Wild Atlantic way, Sligo, Ireland. Is Ireland the legendary Atlantis? Source: Bruno Biancardi /Adobe Stock

Ireland as Atlantis – Ancient Egyptian and Greek Clues


Read Part One Here

Scientists used to work on the assumption that Ireland was completely frozen over during the Ice Age, and therefore uninhabitable, until around 10,000 years ago. This assumption has been well and truly shattered by recent evidence. This and other sources of evidence supports the idea that Ireland was the legendary land of Atlantis.

Ireland in the Ice Age

The Pleistocene Ice Age lasted for two and a half million years and ended around 11,600 years ago. The latest research shows that even at the peak of the Ice Age, ice sheets did not completely cover Ireland. This would explain the lack of drumlins (egg-shaped ridges formed by glacial activity) across the center of the island.

Another study from Norway proves conclusively that the warm, Atlantic Gulf Stream did not stop during the Ice Age as previously thought. This indicates that Ireland’s Ice Age wasn’t as severe as previous estimates, and evidence has been stacking up to support the claim that Ireland was inhabited by humans much earlier than currently acknowledged.



Examples of a Neolithic axe and flint tools. Co. Down, Ireland. (Notafly/CC BY SA 3.0)


The mainstream opinion remains that these human flint tools were carried to Ireland by ice sheets. This truly bizarre explanation was championed when archaeologists still believed that Ireland was completely frozen over until around 10,000 years ago, a view that has been discredited by modern science. The recent evidence suggests that Ireland has been habitable for hundreds of thousands of years. This would explain its many unique species of freshwater fish, flora, and fauna, which differ significantly from those of neighboring Britain and continental Europe.

Stone Age man was a lot more mobile than he has been given credit for. Recent scientific evidence proves man sailed to Australia on rafts 65,000 years ago. In Siberian Russia, an 11,500-year-old wood carving called the Shigir Idol was found with the unmistakable pattern of Irish ogham writing, the world’s first alphabet, carved into it. Ogham writing has also been found at several sites across North America.

The Egyptian Connection

Several ancient Egyptian texts, including the Book of the Dead , The Pyramid Texts, and the Hymn of Rameses IV, tell of 10 kings who ruled during the reign of the gods. One of these was Thoth, the founder of the Egyptian civilization, who was born in a distant country to the west—a country which was across a body of water.

Other texts refer to this ancestral territory as the “sunset land” or the “island of the setting sun.” To this day, Ireland is still referred to as the land of the setting sun. Another name for this land in Egyptian texts was Urani, which is etymologically very close to Erin, the ancient name for Ireland.

According to Egyptian texts, this island in the Atlantic was overwhelmed by water. The 10 kings, including Thoth, travelled east to safety by boat. Stories tell of the founders of Egypt arriving from an island in the Atlantic around 11,900 years ago.

If Atlantis and Ireland are one and the same, and some of the survivors of a tsunami that hit the island escaped by boat to Egypt, then you would expect there to be clear links between the two places. There are many such links. One of the most interesting of these is genetic.

The stereotypical Irish combination of red hair, blue eyes, and milky-white skin is the rarest genetic combination on Earth. Fewer than one million people (0.1 percent of the global human population) possess this genetic combination.

Ireland has the highest concentration of red-haired genes in the world. Throughout history, pockets of redheads have been found scattered across the globe. These are the descendants of the ancient Irish and include the Phoenicians, Hebrews, Berbers, and Indo-European Aryans. Red-haired mummies have been found all over the world, including in New Zealand, China, Peru, and Alaska.

Ireland has the highest concentration of red-haired genes in the world. (Pixabay License)


Thousands of fair and red-haired mummies have been found across Egypt. The Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II had red hair, as did at least six other pharaohs. Despite claims to the contrary, it has been conclusively proven that Ramesses’ hair was naturally red and was not colored red as the result of a dye pigment or the embalming process. The legendary Cleopatra is also said to have had red hair.

