Atlantis Destroyed

by Rodney Castleden

Plato's legend of Atlantis has become notorious among scholars as the absurdest lie in literature. Atlantis Destroyed explores the possibility that the account given by Plato is historically true.
Rodney Castleden first considers the location of Atlantis re-examining two suggestions put forward in the early twentieth century; Minoan Crete and Minoan Thera. He outlines the latest research findings on Knossos and Bronze Age Thera, discussing the material culture, trade empire and agricultural system, writing and wall paintings, art, religion and society of the Minoan civilization. Castleden demonstrates the many parallels between Plato's narrative and the Minoan Civilization in the Aegean.
Fired by the imagination a new vision of Atlantis has arisen over the last one hundred and fifty years as a lost utopia. Rodney Castleden discusses why this picture arose and xplains how it has become confused with Plato's genuine account.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 1998

Reviews

[Lorena Beshello · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very good read. I like how this work is written and how the ideas are formulated. Long time ago I was very obsessed with the mere theory of Atlantis and its very modern civilization, very forward and different from all Earth's civilizations. However, this book taught me somehow not to focus on one Atlantis only. Weird, yes, but it actually made me think broadly about other civilizations which I know them by heart but never considered them to be in the same level with Atlantis.

Atlantis is just a name, usually linked with the Atlantic Ocean, which is merely a geographic expression rather than once an existing place, let alone a country, state or continent. This shouldn't limit our perspectives of thinking about more than one Atlantis. Yes, maybe every civilization in places around the Atlantic Ocean (including here Mediterranean and Aegean seas), were probably depicted in general terms as Atlantis civilization.

This work's line of thought is very interesting, it carried me along different paths of culture and I very much enjoyed reading the interpretative sections.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until I read this book I had no idea that the source of the story of Atlantis were the books of none other than the philosopher Plato.
Atlantis Destroyed describes the island of Thera, the volcanic eruption in the 17th or 16th century BCE and the archaeological site of Aktrotiri. The author recounts Plato's tale of Atlantis in some detail and thoroughly examines many of the artefacts that the archaeologists uncovered at Akrotiri. All in all, this book makes a strong case for Thera having been the source of the Atlantis story. Unfortunately there are no pictures of the frescoes that are described in detail in one of the chapters, one reason for why I skipped through it.

[Linh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skimming. Informative but dry.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well-researched.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting...