Atlantis

Atlantis was an ancient civilization that lasted four to five million years and existed about a million years before Egypt entered the official history books. It is commonly believed to be a myth but Theosophy tells us differently. The continent and islands which composed Atlantis were centered mainly in what we now know as the Atlantic Ocean. The common belief according to Plato was that the island continent disappeared beneath the ocean in one day. Actually the empire sank in portions in a series of earthquakes that began 800,000 years ago before the last island of Atlantis, Poseidonis, sank in 9564 BC.

Mainstream historians balk at the idea that Atlantis ever existed, categorizing it as a legend or a fairytale. Academic historians seeking tenure or simply trying to keep the respect of colleagues would never publically suggest that Atlantis could actually have been a real civilization. But Theosophy has given us details and there is verifiable proof coming to light that Atlantis really did exist and thrived as a civilization in some ways more advance than our own for millions of years.

An illustration by Sir Gerald Hargreaves shows a utopian scene on a cove of the mythical land of Atlantis

Plato's account

In 355 BC Plato wrote the book Timaeus, in which his character, Kritias, recounts the story of Atlantis, a story which has been in his family for generations. The tale of this great civilization had been originally told to his ancestor by an Egyptian priest named Solon.

According to Plato’s account the powerful empire of Atlantis was founded by Poseidon, the God of the Sea. It was located to the west of the "Pillars of Hercules" (the Straights of Gibraltar). On the island nation, Poseidon fathered five sets of twins. The firstborn was Atlas, for whom the empire and the surrounding ocean was named. Poseidon divided the land into ten sections, each to be ruled by a son, or his heirs.

The capital city of Atlantis was laid out as a series of concentric walls and canals. Atlantis was a marvel of engineering and advanced technology but according to Plato the people became corrupt and greedy. The gods decided to destroy them. There was a violent earthquake that supposedly sunk the huge island nation in one day. Many historians think Plato made up the story of Atlantis as an illustration of his teachings, but many other ancient historians and philosophers other than Plato have written about Atlantis.

Theosophical viewpoint

Atlantis is often spoken of in the same breathe as Lemuria as if they existed simultaneously which they did not. Lemuria existed before Atlantis in the Pacific Ocean and was home to the First, Second and Third Races of humanity. Atlantis was the home of the Fourth Race. The Fifth or Aryan Race exists today. There is to be a Sixth and a Seventh Race. According to Theosophy many thousands of years from now the Aryan Race will have had its run. At this time the land masses we know of, beginning with the British Isles, will sink beneath the sea and the land that was Atlantis will rise again from the ocean and after a time (having been under water of millions of years) will become habitable again and will be the home of the Sixth Race.

Atlantis had a life span of between four and five million years. It was an entire continent between Europe and North America with smaller islands and peninsulas mainly in the Atlantic Ocean that were also part of the empire. The actual land masses above water changed as earthquakes took the land down over a period of thousands of years, not in one day as Plato described. These were catastrophic earthquakes and landsides the likes of which the Fifth Race has never experienced. The first took place about 800,000 years before the final end, the second 200,000 years before, the third about 80,000 years before the last island of Atlantis, Poseidonis, sank about 11,580 years ago in 9,564 BC. According to HP Blavatsky these massive earthquakes were caused by a shift in the axis of the earth.

Research of Sinnett, Scott-Elliot, and Leadbeater

NOTE: Joscelyn Godwin wrote of this research in his book Atlantis and the Cycles of Time.

Additional resources

Articles

• Atlantis Found by Reed Carson
• Plato, the Source of Atlantis Legend at Blavatsky.Net
• Atlantean Realities at Philaletheians web page
• The Atlanteans at WisdomWorld.org
• The Lost Atlantis at WisdomWorld.org

Books

• Bartzokas, Chris A. ed., Rise and Demise of Atlantis: Occult Features of the Fourth Race of Humanity and Its Fall into Matter. Available on Philaletheians web page. ISBN 978-0-9550400-5-4. Beautifully illustrated work references The Secret Doctrine and other sources.
• Godwin, Joscelyn. Atlantis and the Cycles of Time. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2011.
• Scott-Elliot, William. The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria.

Websites

• Recommended reading list at Blavatsky.Net
• Recommended reading list at Philaletheians web page