The quest for “lost” continents and their civilizations has continued ever since the Greek philosopher Plato came up with the idea in the fourth century, B.C. Since then thousands of books and articles have been written on the subject and researchers have combed the globe searching for the site of Atlantis, or one of its variations. It seems nearly everyone has a different idea of the exact location. Some have written elaborate descriptions of the highly civilized peoples who are said to have inhabited these ancient home-lands. The subject is vast and complex. Here we can look only briefly at some of these attempts to locate “lost” continents.
The story of Atlantis really begins with the Timaeus of Plato (429-347 B.C.), in which he tells the story of the island of Atlantis, lying just outside the Pillars of Hercules. In the Critias Plato outlined the constitution of this legendary island, which is very similar to the ideal state described in his Republic. In Plato’s dialogues the Athenians defeated the rulers of the island, which shortly afterwards sunk overnight beneath the Atlantic Ocean after violent earthquakes and floods.
As early as 300 B.C., controversy developed over the historical authenticity of the story. Plato himself was as much of a literary stylist as he was a philosopher. His story of Atlantis has been taken out of context. He was simply giving a parable in order to illustrate the ideal state run by philosopher-kings in the Republic.
The modern myth began in 1882 when Ignatius Donnelly published Atlantis: the Antediluvian World, based on documents he had read at the Library of Congress. Atlantis was transformed into the Garden of Eden and all ancient peoples and deities became the kings, queens, and heroes of Atlantis, the world’s first civilization. His work inspired a host of seekers after ¨lost¨ continents and their inhabitants or descendants.
Mu is the name of a hypothetical “lost” continent located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. In his private investigation of Maya civilization Augustus le Plongeon (1826-1908) claimed to have deciphered ancient Maya documents telling of a Maya princess who became Queen Moo. The earliest Maya were said to have journeyed in a circuitous route from their original homeland (presumably Mu) all the way to Egypt via the Pacific Ocean and back again to Yucatan founding the Egyptian and Maya civilizations on the way. Le Plongeon was led astray by his misplaced conviction that he could decipher the Maya hieroglyphs, a feat not accomplished until many years later.
Mu was later popularized by James Churchward (1852-1936), who claimed that a Hindu priest taught him Naacal, humankind’s original language, by means of which he was then able to decipher the story of Mu on some ancient stone tablets. The tablets supposedly revealed that millions of years ago the sophisticated inhabitants of Mu had developed a civilization far superior in many ways to our own. All was destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption, but the survivors became the ancestors of all civilizations on earth.
Lemuria is, in some ways, as popular as Atlantis with seekers after “lost” continents. Numerous books, articles, and audio cassettes are readily available to Lemuria devotees. The location of this ancient civilization, which is said to have existed prior to and during the time of Atlantis, is believed to be somewhere in the Southern Pacific between North America and Asia/Australia. Sometimes referred to as Mu, or the Motherland (of Mu), the Lemurian people were both highly evolved and very spiritual.
Atlantis, however, continues to hold the spotlight. Among the more interesting versions of the Atlantis theory is that of Arysio Nunes dos Santos, a Brazilian professor of nuclear engineering. He boasts of having “proved” the reality of the Universal Flood and of having discovered the true sites of Eden and Atlantis in the now sunken Austronesian continent to the east of Indonesia, in what are nowadays the shallows of the South China Sea (check it out for yourself at: http://www.atlan.org/
I have no quarrel with those who feel a strong attachment to Atlantis, Lemuria, or any other form of paradise or spiritual home. This, after all, is simply part of the human dilemma and the search for real meaning in our lives. However, I do object to the all too common misuse or distortion of evidence and the use of circular arguments, in which believers claim to be searching for the truth while at the same time they assume the thing to be proved.
