The Flood From Heaven: Deciphering the Legend of Atlantis
By Eberhard Zangger
Pan Books Limited (1993)
Book Review
In this fascinating book Zanggar develops the claim that Plato’s enigmatic claims about the lost continent of Atlantis are actually a retelling of the destruction of Troy during their war with Mycenaean Greeks.
The evidence he compiles derives from Plato’s accounts of Atlantis in his books Timaeus and Critias (which Zanggar recounts in their entirety),* Homer’s depiction of the Trojan War and its aftermath in The Iliad and The Odyssey and extensive archeological research from mainland Greece and Turkey.
According to Plato, his history of Atlantis derives from a partial manuscript he inherited from his ancestor Solon (an Athenian statesman credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy) about his meeting with a temple priest in the ancient Egyptian capitol Sais.
Briefly Plato’s recounting describes a civilization from 11,000 BC of great wealth, military power and technical achievement being destroyed by a single natural catastrophic event after a military defeat by Athenian Greeks.
According to the priest, Greek civilization also collapsed a short time later, with Greeks losing their ability to read and write and their recollection of history.
According to Plato’s account, this civilization was on a continent larger than Libya and Asia combined located “beyond the pillars of Hercules.”
Zangger begins by laying out archeological evidence that is totally incompatible with an 11,000 BC advanced Athenian civilization. According to Zangger:
- Neanderthals settled in Greece in 60,000 BC and abandoned it in 12,000 BC, There is no evidence of human resettlement on the Greek mainland until 8,500 BC.
- In the seventh millennium BC, the Greek mainland was resettled by Homo sapiens who grew wheat and barley; left behind grinding stones and axes, raised cows, pigs, sheep and goats; and lived in small villages of 50-300 people.
- There is clear evidence that by 6,500 BC overgrazing led to massive deforestation of the Greek peninsula, leading to a surge in swampland and a surge in epidemics of malaria, dysentery and hookworm.
- By 3,000 BC, there is evidence of bronze use without refining capacity, as well as trade with Troy, a major trading center for the copper and tin required to make bronze.
- By 1,450-1,400 BC there is evidence of Mycenaean/Achaean Greek culture, the first high civilization on the European mainland, with considerable production and trade of finished metal objects and pottery. There’s also evidence with of social divisions into king, nobles, draftsmen and construction workers, along with major trading relations between Greece and Troy.
- By 1,100-1,000 BC archeological evidence indicate this civilization had collapsed, with people fleeing the cities to marginal areas and losing the ability to read and write. Only the Acropolis in Athens survived this collapse.
- By the 8th century BC (when Homer composed the the Iliad and the Odyssey), there is evidence of a new Hellenic culture and civilization.
In advancing the theory that Plato is actually describing war Homer describes between Mycenaean/Achaean Greeks and Troy, Zangger blames the date discrepancies (11,000 vs 1,100 BC) on the fact that prior to the 8th century BC Athenian renaissance, historical time was measured in lunar rather than solar years.**
He blames the location discrepancy (the Bosporus/Dardenelles straits vs a continent to the west of Gibraltar) on confusion over the location of the Pillars of Hercules. Prior to 500 BC it referred to a land mass adjacent to the Dardanelles/Bosporus straits.***
The Dardenelles is the strait connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus the strait connecting the latter to the Black Sea. Both straits are extremely difficult to navigate. Troy controlled shipping on both, a major source of its economic and military power.
He blames the discrepancy in the size of Atlantis on classical Greek use of the words “continent” and “island” interchangeably (the city of Troy was on an island surrounded mainly by man made channels and harbors) and the absence of standard measuring units prior to the Greek classical era.
*Our only original source for the legend of Atlantis.
**This also explains why so many Old Testament heroes lived to be several hundred years old.
***Prior to 500 BC, Mycenaean Greeks referred to the Bosporus/Dardanelles as the Ur-Atlantic after the nearby Atlas mountains (which Plato seems to have confused with the Atlas mountains in North Africa/.
By Natalie O’Neill
The Most Revolutionary Act 