Further evidence backs up the Ireland/Egypt connection. In genetics, a haplogroup is a group from the human family tree that traces back to one individual ancestor. The Irish are part of the same genetic haplogroup as the lineage of the pharaohs. The highest concentration of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s Haplogroup R-M269 is found in Ireland, while Tutankhamun’s grandmother also had red hair.

A hieroglyphic text found at Abydos by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1901 in the cenotaph of Pharaoh Menes says:


As already mentioned, Urani is another name for Ireland. Intriguingly, when Pharaoh Menes’ Egyptian tomb was opened, it was found to be empty. His body was elsewhere.


It seems that Menes died from a bee sting in Ireland and was buried in Knockmany, County Tyrone, although the site has never been excavated to confirm this find. Nor, indeed, has Scotia’s grave in County Kerry, which is widely accepted as being the resting place of an Egyptian pharaoh’s daughter who arrived in Ireland around 1700 BC.

In fact, very few of Ireland’s ancient sites have been excavated. It must be the least excavated place on earth. However, some startling evidence has been found at the handful of sites that have been examined.

A royal Egyptian faience bead necklace was found at the Hill of Tara in County Meath during an excavation in 1955 while a 2,500-year-old Barbary ape skull (native to north Africa) was also found during excavations at Navan Fort in County Armagh.

The Importance of Stone Circles

Perhaps most telling of all is the Nabta Playa stone circle, which is located 804 km (500 miles) south of Cairo, deep in the Nubian desert—an area that once enjoyed seasonal rainfall and fertile soil. Nabta Playa is one of the oldest stone circles in the world and is considered the birthplace of Egyptian civilization. Stone circles are also known as druid circles. The builders of this stone circle predated the spectacular Egyptian civilization that followed.

Stone circles & megaliths are found all across the world in virtually every country, proving the entire world has a spectacular ancient history that most people are completely ignorant of.

The builders of these megalithic circles originated where the most spectacular Stone Age constructions on Earth are found: Ireland.

In Joseph Gwilt’s timeless masterpiece ‘The Encyclopaedia of Architecture’ , he informs us that the druid stone circles predated all other forms of architecture, that the druids were the world’s first race of civilized people, and that at one time the language and alphabet of the entire ancient world from Ireland to India was the same—that of the Irish druids.

The Greek Connection

Greek history contains a detailed record of how Pythagoras, who predated Plato by almost a century, learned from an Irish druid called Abaris, who could speak fluent Greek as if he had spoken it all his life. The ancient Irish annals confirm that an Irish druid called Abhras visited Greece, among other places, on his travels. The Greeks described Abaris as a healer and prophet from the mystical island of Hyperborea, which, just like Atlantis, was another name for Ireland.

Hercules and Perseus, two of the most important characters in Greek mythology, were both said to have visited Hyperborea, which was described as being a fertile island to the north of Gaul (France) with oak trees, a circular temple (Newgrange) and priests with harps. According to the Greeks, Hyperborea was governed by the boreades. In Irish, boreadach means noble chieftain. Clearly, Ireland is the Greek Hyperborea.

The oracle of Delphi - the most sacred site in ancient Greece - was founded by three prophets from the sacred island of Hyperborea who took up residence there. The Greeks called these prophets Pagasis, Agyeus, and Olen which is a corruption of the three ranks of Irish Druids - Bag-ois, Agh-is, and Ollam.

The Greek Pherenicus describes the Hyperboreans ‘as being of the ancient blood of the titans’.

The word Atlantis literally means ‘The Island of Atlas’. The titan Atlas was a key figure in Greek mythology and is depicted as being the bearer of the heavens. According to early Greek mythology, Atlas lived on the sacred island of Hyperborea, which was also the location of the Garden of Hesperides, a sacred garden with a tree bearing magical golden apples.

This garden was also known as the ‘garden of Atlas’ or the ‘orchard in the west’ and we are told how the Greek hero Hercules reached Atlas, who was among the Hyperboreans, and asked him to fetch the golden apples before tricking him and leaving with the prize.

Atlas and the Hesperides. (Public Domain)

Atlas and the Hesperides. ( Public Domain )

Diodorus described the sacred island of Hyperborea.

Plato described the sacred island of Atlantis.

