Saturday, October 9, 2010

Atlantis: The Antediluvian World by Ignatius Donnelly

This book is an attempt to demonstrate several distinct and 
novel propositions. These are:

1. That there once existed in the Atlantic Ocean, opposite the
mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, a large island,
which was the remnant of an Atlantic continent, and known to 
the ancient world as Atlantis.

2. That the description of this island given by Plato is not, as has 
been long supposed, fable, but veritable history.

3. That Atlantis was the region where man first rose from a state 
of barbarism to civilization.

4. That it became, in the course of ages, a populous and mighty 
nation, from whose overflowings the shores of
the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, the Amazon, the Pacific 
coast of South America, the Mediterranean, the west coast of 
Europe and Africa, the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Caspian 
were populated by civilized nations.

5. That it was the true Antediluvian world; the Garden of Eden; 
the Gardens of the Hesperides; the Elysian Fields; the Gardens
of Alcinous; the Mesomphalos; the Olympos; the Asgard of the 
traditions of the ancient nations; representing a universal memory
of a great land, where early mankind dwelt for ages in peace and

6. That the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks, the 
Phoenicians, the Hindoos, and the Scandinavians were simply
the kings, queens, and heroes of Atlantis; and the acts attributed 
to them in mythology are a confused recollection of real historical

7. That the mythology of Egypt and Peru represented the original
religion of Atlantis, which was sun−worship.

8. That the oldest colony formed by the Atlanteans was probably
in Egypt, whose civilization was a reproduction of that of the 
Atlantic island.

9. That the implements of the "Bronze Age" of Europe were derived
from Atlantis. The Atlanteans were also the first manufacturers of iron.

10. That the Phoenician alphabet, parent of all the European alphabets,
was derived from au Atlantis alphabet, which was also conveyed
from Atlantis to the Mayas of Central America.

11. That Atlantis was the original seat of the Aryan or Indo−
European family of nations, as well as of the Semitic peoples, 
and possibly also of the Turanian races.

12. That Atlantis perished in a terrible convulsion of nature, in 
which the whole island sunk into the ocean, with nearly all its 

13. That a few persons escaped in ships and on rafts, and, carried
to the nations east and west the tidings of the appalling catastrophe
, which has survived to our own time in the Flood and Deluge
legends of the different nations of the old and new worlds.

If these propositions can be proved, they will solve many problems 
which now perplex mankind; they will confirm in many respects the 
statements in the opening chapters of Genesis; they will widen the
area of human history; they will explain the remarkable resemblances
which exist between the ancient civilizations found upon
the opposite shores of the Atlantic Ocean, in the old and new worlds; 
and they will aid us to rehabilitate the fathers of our civilization, our 
blood, and our fundamental ideas−−the men who lived, loved, and
labored ages before the Aryans descended upon India, or the 
Phoenician had settled in Syria, or the Goth had reached the
shores of the Baltic.

The fact that the story of Atlantis was for thousands of years regarded
as a fable proves nothing. There is an unbelief which grows out of
ignorance, as well as a scepticism which is born of intelligence. The
people nearest to the past are not always those who are best informed
concerning the past.


No comments:

Post a Comment