Forbidden History: Prehistoric Technologies, Extraterrestrial Intervention, and the Suppressed Origins of Civilization

Chapter 20\ Atlantology: Psychotic or Inspired?\ Media Stereotypes Aside, What Kind of Person Pursues Knowledge of a Forgotten Civilization?\ —Frank Joseph\ A mainstream archaeologist interviewed about Atlantis on a recent special for The Discovery Channel declared that the only people who believe in such garbage are cranks, fools, and charlatans. His assessment is shared by conventional scientists, who insist that no one of any intellectual worth would demean him- or herself by seriously considering any sunken civilization. True, virtually no university-trained researchers today are willing to risk the wrath of conservative academics not above sabotaging the careers of independently minded colleagues.\ But contrary to the Establishment’s defaming characterization of persons interested in the historical possibility of Atlantis, the subject has for centuries attracted some of the best brains in the world. Solon, one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, was also the first great poet of Athens. In the late sixth century BC, the great lawgiver traveled to Sais, the Nile Delta capital of the 26th Dynasty, where the Temple of Neith was located.\ Here a history of Etelenty was preserved in hieroglyphs inscribed or painted on dedicated columns, which were translated for him by the high priest, Sonchis. Returning to Greece, Solon worked all the details of the account into an epic poem, “Atlantikos,” but was distracted by political problems from completing the project before his death in 560 BC. About 150 years later, the unfinished manuscript was given to Plato, who formed two dialogues, Timaeus and Critias, from it.\ As one of the very greatest historical figures in Classical Greek history, Solon’s early connection with the story of Atlantis lends it formidable credibility. But neither he nor Plato were the only towering figures of Classical antiquity to embrace the reality of Atlantis. Statius Sebosus was a Greek geographer and contemporary of Plato mentioned by the Roman scientist Pliny the Elder for his detailed description of Atlantis.\ All the works of Statius Sebosus were lost with the fall of Classical civilization. Dionysus of Miletus, also known as “Skytobrachion” for his prosthetic leather arm, wrote A Voyage to Atlantis around 550 BC, predating not only Plato but even Solon. A copy of Dionysus’s manuscript was found among the personal papers of historical writer Pierre Benoit. Tragically, it was lost between the borrowers and restorers who made use of this valuable piece of source material after Benoit’s death.\ A utopian novel written by Francis Bacon in 1629, The New Atlantis, was the first written discussion of Atlantis since the fall of Classical civilization and probably sparked Athanasius Kircher’s interest in the subject, when he published his own scientific study of Atlantis in The Subterranean World thirty-six years later. Although a work of fiction, The New Atlantis came about through excited discussions in contemporary scholarly circles of reports from travelers to America. They stated that the indigenous peoples had oral accounts of a land comprising numerous points in common with Plato’s sunken civilization; they even called it Aztlan, which paralleled a native version of the Greek Atlantis. The New Atlantis actually incorporates some Atlanto-American myths Bacon heard repeated in London.\ A German polymath of the seventeenth century, the Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher was a pioneering mathematician, physicist, chemist, linguist, and archaeologist. Kircher was also the first scholar to seriously investigate the Atlantis legend. Initially skeptical, he cautiously began reconsidering its credibility while assembling mythic traditions about a great flood from numerous cultures in various parts of the world.\ Among the relatively few surviving documents from Imperial Rome, Kircher found a well-preserved, treated-leather map purporting to show the configuration and location of Atlantis. The map was not Roman, but had been brought in the first century AD to Italy from Egypt where it had been executed. It survived the demise of Classical times and found its way into the Vatican Library. Kircher copied it precisely (adding only a visual reference to the New World) and published it in his book The Subterranean World. His caption states it is a map of the island of Atlantis, originally made in Egypt after Plato’s description, which suggests it was created sometime following the fourth century BC, perhaps by a Greek mapmaker attached to the Ptolemies. More probably the map’s first home was the Great Library of Alexandria, where numerous books and references to Atlantis were lost, along with another million-plus volumes, when the institution was burned by religious fanatics. By relocating to Rome, the map escaped that destruction.\ Although the map vanished after Kircher’s death in 1680, it was the only known representation of Atlantis to have survived the Ancient World. Thanks to his research and book, it survives today in a close copy. Curiously, it is depicted upside-down, contrary to maps in both his day and ours. Yet this apparent anomaly is proof of the map’s authenticity, because Egyptian mapmakers, even as late as Ptolemaic times, designed their maps with the Upper Nile Valley (located in the south, “Upper” refers to its higher elevation) at the top, because the river’s headwaters are located in the Sudan.\ Contrary to mean-spirited characterizations by conservative archaeologists, it says something for the credibility of Atlantis that many of the greatest thinkers in the history of western civilization have been among its most prominent advocates.