Aristotle described the sacred island of Ierne.

All were descriptions of Ireland clouded by mythology, superstition, and a poor knowledge of geography.


That the Roman Church undertook a campaign of vicious persecution and destruction against the druids is a well-known historical fact. In 389 AD a druid college in Gaul (Bibracte, France) was destroyed by a Christian mob. This sacred druid college had an incredible 40,000 students and offered courses in numerous disciplines, including philosophy, literature, grammar, law, medicine, astronomy, and architecture. The opinion of Aristotle that philosophy came to the Greeks from the Gauls (druids) is very striking.

Ireland was the source of Druidism, a philosophy that predated Rome, Greece, and Egypt by millennia. Every attempt was made to delete the druids from history, in particular by the Romans, as they furiously destroyed the libraries, schools, and temples of the ancient world, including the great library of Alexandra. One of the greatest secrets of human history is that all of the world’s religions and civilizations have their roots in one mother soil—Irish Druidism—a master philosophy which predated and influenced all the others.

Imaginative illustration of 'An Arch Druid in His Judicial Habit.’ (Public Domain)


As hard as it may be for those ignorant of Irish history to accept, the Irish were old when the Greeks were still young. For example, the Irish Tailtean games predate the Greek Olympics by over 1,000 years, while the Irish Brehon laws are the oldest laws on Earth.

The ancient Irish Gaelic language is the missing mother tongue that scholars have sought for centuries. To account for this missing root language, academics have invented a hypothetical mother tongue called the ‘Proto-Indo-European’ language. Old Irish is this language, a forgotten ancient tongue with remarkable similarities to the world’s oldest languages including Hebrew, Arabic, and Sanskrit. An ancient language that does exist is a much more practical explanation for a missing mother tongue than a language that doesn’t.

The Egyptians were old when the Greeks were young, but the Irish druids were older still. Ireland’s Stone Age constructions are the most spectacular on Earth.

Ireland as Atlantis

No other place on Earth has the ancient history, mythology, or culture of Ireland.

We know that the Stone Age Irish had boats capable of carrying 10-ton boulders. It’s ignorant to think the wandering Irish didn’t use these boats to explore the wider world. Globally, Stone Age man was a lot more mobile than they have been given credit for, and the ancient Irish were certainly a lot more advanced than most realize.

The current mainstream version of history is a house of cards that’s about to come crashing down. Earlier this year it was proven that people sailed to Australia on rafts 65,000 years ago, shattering the previous illusion that Australia has only been occupied for a few centuries. Many more illusions are about to be shattered.

The brutal truth is that Ireland’s ancient history has been written by her enemies.

For the best part of 1,000 years, Ireland’s culture has been desecrated, her books burned, and her ancient language driven to the point of extinction. Some of the most deplorable acts of brutality and genocide ever committed on Earth were committed on the Emerald Isle by the very people who wrote Ireland’s history. It’s time to set the record straight.

Sunset at Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland. (aitormmfoto /Adobe Stock)


The groundbreaking Atlantis Ireland theory has been put forward by Keystone University , a new and highly ambitious organization based in Dublin. Keystone’s mission is to build the world’s best university, a center of excellence that pushes the human race forward. A Keystone is an ancient symbol for wisdom.

A spokesperson for Keystone University said:

“To put forward any theory on Atlantis is to open yourself up to a lot of ridicule. People can attack our findings, our organisation or the very legend of Atlantis itself, but in the end we have over 1,000 pieces of evidence to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that ancient Ireland is the legendary lost island and the mother culture of human civilisation. We don’t ask anyone to believe a word we say, only to examine the evidence and think for themselves. Sixteen years ago a brave Swedish scientist claimed that Ireland was Atlantis. Hopefully we don’t have to wait this long for the mainstream to catch up, but if we do, so be it. The Irish have waited over a thousand years to clear their name. Another decade won’t make any difference”.

For more information, visit

The brand new book which gives full details and the supporting evidence for these proposals, ‘Atlantis Ireland’ by Anthony Woods and Keystone University is now available from Amazon.

