What does Atlantis mean?

Answer 1

Atlantis is a mythical city that was supposedly sank, and still thrives underwater somewhere. The word "Atlantis" comes from the Greek Atlantikos, meaning (the) Atlantic (specifically the Ocean but also lands/peoples associated with it). Plato's is the most famous ancient writing concerning a place called "Atlantis" and people called "Atlantians," of course, but he is by no means the only ancient scholar to report concerning ancient peoples living in the far Westeren Mediterranean & associated with the Atlantic. Many variations of the Atlantic name were used ("Atlantes," "Atlantioni," etc.) as well as different words, but all accounts agree in that they are describing ancient peoples living in what is now Morocco & the Iberian Peninsula, and on the nearby islands both West & East of Gibraltar. Plato says he got his information from the Egyptians in the first part of his account, and in that part it is in essential agreement with other ancient references. The rest of his story is histionic; intended to be a poetic moral allagory for philosophical purposes. However, being a man of great erudition, it is probable he got his dramatic inspiration from knowledge about things like the Thera/Santorini cataclysm, the invasions of "The Sea Peoples," etc. Whatever, almost all of the writing & research about this subject since is largely fanciful theorizing if not fiction, leaving aside all the pseudo spiritual & scientific nonsense. The "problem" has been that the focus was on "proving" Plato's fabulous part of his story. If you look at the various ancient writings relating to this as they are, the actual "Atlantis"/"Atlantians" were the peoples/cultures living in far Western Mediterranean on the lands/islands associated with the Atlantic prior to the Classical era. And there is now mounting acheological & other evidence of peoples/cultures like what these ancient accounts agree on in the places they say, some older than 5,000 years. Unfortunately, in professional circles, it appears taboo to identify this as being the real "Atlantis"/"Atlantians." ...