM PDT by Young Werther ("Quae Cum Ita Sunt - Julius Caesar "Since these things are so!">)
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New Ice-Core Evidence Challenges the 1620s age for the Santorini (Minoan) Eruption
Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 25, Issue 3, March 1998
Pages 279-289 | 13 July 1997 | Gregory A. Zielinski, Mark S. Germani
Posted on 07/29/2004 12:25:45 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1180724/posts


15 posted on 10/11/2009 6:03:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: 75thOVI; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; BBell; ...
Thanks BGHater. Seismology and Chronology.
 
Catastrophism
 
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·
 

16 posted on 10/11/2009 6:07:05 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks BGHater for posting this topic. :')
"Even when, during the respective Thera Conferences, individual scientists had pointed out that the magnitude and significance of the Thera eruption must be estimated as less than previously thought, the conferences acted to strengthen the original hypothesis. The individual experts believed that the arguments advanced by their colleagues were sound, and that the facts of a natural catastrophe were not in doubt... All three factors reflect a fantasy world rather than cool detachment, which is why it so difficult to refute the theory with rational arguments." -- Eberhard Zangger, "The Future of the Past: Archaeology in the 21st Century", pp 49-50.
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google ·
· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


17 posted on 10/11/2009 6:08:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: BGHater

” But these things come not into the tale of the Drowning of Numenor, of which now all is told. And even the name of that land perished, and Men spoke thereafter not of Elenna, nor of Andor the Gift that was taken away, nor of Numenore on the confines of the world; but the exiles on the shores of the sea, if they turned towards the West in the desire of their hears, spoke of Mar-nu-Falmar that was whelmed in the waves, of Akallebeth the Downfallen, Atalante in the Eldarin tongue.”

That is the closing sentence of “Alkallabeth, The Downfall of Numenor” in ‘The Silmarillion’ by JRR Tolkien. Tolkien’s mythology was all in support of his alternate story of the drowning of Atlantis, and was partially in response to the writing of C.S. Lewis’s “Chronicles of Narnia” which Tolkien did not approve of.

The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and the Silmarillion are all fascinating to read and understand as a whole once you realize what JRRT was really talking about in all of those tales. There is an entire set of books that have been written by Tolkien’s son Christoper, who edited and published his father’s extensive notebooks and assorted tales. I retreat to Tolkien often because it such beautiful writing in some of the longest sentences I know of.


18 posted on 10/11/2009 6:32:21 PM PDT by Bean Counter (Stout Hearts....)
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To: SunkenCiv
If the eruption was so catastrophic why did the Minoan culture survive for an other couple of centuries? Why did the Minoans have an artistic and cultural revolution, aside from eating kids, see the Minotaur Myth?

Why did the Critas break off when Plato started to repeat the ILIAD.

19 posted on 10/11/2009 6:33:10 PM PDT by Little Bill (Carol Che-Porter is a MOONBAT.)
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To: BGHater

I read Graham Hancock’s book “Underworld” a couple of years ago and found one thing more striking than anything else.

At the end of the last ice age as the glaciers melted, the glaciers themselves acted as giant ice dams holding back the melt water. There were several occasions, the most recent one occurring around 11,000 years ago, where the ice dam super structure failed catastrophically and unleashed an enormous volume of water in a very short period of time. It was estimated that the Canadian glacier at this time released over one million cubic kilometers of water in the space of a few hours.

Sea level would have risen quickly and permanently world-wide, which would explain the source of all of the world’s great flood legends, from both the old world and the Americas.

I mention all of this because of the timing of the last great global inundation. As was supposedly related to Plato’s uncle, Solon, by an Egyptian priest around 500 BC, Atlantis was inundated and destroyed 9,000 years previous to their time. The estimated dates of the worldwide inundation and dates for Atlantis as passed on to Solon are a very close match.

I first read about Spyridon Marinatos’ Santorini theory in the 1960’s and have followed the various vying theories on Atlantis as they’ve come and gone. I agree with Hancock’s conclusion that the Atlantis legend is probably referring to an event of immense antiquity that was triggered by this world-wide inundation. We should take Plato literally.


20 posted on 10/11/2009 6:36:00 PM PDT by KamperKen
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