Atlantis A Lesson Thats Twisted or Could It Have...

Fantasy is a tough sell in the twenty-first century. The world has been completely discovered and fully charted. Popular media has effectively minimized the legend and fantastic rumor, and advances in science continue to disprove many ancient myths. Satellites have mapped and studied the earth, leaving only a space frontier that is yet unreachable. But standing out is a charming fantasy the modern world has yet to verify or condemn: the Lost Continent of Atlantis. Plato gave the world its oldest remaining written account of Atlantis, which he had learned from traveling Egyptians (Mythweb.com), and recorded in his works Timeus and Critias (quot;Atlantis, Againquot;). Platos story explained that Poseidon, god of the sea, created†¦show more content†¦Atlantis was considerably wealthy, with abundant gold statues (quot;The Lost Continent of Atlantisquot;), Ivory, and Orchalcum (Braymer 16), quot;a precious yellow metal that was once considered second in value only to goldquot; (Frimmer 130), to show off its riches. It was a virtual paradise, with large harbors for trade, hot and cold springs, public baths, quot;a racecourse which made a full circuit of the outer ring of landquot; (Braymer 17), abundant harvests, and extremely large armies and a powerful navy (Frimmer 131). The political system was practically a Utopia, with equal rights for all and a refusal to accept slavery as a part of its culture. Entities that pursued the issue or attacked the ideals were forcefully detained, and invaders were crushed with similar effectiveness (quot;Timeus, Page 2quot;). Unfortunately the citizens of Atlantis, after Atlas and his nine brothers had passed on, began to take their good fortunes for granted, and Zeus punished them severely - the whole continent sank into the earth in a day and a night (Frimmer 132). There is no common argument regarding historical evidence that Atlantis did or did not exist. In the Middle Ages the matter was hardly doubted, but today physical proof is needed to persuade people to believe (Occultopedia.com). quot;Given Platos concern for good government and an ideal image of Athens of old, it can