'Atlantis - The Evidence' with Bettany Hughes to air on BBC Two

I'm curious to see this show. From what I've read in scholarly literature the idea that Plato was writing about the Minoans doesn't seem to be terribly popular these days - at least among classicists.

It's not that the story of the Minoans doesn't have parallels with Atlantis - it certainly does, it's just that Plato was writing nearly 1,200 years after the eruption of Thera - could the memory of that event really have been passed on for so long? 

Why not, only about a thousand years later, we passed on 'birth of Jesus Christ' for about 2,000 years, and still counting? And I'm sure 9/11 will be passed on for a few hundred years (with a lot of hatred) as a major 'tipping point', and we're most likely not about to shut up about WWII quite yet either. You could argue we have writing and - omg, the internet - , but so the Mycenaeans and later Greek. And whilst we heard about a lot of notable events in the last thousand years (discovery of the Americas, founding of the USA, Henry Tudor and his wifes, WWI and II, the Hiroshima bomb, plagues, and so forth and so forth) those people did not have trans-atlantian newswires and only the local ones to worry about. I believe a tsunami wiping out the majority of your coasts settlements and the 'explosion' of an island would be 'significant'.  Even if not written down, the shape of Santorini/Thera would be a constant reminder of what happened, and fishermen passing their with their boats would tell their sons 'You know, there once was a huge civilidation, but then the gods god angry, and split this island and people were sinners  and there was a flood and Noah's ark was the only one who got away.. ' ;)))))

Maybe the comparison with the Hiroshima bomb isn't so bad. Taken our society is moving faster, there are more events to remember and education is in decay (or at least scholary education, as I remember it, where it is required to get the facts right) when you'd ask 14-year old about Hiroshima, I'm sure they'll remember it.. sort off. They'll say it was a bomb, or volcano or oil rig.. at least something that exploded. That's how myths are born? We remember, but not quite right?

I'm not quite sure 'Atlantis' was the Minoan civilisation, and to be honest, I'd prefer it to be pure legend (more pyramidiots to make fun off, else I'll need to admit, yes, the Atlantians did trade with Egypt -sighs-) BUT I believe 'can such an event be remembered for 1200 years?' is a wrong arguement to 'lay down' the theory that Plato's account of Atlantis was inspired by the Minoans. (Same thing for the 8,000 years discrepancy. If you're counting in generations of +- 25, 1200 years makes almost 50 generations, which is quite a time to keep track of.. err.. time without carbon dating  or Julian calendar.)

The problem is that people will remember 9-11 and ww2 a thousand years from now because the events are so heavily recorded. Our mass media has left a imprint that future archaeologists and historians shouldn't have a hard time finding. On the other hand, back when the Minoans flourished, mass media consisted of oral story-telling + writing down information on tablets or perishable items. Could those have been passed down 1200 years to Plato? It's possible but hard to prove.

If Bettany Hughes is suggesting that the Minoans were Plato's model for the Atlantians, she is simply repeating the accepted academic line that seems to be already set in concrete. This is just as nonsensical as the wooly-headed views of the esoteric believers. There are several points that everyone seems to conveniently overlook.
The Middle Bronze Age Minoans must have been the people who Plato's Egyptian priest thought of as the Athenian Greeks. Because they were the ones who traded extensively with the Egyptians. The Athens of the Middle Bronze Age was probably a Minoan colony on mainland Greece, at a time when the Minoans of the First Palace Period were spreading westward from the Aegean Sea.
The Minoans were contemporary with the Wessex II, Beaker Burial culture, forms of which extended across Europe at the time. “The Atlanteans held sway over Europe to the Tyrrhenian Sea”. Middle Bronze Age artefacts from Wessex have been found in the Grave Circles at Mycenae in Peleponnese (south western Greece). Wessex is on an island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Poseidon was a Mediterranean god of a sea-faring people. The Mediterranean Neolithic influences arrived in Britain c 3300bce. Plato implies that things only started to happen on the island after Poseidon arrived.
There are masses of other circumstantial evidence to add to the coincidents above, and are vital in considering the context and geography of Plato's story – the errors in the translation of large numbers and the misconception of the location of the island not withstanding.
In the Mycenaean section of the Athens Museum, there are a some gold ring seals that depict a war between Minoan-looking solders and European looking soldiers wielding rapier type swords that suddenly appeared in the Aegean region in the MBA – one of them is embellished with what appears to be inundating water. Look for the unlost island.

About 50 years ago, the German philosopher Heidegger wrote that TV was the Death of Culture in general, and of Philosophy in particular. On the evidence of this lazy BBC junk history, it seems he was right.

Must sincerely agree with Rupertbear - BBC junk is a suitable definition. I watched and cringed as Bettany Hughes selectively omitted phrases from Plato's dialogue to enhance this ridiculous theory. Plato was a mathematician and philosopher - it appears that Timewatch has also decided he was liar. This is lazy, misleading research and all those concerned should be ashamed of themselves for airing such rubbish.

