Atlantis the Antediluvian World

By Ignatius Donnelly

At the center of Donnelly's thesis are a set of similarities between widely separated cultures. This he interpreted as evidence that all civilization diffused outward from a central point (a now sunken continent in the mid-Atlantic). He cites mythological, linguistic, ethnographic and other evidence for this theory, which at the time seemed to add up to an airtight case.

Donnelly proposes a literal interpretation of Plato's account of Atlantis. He also ties Atlantis into the global flood myth-complex. These, until recently, have been two of the most compelling unsolved puzzles of history. What was Plato writing about when he described the prehistoric civilization of Atlantis, which disappeared overnight in a great catastrophe? Was this an actual historical account, or a philosophical fable? And why do widely separated cultures on every continent, Australia, the Americas, Europe and Asia all have a similar myth of a great flood from which only a few humans survived to restart civilization?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781105479106

Reviews for Atlantis the Antediluvian World

[jpsnow · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's more convincing than I expected. The author's work was first published in 1882. He presents geological, cross-cultural, historical, linguistic, and biographical evidence. Primary points include: geological evidence of major land mass in the Atlantic Ocean which sank before our modern history due to volcanic eruption and underwater turbulence (tops of the Azores are a remnant); land mass includes extentions toward Africa and South American and a point of island near Ireland; plethora examples exist of similarities between American and European history (direction of origin; flood legend; 12 (or 10) tribes/families legends; stories of gods; architecture (pyramids, mounds, arches, etc.); language (Atlantis, Atlazl, Adhem, Adam; Baal, Bel, Baalz, god names, and common terms); last section ties specific details to Atlantean legends from Mississippi Valley, Ohio valley, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Ireland, Iberian Peninsula, Egypt, Greece, Italy, et al. The beginning section quotes Plato's entire discourse on Atlantis, which scholars have debated as being either a moral example or an actual recounting of what other scholars told him. Atlantean society had 12 organized families/tribes; black, white, and red races; well-described laws (with legacies in Egypt, American, Judaism, Islam, etc); scientific discovery (gunpowder, major grains, compass, et al). The founders of Atlantis became "gods" in descendant cultures.