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Offline ENCARTA

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HIDDEN CITIES & LOST CIVILISATIONS
« on: 12 March 2009, 03:30:36 PM »
Atlantis

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE world’s most
famous lost continent comes from
the work of one man – Plato. The
great Greek philosopher was the singular
source of all information about the ill-fated
island race and whilst experts write longwinded
theses about the age and position of
Atlantis, nobody is entirely sure that Plato
did not just invent the Atlantean people as
an allegory for what happens when a civilisation
over-reaches itself. Despite this, the
hunt for Atlantis is as fierce as ever.
Plato lived in Greece between 428 and 348
BC, and revealed the story of Atlantis in his
dialogues ‘Timaeus’ and ‘Critias’. Many of
Plato’s fables were fictional creations used to
illustrate a point, but the history of Atlantis
was repeatedly stated as fact. The dialogues
recount the story of Solon, a Greek scholar
who travelled to Egypt in around 600 BC to
learn more about the ancient world. The
Egyptians were known to have knowledge
and records dating back centuries, and as
Solon tried to impress his hosts with tales of
Greece’s achievements, the wise old
Egyptian priests put him in his place. They
revealed a story about a continent and a
people completely unknown to him.
Around 10,000 BC, a powerful race lived
on an island in the west, beyond the ‘Pillars
of Hercules’, now believed to be the land
masses along the coasts of the Straits of
Gibraltar. The island was the kingdom of
Poseidon, the Sea God. It had a huge central
mountain with a temple dedicated to the
deity, and lush outlying districts, there was
an elaborate system of canals to irrigate its
successful farms, and a bustling central city.
The island was rich in vegetables, and was
home to different types of exotic animals.
The Atlanteans were originally a powerful
but fair race. They were an advanced people
with a prosperous trading industry, a strong
and noble army and a highly educated,
cultured society. Their influence reached far
and wide, and they controlled large areas of
Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean.
Although the island left its inhabitants
wanting for nothing, their taste for power
and empire led to them over-extending
themselves. An attempt to conquer Athens
failed, and the Atlanteans retreated home to
face a cataclysmic disaster. Legend says that
the great god Zeus saw the corruption that
had seized the island’s people, and sent
down upon them an immense barrage of
earthquakes, fire and water. Atlantis
disappeared under the waves.
Whilst Plato’s story was well known, the
renewed modern interest in Atlantis began in
1882 with the publication of Atlantis: The
Antediluvian World by a former US
congressman, Ignatius Donnelly. Donnelly’s
book was a mixture of conjecture, misinterpreted
fact and actual history. But there were
some interesting ideas; he noted similarities
in the science and culture of native races
which apparently could never have met.
Likewise, the great ancient flood, which is
said to have destroyed Atlantis, is logged in
ancient writings and traditions of peoples
around the world.
Exactly who the Atlanteans were is
unknown. Some say they were aliens, some

believe they were descendants of the
Lemurians (see p. 81), and some say they
eventually travelled westward and became
Native American tribes. Similarly, the actual
placing of Atlantis is a subject open to
argument. Many experts suggest the island
was actually in the Mediterranean, and a
constant stream of archaeological investigations
in the area has tried to prove this.
There are theories that Sardinia in the
Mediterranean, and the island of Thera in
the Aegean Sea, could be Atlantis. Both had
highly-evolved civilisations: the Nuraghi
people on Sardinia and the Minoan culture
on Thera. Both also suffered terrible natural
disasters. But neither of these islands are
westwards of the Straits of Gibraltar, so to
accept them is to doubt Plato’s geography.
Also, the advanced races on these islands
disappeared about 900 years before Plato –
he stated that Atlantis became extinct 9,000
years before him.
Other experts say Atlantis was in the
middle of the Atlantic, and all that is left of
the island are its mountains, the peaks of
which show through above the waves. These
are now believed by many to be the Azore
islands. There is also evidence to suggest a
huge comet or asteroid crashed into the
southwest Atlantic Ocean many thousands
of years ago and two 23,000-feet-deep holes
have been identified on the seabed close to
Puerto Rico. Experts believe the falling rock
that caused them would have created
massive natural movements, enough to
destroy any mid-Atlantic islands.
« Last Edit: 12 March 2009, 03:32:23 PM by ENCARTA »

Offline ENCARTA

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Re: HIDDEN CITIES & LOST CIVILISATIONS
« Reply #1 on: 12 March 2009, 03:34:03 PM »
El Dorado

