For thousands of years in different media from philosophical writings to animated cartoons we’ve heard the tale of Atlantis. There is even a billion dollar resort in the Bahamas that purports to recapture the spirit of the “lost city.” Say “Atlantis,” and brains draw on a heritage of images, including those associated with a sophisticated society, dramatic architecture, and a watery burial. Hints of its existence have inspired explorers to search for its missing riches and explanations for where and why it disappeared.
Ask someone about Atlantis, and you will probably get a stereotypical summation of mythical images and possibly a reference to Crete and the end of Minoan society. You will also get references to a volcanic eruption in the Aegean where now the tourist attraction called Santorini occupies part of Thira’s ancient caldera. Atlantis? Who knows?
We know the tales accumulated over more than two thousand years without really knowing anything factual about Atlantis. If we could only find it, if we could only put a pin in a map, or find it through Google Earth, or book a flight to it, then we would know about a real Atlantis.
The discovery of ancient civilizations always seems to captivate us. For some reason, traipsing around in tropical rainforest to look for lost cities when we know the dangers presented by fungi, bacteria, insects, reptiles, and mammals doesn’t deter the archaeologically minded. Nor does digging in Saharan sand bother those intrepid explorers. They dream of peering through a hole somewhere to gaze on long hidden wonders and express, as Howard Carter did when asked by Lord Carnavon whether or not he could see anything through the tiny hole he made with a chisel, “Yes, wonderful things.” He had discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb.
No one will probably ever discover a “true” Atlantis, though many might argue for this or that candidate ancient ruin as they vie for the designation “The Discoverer of Atlantis.” Is there another Atlantis or Tutankhamun’s tomb each of us can discover with a little mental digging? We all have the ability to peer into a personal past to reveal a hidden treasure locked behind the walls of or sunken in the depths of memory.
If some Lord Carnevon were standing behind you as you look into your past, asking whether or not you see anything, will you, like Carter, exclaim, “Yes, wonderful things.”
Ask someone about Atlantis, and you will probably get a stereotypical summation of mythical images and possibly a reference to Crete and the end of Minoan society. You will also get references to a volcanic eruption in the Aegean where now the tourist attraction called Santorini occupies part of Thira’s ancient caldera. Atlantis? Who knows?
We know the tales accumulated over more than two thousand years without really knowing anything factual about Atlantis. If we could only find it, if we could only put a pin in a map, or find it through Google Earth, or book a flight to it, then we would know about a real Atlantis.
The discovery of ancient civilizations always seems to captivate us. For some reason, traipsing around in tropical rainforest to look for lost cities when we know the dangers presented by fungi, bacteria, insects, reptiles, and mammals doesn’t deter the archaeologically minded. Nor does digging in Saharan sand bother those intrepid explorers. They dream of peering through a hole somewhere to gaze on long hidden wonders and express, as Howard Carter did when asked by Lord Carnavon whether or not he could see anything through the tiny hole he made with a chisel, “Yes, wonderful things.” He had discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb.
No one will probably ever discover a “true” Atlantis, though many might argue for this or that candidate ancient ruin as they vie for the designation “The Discoverer of Atlantis.” Is there another Atlantis or Tutankhamun’s tomb each of us can discover with a little mental digging? We all have the ability to peer into a personal past to reveal a hidden treasure locked behind the walls of or sunken in the depths of memory.
If some Lord Carnevon were standing behind you as you look into your past, asking whether or not you see anything, will you, like Carter, exclaim, “Yes, wonderful things.”
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