EXPERT BIO
DR STEPHEN P KERSHAW
Dr Stephen P Kershaw has taught classics at a number of universities and now tutors primarily at Oxford University, teaching their online course on Greek mythology. He is the author of A Brief History of Atlantis: Plato’s Ideal State (Robinson, 2017).
The alluring mystery of the sea has obsessed man for centuries. Author Peter Benchley, best known for wrote in his 1977 novel that: “You could start now, and spend another forty years learning about the sea without running out of new things to know.” From the Flying Dutchman to the Mary Celeste, there are all manner of myths and legends connected with the deep, but perhaps none more famous than that of the lost civilisation of Atlantis. Sometimes described as a continent bigger than Africa and North Asia put together, Atlantis was said to be home to a technologically and socially advanced race, before it sank beneath the waves. Since Plato first related the fable, many have searched for the lost continent and numerous sites have been suggested as possible locations. “Pick a spot on the map, and someone has said that Atlantis was there, ” anthropologist Charles Orser told But as the ancient myth of Atlantis continues to grow and expand, the question emerges of why has no one ever found the lost civilisation? Is there any evidence to suggest it existed in the first place? From Ancient Greek