Top Image: Wild Atlantic way, Sligo, Ireland. Is Ireland the legendary Atlantis? Source: Bruno Biancardi /Adobe Stock

By Keystone University


Ancestors of Egypt, Sunset Land, Urini, Menes’ empty Egyptian tomb, Menes buried in Ireland:

Waddell, L. A. 1929. Makers of Civilization in Race and History and Waddell, L. A.  Egyptian Civilization .

Atlantis from a Geographer’s Perspective:

Erlingsson, Ulf, Atlantis from a Geographer’s Perspective (Lindorm Publishing, 2004). 

Druid stone circles:

Gwilt, Joseph, An Encyclopaedia of Architecture (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

Druid college destruction:

Harpur, Tom, The Pagan Christ : Recovering the Lost Light P61 (Thomas Allen Publishers, 2004).

Abaris the Hyperborean:

O’Brien, Henry, The Round Towers of Ireland .

The Druids:

Higgins, Godfrey, The Celtic Druids (Cosimo Classics, 2007) p. 121

Comet impact in the Atlantic Ocean:

Muck, Otto, The Secret of Atlantis  (Collins, 1978).


Diodorus Siculus, Library of History (Loeb Classical Library,1935)

The Irish language is remarkably similar to ancient Hebrew, Chaldean, Arabic and Sanskrit:

Lt. General Charles Vallancey, Dictionary of the Language of the Aire Coti (Graisbury and Campbell, 1802).

Brú na Bóinne: Geraldine Stout, Newgrange and the Bend of the Boyne (Cork

University Press, 2004).

Woods, Anthony, ‘ Atlantis Ireland’ , Keystone University Press (1 July 2020)


I can accept this, and welcome further work on the theory!
Very exciting and as laid out by the team, everything points to Ireland.. My own personal thoughts are that you can't write off Scotlands involvment as part of this Mother culture.. There has always been transference of peoples / ideas between the West of Scotland and Ireland, and as other researchers have noted, there was certainly a link between the likes of Skara Brae and Egypt.
Very fascinating, and I hope more great minds turn their attention to this corner of the world in an attempt to find our lost heritage.

the Mid-Atlantic ridge would have likely been above water if the Behring land bridge was also above water due to their respective levels below sea.  I have posted before that this would be Atlantis as the Aztec have a similar story and their mythical homeland Atzlan is very similar in pronounciation. among other things.  Ireland may or may not have had an Atlantean outpost but it was not their capital in my opinion because of this. it was the MA Ridge.

Hi Keystone University,

This concept has me retracing my steps in History Gilgamesh is considered to be the Oldest Epic Poem on Earth but the oral stories of Breathtaking Atlantis that slipped beneath the Sea goes further back than Gilgamesh this says to me that Atlantis was destroyed in the days before or during the Great Flood for me the Biblical Flood now I'm wondering what we now call the Atlantic Ocean was where Atlantis originally resided and that's why it is called the Atlantic Ocean it's been a Watery Grave ever since?

Of course I'm aware that the 7 Continents appear to me like broken pieces of a jigsaw puzzle I just saw it as the Flood caused it I'm right about the Flood I still have to figure out the timeline of Atlantis birth and destruction again during the Great Flood or after the Great Flood.

This is a very exciting Article to come across and read thank you for posting Ireland may in fact be legendary Atlantis that leaves wondering when do the Feray and Leprechauns come in to the picture Atlantis would explain their presence.

Pete Wagner's picture

Ireland is interesting, worth looking into, but it makes more sense for Atlantis to be near the Atlas mountains, in NW Africa.  Before the calamity/climate change, the Richat structure could have been that island, which would have been accessed through Gibraltar, then two left turns into and up the Atlantis watershed basin (now just sand).  Need more exploration of that area, to see what may be lurking under all that Sahara sand.

Nobody gets paid to tell the truth.

An interesting read. As an Australian, I believe the accepted position on this land's human prehistory is rather limiting to say the least. However, oral history has some acceptance.

As a Gael, I've found the (later) written foundation myths of Ireland to be largely ignored, however. It is high time to have a deeper look.

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