Lost Worlds – Atlantis

The Lost City of Atlantis as described by Plato

Today on Far Future Horizons we are going to rediscover what could be the ancient city that inspired Plato’s tale of the vanished island of Atlantis.

The island of Santorini was destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption over 3000 years ago. On the island of Santorini is the prehistoric city of Akrotiri that many historians believe is the inspiration behind Plato’s Atlantis.

Was Santorini the inspiration for the legend of Atlantis? 

Akrotiri is the name of an excavation site of a Minoan Bronze Age settlement on the Greek island of Santorini, associated with the Minoan civilization due to inscriptions in Linear A, and close similarities in artefact and fresco styles. The excavation is named after a modern Greek village situated on a hill nearby. The name of the site in antiquity is unknown. It was buried by the widespread Theran eruption in the middle of the second millennium BC; as a result, like the Roman ruins of Pompeii after it, it is remarkably well-preserved. Frescoes, pottery, furniture, advanced drainage systems and three-story buildings have been discovered at the site, whose excavation was started in 1967 by Spyridon Marinatos. Certain historians hold this settlement, as well as the disaster that left it unknown to most of history, as the inspiration behind Plato's story of Atlantis, as mentioned in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias. In today’s feature video we are going to examine the archaeological evidence that supports this conjecture.

Lost Worlds: In each of these episodes, historians, architects, and engineers are consulted as on-screen guides to our fascinating journeys to the past. The result is a detailed narrative that combines social, religious, political, and technological aspects of history, until the magic moment arrives when all of this information is used (along with detailed CGI imagery) to unveil these important structures in their pristine form--in many cases more colourful and architecturally impressive than anyone could imagine. All of this makes Lost Worlds a richly rewarding experience, essentially the next best thing to owning a time machine. --Jeff Shannon

Lost Worlds is available on DVD from Amazon.com.

Lost Worlds - Atlantis

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