It occurred to me some time ago that the Santorini/thera eruption is the origin of the myth of Prersephone. The account of how there was a time without summer, when harvests failed, is similar to accounts of 1816 the 'year without a summer'. These are so similar that it seems likely the Persephone myth is a better fit for a folk memory of that Bronze Age eruption than the Atlantis myth. I'm amazed that so far I seem to be the only person linking Persephone to the Thera volcaic event

Plato left quite a detailed geographic description of what the region of Atlantis looked like, most of this was conveniently omitted from this documentary as Thera/Santorini is virtually the opposite of what Plato described.

The Altiplano in Bolivia however matches very well Plato's description but is completely ignored by present day archaeologists and historians - see www.atlantisbolivia.org for the evidence.

Forgotten history on pre-flood empire Atlantis!→

http://vixra.org/abs/1102.0053 or http://www.cosmogeology.ge/chapter-(31).pdf

Real location of the 10 Atlantis isles →

http://www.cosmogeology.ge/chapter_files/image001.png

Best wishes
K. Margiani
The world’s first expert on Atlantis.

Eruption in 1613 BC volcano on the island of Thera (modern-day Santorini) could not change the political picture around the Mediterranean. It could not produce powerful earthquakes and tsunamis.
Eruption in 1178 BC produced powerful earthquakes and tsunamis. Many citadels of the Anatolian and Balkan peninsulas have been destroyed. Poseidia - god of earthquakes (Horse of troy) could change whole political picture around the Mediterranean. Destroying the Troy and citadels of the Hittites Empire, these citadels became unprotected. The Greek army captured Troy and the destroyed citadels of the Hittites Empire have been robbed by highly advanced Sea People.
Elites of the Minoan civilization within the Aegean Sea and Crete were less assimilated people of the left-handed race from Atlantis. Mass emigration from the Aegean Sea isles and Crete by the highly advanced Sea People could change fully the political picture around the Mediterranean. Their main concentration happened within the Carthago (carthage) and Caieta (modern Roma) – former pre-flood ruling centers of the Atlantis Empire. Soon the shadows of the Atlantis Empire could produce two powerful Mediterranean Empires. For centuries the shadows of the Atlantis Empire Cartage and Roma were fighting for the own ambitions before destroy Carthage ("Carthage must be destroyed").

K. Margiani
The world’s first expert on Atlantis.

The Knossos palace of Minoan Crete like the other pre-flood ruling centers had been built by Atlantis Civilization.
Yes real Atlantis isles were situated in the middle from the Pyrenees and Morocco to the Yucatan. The Bahamas and all small isles and all continents all around the Earth were under the influence of Atlantis. There are known lots of pre-flood ruling centers for the agriculture development worldwide.
– Carthago (Carthage - Atlas Mountains).: Caieta (modern Roma- Apenine peninsula ).: Citadel of Zeus (Athena – Balkan peninsula).: Sais (Egypt ).: Libya (Libya) Ephesus (Anatolia).: Kut-Aea (Kutaisi-Georgia [Caucasus]).: Nineveh (Assyria).: Elephant City (Delhi), Angkor Wat (Indochinese Peninsula ).: Axum (Ethiopia).: Hades-modern Cadiz (Iberian Peninsula – Spain+Portugal), Teotihuacán (north America).................etc.
In addition centre of the last Pre-flood world empire Atlantis City. - “Edgar Cayce also ‘saw’ the location of Atlantis, with suggestions varying from the Pyrenees and Morocco to the Yucatan” http://www.cosmogeology.ge/chapter_files/image001.png
http://vixra.org/abs/1102.0053

K. Margiani
The world’s first expert on Atlantis.

re Timewatch - Atlantis. Why wasn't this programme called 'Thera' ? And why no mention of Herodotus from whose earlier 'histories' Plato is thought to have derived his own account ? There are large differences between the two. But, either way, if Thera was Atlantis, why is there no mention at all by Plato or Herodotus of the biggest feature that we KNOW occured at Thera - namely a vast volcanic explosion. That would have dominated Herodotus' and Plato's acounts if the catastrophe HAD been Thera. As it is there is no way that the two accounts can be interpreted as referring to a volcanic explosion. Back to kindergarten please Bettany Hughes. Or alternatively, please explain.

Ah, John, glad to see that you've spotted the obvious flaws in the programme contents - such as wrong place, wrong time, wrong size - it's a pity that the production team weren't a little more vigorous with their "pet-theory feasibility" questions to the well-known author/presenter. The most depressing aspect of all this is that the last TV showing was watched by 1.8 million people - now that's a lot of people who have been forever misled by such a textually-selective pile of nonsense.

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Hi all well yes, the Atlantians did trade with Egypt -sighs-) BUT I believe 'can such an event be remembered for 1200 years?' is a wrong arguement to 'lay down' the theory that Plato's account of Atlantis was inspired by the Minoans.  i agrree?? what do you think did they really trade with this so called ficticous civilization.. or was it obviusly the Minoans

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