WHEN THE CONQUISTADORS were
ravaging and looting the ancient
cultures of the Aztecs and Incas,
native tribesmen told them about an amazing
rumour. They said that there was a race, deep
in the jungle, whose king was covered with
gold dust and who swam in a golden lake. It
was the story of ‘El Dorado’, the ‘Golden
Man’. One of the first Spaniards to set off to
find this fantasy land was Jimenez de
Quesada. In 1536, Quesada and 500 soldiers
hacked into the undergrowth from the
northwest of what is now Columbia. After
many hard days trudging through intense and
dangerous jungle, they came upon two tribes
of Chibchas, a race with plentiful riches.
They had gold, silver and huge amounts of
emeralds, but they did not have the fabled ‘El
Dorado’. However, they told Quesada of a
lake in the middle of a huge volcanic crater
on the Bogota plateau not far away.
The natives revealed that the lake was
called Guatavita and each year the bizarre
ceremony of the Golden Man would take
place. Tribal witnesses said the occasion was
used to offer sacrifices and gifts to the god
that they worshipped. The tribal king was
smeared in sticky mud, on which gold dust
was set. He and four other chiefs then sailed
on a raft with their finest jewels and
treasures, whilst the tribe played music at
the shoreline. When the king and his party
reached the centre of the lake they threw the
offerings into the water, and the king then
bathed himself to remove his golden
covering. Quesada travelled to the lake, but
could find no clue hinting at treasure. Other
Spaniards heard the rumours about
Guatavita, and the first attempt to dredge the
lake began in 1545.
As the years passed, each new expedition
heard other versions of the El Dorado legend.
Each one ploughed into the jungle certain
they would find the wealth. None ever did,
but they did come across other interesting
things. In 1537, one adventurer, Francisco de
Orellana, was trying to find the golden city
by sailing down the Napo River. Orellana
reached the end of the Napo, and realised it
was a tributary to another, massive river. As
he floated along this, a tribe of long-haired,
fierce female archers attacked his boat. The
women reminded Orellano of the Amazons
of Scythia in Greek legend, and he named the
river ‘Amazonas’.
In 1584 another native rumour appeared. It
suggested that Incas fleeing from the Spanish
invaders had created a new city of gold
called Manoa. This became inseparable from
the El Dorado legend, and in 1595 the British
adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to
find Manoa and its gold for Queen Elizabeth
I. He failed, and a further fruitless expedition
in 1617 helped to seal his execution. Over
the years, yet another myth circulated – that
of a lost mystical lake called Parima. It was
described as being almost identical to
Quesada’s initial discovery, Lake Guatavita.
Despite this, more expeditions floundered in
the jungle, haphazardly slicing their way
through the foliage until they ran out of
supplies, funds, men or patience.
Meanwhile, other Spaniards had decided
to continue attempts at reaching the bottom
of Lake Guatavita. In 1580s, Antonio de
Sepulveda, a merchant living in Bogota, used
8000 native men to drain the lake by cutting
a huge gash in the side. He did manage to
remove a fair deal of water, and found
considerable gold, but the earth walls
collapsed, killing many workmen and
causing the project to be abandoned. Further
attempts to drain the lake continued right
into the twentieth century, and many historically
valuable artefacts were found, but
never the great quantities of treasure
promised by the legends.
There can be little doubt that, despite the
countless and varied attempts hunting
through the jungle, the Conquistadors never
uncovered all the secrets of the Amazon.
Biology, botany and anthropology show us
that there is still plenty of potential for new
discoveries. Did the Spanish adventurers
really find the lake of El Dorado? Almost
certainly Lake Guatavita is that fabled
lagoon. But nobody has found yet Manoa,
and if the El Dorado myth has been proven
real, there is good reason to suspect the
Manoan legend will be too.

Offline ENCARTA

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Re: HIDDEN CITIES & LOST CIVILISATIONS
« Reply #2 on: 12 March 2009, 03:36:04 PM »
Lyonesse

