Re: Atlantis (was Re: Juvenile fooleries (was: Re: Neanderthal and PIE (Long!))

Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:

> quoting me:
>
>> If Plato exaggerated the size of Atlantis by a factor of 10, its
>> dimensions would fit reasonably well with Crete, and if he
>> exaggerated the age by the same factor, it would fit reasonably well
>> with the time of the mentioned catastrophe, it seems. Cheap
>> storytelling trick, I guess.
>
> Yes.  It is also sometimes proposed that Solon (whom Plato cites as
> source of the myth) mistranslated from Egyptian.  Indeed, the Minoan
> hypothesis is widely considered one of the more likely candidates,
> but it suffers from the problem that Crete and Santorini are not, as
> seen from either Greek or Egypt, beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
Of course. But it seems to me that the real Atlantis story is the
story of the fate of the Cretan culture, blended with the myths
surrounding the mysterious growths in the Sargasso Sea, which seemed
to indicate a sunken continent. And probably some other stuff as
well. To create a good myth, you take the best parts out of what's
already available and blend it well. It's the same thing with the
Arthur of Britain stuff, I think, for example.

LEF

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