Where is Atlantis Located?
The location of Atlantis has been a debated topic for hundreds of years. The description of Atlantis's location--given in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias--narrows the possibilities, but not enough for anyone to be absolutely sure. In general, Atlantis is placed somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.
Historians, archaeologists, geographers, spelunkers and other experts from all over the world have put together searches for possible locations for Atlantis. The results they found range from Crete to sunken islands in the Strait of Gibraltar.
History
In Plato's dialogue Critias, one of the speakers, a man called Critias, begins to talk about Atlantis and how he heard about it. He begins, "...if I can recollect and recite enough of what was said by the priests and brought hither by Solon, I no doubt shall satisfy the requirements of this theatre." Solon was an Athenian who went to Egypt and supposedly spoke with priests there and found the story of Atlantis.
Atlantis was said to be beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in front of another continent. The Pillars of Hercules is thought to be the Strait of Gibraltar. Some others believe the Pillars of Hercules to be the Strait of Sicily.
Geography
According to Plato, Atlantis was an island off the coast of a continent. He says it was surrounded partly by mountains, and sank from an earthquake. The area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea is geologically active. This means that many places have earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This adds to the understanding that Atlantis was in the Mediterranean.
Eleven thousand years ago the sea level was more than 300 feet lower than today. In the Strait of Gibraltar, there are areas that would have been above sea level. Some people believe those areas to be the location of Atlantis, but not everything coincides with the dialog Critias.
Considerations
A popular theory is that when Solon read the text, the dimensions for Atlantis were mistranslated so the word "hundred" was written "thousand." The smaller size would correspond with the dimensions for Crete, a major consideration for Atlantis's location.
Misconceptions
Some people regard Atlantis as a creation of Plato for his dialogues--that it never existed. This is thought because the emphasis of the dialogues was on social and political commentary. However, Heinrich Schleimann, the man who discovered Troy, reportedly found a vase with the inscription, "From the King of Chronos of Atlantis." Inside the vase there were smaller objects, some of which had the same inscription.
Theories/Speculation
In the course of history, many islands worldwide have experienced catastrophic events. Some of these islands have been theorized as the location for Atlantis. Within the Mediterranean, islands such as Thera, Santorini and the ancient Turkish city Tantalis are thought as possible locations for the resting place of Atlantis.
There are other places farther outside the Mediterranean beyond the Strait of Gibraltar that are thought to be the location of Atlantis. Some locations are the Canary Islands and the Azores. East of the Mediterranean, in the Black Sea, ruins have been found which some have theorized as the ruins of Atlantis.
There are also even farther away places thought to be the location of where Atlantis sank, some of which are Finland, Ireland, Indonesia and Antarctica. Several places in the Caribbean, the Isla de la Juven and Bahama Bank, have been considered the location of Atlantis. Even stone formations off the western coast of Japan have been thought to be the site of Atlantis. These sites do not follow with the descriptions in Critias.
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