OFF THE VERY SOUTHWEST tip of Land’s
End, in Cornwall, England, there lies
nothing but water and a few small
islands called the Scilly Isles. Legend says
that under the fierce Atlantic Ocean waves
rests the remains of a beautiful old kingdom
called Lyonesse. It is a kingdom steeped in
the legends of King Arthur and was once
overcome by a great flood. Locals believe that
if you look in the right direction at low tide
you can even see the submerged towers and
domes. Sometimes, late at night, it is possible
to hear the ghostly tolling of lost church bells.
Lyonesse is said to be a great country that
contained magnificent cities and stretched to
the distant west off Land’s End, from St
Michael’s Mount to beyond the Scilly Isles.
There were supposed to be 140 churches in
the country, and great forests covering the
area. However, on 11th November 1099 a
terrible flood raged over the land, drowning
all but one of the inhabitants. This single
survivor was a man called Trevilian, who
saw the waves coming and rode his horse to
safety on higher ground. The Trevlyan coat of
arms still shows a white horse rising from
the sea, but the cities of Lyonesse were lost
forever, and only the highest points of the
kingdom peaked through the waves. At a
distance of 20 miles from Land’s End, we
now know these summits as the Scilly Isles.
Another variation of the Lyonesse legend
says that when King Arthur was wounded in
his final battle against Mordred, the
remnants of his foe’s army chased the king to
Lyonesse. As Arthur and his men reached the
highest points in the kingdom, the ghost of
Merlin appeared. He called the terrible flood
and Mordred’s forces were drowned. It is
said that Arthur then died on the Scilly Isles,
and the association between King Arthur and
Lyonesse has been extended by imaginative
minds over the years. Alfred Lord Tennyson
even suggested the great king may have had
his fabled, mystical court, Camelot, there.
So what proof is there to accompany these
fanciful myths? To begin with, surrounding
St Michael’s Mount at low tide, the fossilised
remains of an ancient forest can be seen. So
there once was definitely woodland under

King Arthur: was he a native of the lost land of Lyonesse?

what is now sea. Similarly, at low tide
around the Scilly Isles, it is also possible to
spot walls and ruins running from the
islands’ shores. In the 1920s it was believed
that structures found on the beach at Samson
Flats were field boundary markers, although
more recent thought considers that they were
probably fish traps. But definite remains of
hut circles and cysts on other islands
suggests the water really has risen. Indeed,
writings as late as the fourth century AD state
that the Scilly Isles were one singular land
mass.
A group of rocks positioned halfway
between Land’s End and the Scilly Isles,
known as the Seven Stones, are believed to
mark the site of a once great city. Sailors and
local fishermen call the area ‘The Town’.
Some of these mariners have even reported
catching parts of doors and windows in their
nets around the area. In the 1930s, Stanley
Baron, a journalist from the London paper
News Chronicle was staying in Sennen Cove,
just north of Land’s End, when he was
awoken one night by the sound of muffled
bells. His hosts explained that he had heard
the ghostly tolling of Lyonesse’s churches.
Another reliable witness, Edith Oliver, was a
former mayor of the town of Wilton in
Salisbury. She claimed to have twice seen
the towers, spires and domes of Lyonesse
emerging from the waves as she looked out
from Land’s End.
Science, however, refuses to accept these
legends. Oceanographers are convinced that
in the last 3,000 years there has not been a
big enough change in tidal height to account
for any of these phenomena. But even if they
disprove the fantastical stories, there is still
real evidence at the shore edge on many of
the Scilly Isles. And anyway, oceanographic
proof alone is not enough to dissuade old
Cornish seadogs. Sometimes a story is so
magical it seems silly to let science spoil it.

Offline ENCARTA

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Re: HIDDEN CITIES & LOST CIVILISATIONS
« Reply #3 on: 12 March 2009, 03:37:26 PM »
Mu &
Lemuria


ANCIENT LEGENDS TELL of a great continent
now lost under the sea. Sanskrit
tradition calls the continent ‘Rutas’
and says that it sank under the Indian Ocean.
Tamil writings recorded on palm tree bark tell
of a giant land mass that connected southern
India to Australia. All across the islands of the
Pacific Ocean there are legends of a massive
continent that was the birthplace of Man and
which sank under the waves. This lost land
we now refer to as ‘Mu’ or ‘Lemuria’.
James Churchward, an Anglo-American
traveller, wrote the first accounts of Mu
legend. He said he was taught Mankind’s
original tongue, a dialect called ‘Naacal’, by
an Indian priest. This holy man then showed
him some old stone tablets hidden in a
temple, written in this ancient language.
These tablets explained that Mu was a
continent in the Pacific Ocean. Placed just
below the equator, it was 5,000 miles long
and 3,000 miles wide. The tablets said that
Mankind had appeared on Mu two million
years ago, and a highly advanced society of
64 million people had developed on the
island before they were all but wiped out by
a huge volcanic eruption.
Around the same time as Churchward was
publicising his legend and tradition-based
theory, another more scientific group were
advancing the idea of a lost land. Naturalists
and zoologists who followed and believed
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution were
finding it particularly difficult to explain the
widespread existence of lemurs. If these
animals had all descended from a common
ancestor, as Darwin suggested, then there
must have once been a land link between
these areas. One of Darwin’s followers, an
English zoologist called Philip L. Schlater,
proposed the name ‘Lemuria’ for this
invented sunken land bridge.
As science has progressed since Darwin’s
time, zoologists can now account for the
wide distribution of the lemur family
without resorting to creating ideas of ancient
missing land masses. But at the same time,
genetic discoveries have proven that,
because of a massive natural catastrophe that
almost induced human extinction, all of
Mankind originally stems from a small pool
of biological variations.

