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

Hallo!

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:34:07 +0200, Lars Finsen wrote:

> Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:
> [...]
> > 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.
Indeed.  The Atlantis story probably contains elements from various
old tales, and parts of it are most likely just Plato's invention.
*All* localization hypotheses, including the Minoan hypothesis and
also my "Elvish Britain" hypothesis, have so many problems that none
could be called the solution. I also don't give much on Plato's
account as I explore the culture of the British Elves. The Elves
may have been an ingredient, contributing the location outside the
Mediterranean and perhaps also indirectly the name (if I am correct
in assuming that the name "Atlantic Sea" refers to the North Sea),
and perhaps this or that detail, but it's not the full story. (And
they did not disappear early enough, and their land of course did
not sink beneath the ocean. Also, the cultures don't match, and
there never was a war between Elves on one side, and Greece & Egypt
on the other.)

And finally, the name "Atlantean" as a designation of a conlang
has already been taken :)

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