On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the greatest myths and mysteries of all time: The Lost Civilization of Atlantis. Atlantis was first described in some of Plato’s writing in ancient Greece, circa 360 BCE. In these writing, he tells the story of a great island civilization with perfect weather and amazing crops. It was a civilization that started highly moral and wealthy, using a strange red metal as their currency. However, as they grew, so did their army, and they eventually became greedy and wanted to conquer nearby lands.

They set their sights on Athens, but eventually Athens triumphed through a long war. Atlantis was defeated in battle, taught a lesson about hubris, and shortly thereafter was destroyed and leveled to the depths of the ocean by Poseidon himself.

Many ancient Greeks, and most people after that, considered the story of Atlantis to be a parable about greed. However, in 1882, former U.S. Congressman Ignatius L. Donnelly wrote a book called Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. In it, he suggested Atlantis was a real place in the physical world, and a lot of people started to reinterpret Plato’s work as being a literal discussion of a missing kingdom. A few years later, Russian mystic Helena Blavatsky wrote about Atlantis in her new religious movement of Theosophy (a primary source used by Hitler to define his Aryan people—they were related to Atlanteans!). After that, American prophet Edgar Cayce filled the Atlantis myth with power crystals and space aliens.

So, whether you believe in ancient myth, Nazi dogma, new age mysticism, or even the recent science of Geomythology, Atlantis is probably of interest to you. Many archaeologists and television networks are convinced that they have found Atlantis using new scanning techniques, radar, LIDAR, and even Google Maps. Where is Atlantis thought to be located? Is it possible for a continent to have disappeared? Was Plato writing science fiction? What was in Plato’s missing second book that was supposed to go into more detail about Atlantis? What types of aliens were thought to be communicating with Atlantis? Listen, laugh, learn.

True Atlantis Events of the Past: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160118-the-atlantis-style-myths-of-sunken-lands-that-are-really-true