Offline ENCARTA

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Re: HIDDEN CITIES & LOST CIVILISATIONS
« Reply #4 on: 12 March 2009, 03:41:11 PM »
Teotihaucán

HIGH ON A PLATEAU in central Mexico
lies the remains of a city that
continues to perplex archaeologists
and historians. Of all the ancient cities of the
Americas, Teotihaucán is the most
enigmatic. Nobody knows what race of
people built it, what they used it for, or why
it was abandoned. Indeed, the remains are
awe-inspiring, but it is believed that 90 per
cent of the city is still buried under the arid
Mexican soil. And yet, this great city of
culture held 200,000 inhabitants at its peak.
So what happened at Teotihaucán?
When later Aztec races found this amazing
urban development they were so impressed
by its construction that they named it
‘Teotihaucán’, meaning ‘The great city where
men become gods’. The focal point of the
city, which spread over 12 square miles, was
an immense building called the Pyramid of
the Sun. This 216-foot-tall structure had a
temple at its summit which indicated the
city was ruled by native religion. At the base
of the pyramid ran a north-south avenue,
which stretched for almost three miles. The
Aztecs called this the ‘Avenue of the Dead’,
believing the small platforms that lined the
series of connecting courtyards to be tombs.
In fact, they were probably temples – it has
since been discovered that the Teotihaucáns
actually buried the dead in their own houses.
At the northern end of the avenue, nearest
the Sun Pyramid, there was a slightly smaller
construction, named the Pyramid of the
Moon. About a mile south down the avenue
there was a vast open area called the Citadel.
This was also surrounded by temples and
had the important Temple of the Feathered
Serpent in its centre. Intersecting the Avenue
of the Dead at its halfway point was another
avenue. The city was therefore based on a
grid system of four quarters. The houses in
this format were built in complexes of
adjoining dwellings, linked by terraces and

The great Sun Pyramid of Teotihaucán rises above a plateau in Mexico.

patios. The building of the city began around
200 BC, with the major structures, like the
pyramids, being erected from the first
century AD. By the beginning of the fifth
century AD, the city covered its maximum
surface area, and housed around 100,000
people. Within two centuries this number
had doubled.
But who were the inhabitants
Archaeologists and historians really do not
know for certain. They were much too early
to be Aztecs, and the Toltec race, despite
having a similar sense of architecture and
civil engineering, did not appear until 200
years after the initial building of Teotihuacán.
There is a possibility that the Olmecs, a race
of great builders and craftsmen who had
flourished between the fifteenth century BC
and first century AD, may have been their
ancestors. However, there is no proof to
confirm this, and the writings and records
left by the Teotihaucáns, which would
provide us with their own version of their
history, have never been successfully
translated to. Whoever founded the city did
so with intelligent laws and a strict reverence
for religious matters. It has been suggested
that the city was a major destination for
pilgrims and the training centre for priests.
Despite the people enjoying a structured,
dignified and privileged life, the city of
Teotihaucán was largely destroyed by the
eighth century AD. One theory is that the
population may have been too great for the
local resources although this has been
countered by the knowledge that the rulers
of Teotihaucán were good enough social and
civil engineers to provide for this. It is more
likely that invading barbarians from the
north attacked the city. Indeed, what
historians have garnered from Teotihaucán
murals suggests the roles of soldiers took on
more prominence in the city’s later years.
Teotihaucán itself was not designed to repel
attacks, and recent excavations have
indicated that large, prepared fires were
started in the city during its last days.
Although the origin of the Teotihaucán
race is unknown, the influence it had across
the Mexican region has been proven to be
immense. Some experts consider the
possibility that a mass exodus of
Teotihaucán citizens founded another town
with structure similar to the earlier pyramids
at a site 700 miles away in Kaminaljuyú. But
nothing is known for certain. Even after
nearly a century of intense historical investigation,
the mysterious story of Teotihaucán
is as unknown now as it has been for a
thousand years.

They came, they created, they departed in silence: who were the builders of Teotihaucán?


 

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