1Darwin's demise : on the futile search for missing links82Evolution vs. creation : is the debate for real?143Exposing a scientific cover-up : forbidden archeology coauthor Michael Cremo talks about the "knowledge filter" and other means for cooking the academic books224In defense of catastrophes : pioneering geologist Robert Schoch challenges the conventional wisdom on natural history305Cataclysm 9500 B.C.E. : two new works of immense scholarship throw orthodox ice age theories into question and, in the process, corroborate Plato and many other ancient sources376The case for the flood : exposing the scientific myth of the ice age447The martyrdom of Immanuel Velikovsky : as catastrophists gain ground, an early hero gets some long overdue credit538The perils of planetary amnesia : as evidence of ancient cataclysm mounts, the legacy of a rejected genius is reconsidered619Thunderbolts of the gods : does growing evidence of an electric universe reveal previously hidden meaning in ancient mythology?6910The enigma of India's origins : the dating of new discoveries in the Gulf of Cambay upsets the orthodox scenario for the dawn of civilization7811Pushing back the portals of civilization : for John Anthony West, the quest for evidence of advanced prehistoric civilization is bearing new fruit8712New studies confirm very old sphinx : orthodox protests notwithstanding, evidence for the Schoch/West thesis is growing9513R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz's magnum opus : the keys to understanding the wisdom of the ancients have been preserved10114Fingerprinting the gods : a bestselling author is making a convincing case for a great but officially forgotten civilization11115The Central American mystery : what could explain the failure of mainstream science to unravel the origins of Mesoamerica's advanced ancient cultures?11716Destination galactic center : John Major Jenkins thinks today's world has much to learn from the ancient Maya12417Megalithic England : the Atlantean dimensions, a conversation with John Michell13218Plato, the truth : how does the credibility of the best-known chronicler of Atlantis stand up?13719The Aegean Atlantis deception : was Plato's grand tale nothing more than the saga of an insignificant Greek island?14420Atlantology : psychotic or inspired? : media stereotypes aside, what kind of person pursues knowledge of a forgotten civilization?15221Atlantis in Antarctica : forget about the North Atlantic and the Aegean, says author Rand Flem-Ath15822Blueprint from Atlantis : do alignments of ancient monuments have something to tell us about the history of earth's shifting crust?16523Japan's underwater ruins : have remains of ancient Lemuria been found?17224West, Schoch, and Hancock dive into Lemurian waters17825India 30,000 B.C.E. : do the roots of Indian culture lie drowned beneath the Indian Ocean?18026A conversation with Peter Tompkins : secrets of forgotten worlds19027Ancient agriculture, in search of the missing links : is the inescapable evidence of a lost fountainhead of civilization to be found growing in our fields?19528Atlantean technology : how advanced? : what does the evidence really show?20229Archeology and the law of gravity : orthodox theory of ancient capability tends to cave in under its own weight20830An engineer in Egypt : did the ancient Egyptians possess toolmaking skills comparable to those of the space age?21431The Giza power plant, technologies of ancient Egypt : a new book challenges conventional wisdom on the intended purpose of the Great Pyramid22132Return to the Giza power plant : technologist Chris Dunn finds new fuel for his thesis22933Petrie on trial : have arguments for advanced ancient machining made by the great nineteenth-century Egyptologist Sir William Flinders Petrie been disproved? : Christopher Dunn takes on the debunkers23634How did the pyramid builders spell relief? : do we really know why the ancients used such giant stones in the pyramid's so-called relieving chambers?24335Precision : did the ancients have it? : and if they did, should it matter to us?25036The obelisk quarry mystery : do Egyptologists really know how these monuments were created?25637Behind the pyramid's secret doors : what does astonishing new evidence reveal about the Great Pyramid's true purpose?26338The case for advanced technology in the Great Pyramid : what does the evidence really show about the advancement of its builders?27039Visitors from beyond : our civilization is a legacy from space travelers, says Zecharia Sitchin, and his new book offers to unveil new secrets of divine encounters27640Artifacts in space : for author Richard Hoagland, the trail of ancient ETs is getting much warmer28241The pulsar mystery : could the enigmatic phenomenon be the work of an ancient ET civilization? : a new scientific study makes the astonishing case28942The physicist as mystic297

\ Jan 2008 - TheCrit.com\ "The book serves as an excellent introduction to hitherto suppressed and alternative accounts of history as contributors raise questions about the origins of civilization and humanity, catastrophism, and ancient technology."\ \ \ \ \ Oct 2005 - Ladyfogg\ "This is a great compilation. . . . the type of book that makes you question what you have been told and makes you want to discover more for yourself."\ \ \ June 2005 SirReadaLot.org\ ". . . a case in support of a much greater antiquity for civilization, a convincing argument for the existence of advanced technologies in prehistory, and the outline of a lost fountainhead of world culture."\ \ \ \ \ Frank Joseph“. . .essays by such well-known investigators as Robert Schoch, Christopher Dunn or Rand Flem-Ath examine surprisingly sophisticated technology in Pharaonic Egypt, and reconsider possibilities for a global catastrophe that may have altered the course of civilization. . . . this superb new book. . . has much to offer anyone questioning the official party-line concerning mankind’s ancient past.”\ \ \ \ \ Oct 2005 Ladyfogg"This is a great compilation. . . . the type of book that makes you question what you have been told and makes you want to discover more for yourself."\ \ \ \ \ Curled Up with a Good Book"These thoughtful, well-presented and impeccably researched essays form a foundation of history itself, presenting a totally different viepoint of who we are, where we come from, ans why we are here—not to mention where we may be heading."\ \ \ \ \ Rahasya Poe"This is an excellent compilation of the work of some of the key thinkers on some very highly charged issues, such as creationism and Darwinism."\ \ \ \ \ Jan 2008 TheCrit.com"The book serves as an excellent introduction to hitherto suppressed and alternative accounts of history as contributors raise questions about the origins of civilization and humanity, catastrophism, and ancient technology."\ \ \ \ \ SirReadaLot.org". . . a case in support of a much greater antiquity for civilization, a convincing argument for the existence of advanced technologies in prehistory, and the outline of a lost fountainhead of world culture."\ \