[hyperb0le]

I know we hear stories like this all the time, but they are still interesting. Very cool, if true.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe....ap/index.html

LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) -- An American researcher claimed Sunday to have discovered the remains of the legendary lost city of Atlantis on the bottom of the east Mediterranean Sea. But Cyprus' chief government archaeologist was skeptical.

Robert Sarmast said sonar scanning of the seabed between east Cyprus and Syria revealed man-made walls, one as long as 3 kilometers (2 miles), and trenches at a depth of 1,500 meters (1,640 yards).

"It is a miracle we found these walls as their location, and lengths match exactly the description of the acropolis of Atlantis provided by Plato in his writings," Sarmast said, referring to the ancient Greek philosopher.

"We have definitely found the Acropolis of Atlantis," he affirmed, adding the site was 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Cyprus.

The chief government archaeologist of Cyprus, Pavlos Flourentzos, reacted with skepticism, telling The Associated Press: "More proof is necessary."

Sarmast, 38, is an architect by training from Los Angeles. He has devoted the past two-and-a-half years to trying to locate the lost city described by Plato in his dialogues, the Timaeous and the Critias. He spoke to reporters on the "Flying Enterprise," his expeditionary ship, after six days of taking highly sophisticated "side scan" sonars of the seabed.

He said he had chosen the area from data provided by two earlier sonar scans of the east Mediterranean by Russian and French expeditions. His own expedition used more sophisticated equipment, he said.

"We found more than 60-70 points that are a perfect match with Plato's detailed description of the general layout of the acropolis hill of Atlantis. The match of the dimensions and the coordinates provided by our sonar with Plato's description are so accurate that, if this is not indeed the acropolis of Atlantis, then this is the world's greatest coincidence," he said.

Tests of that part of the seabed showed it had once been above sea level, he said.

"We cannot yet provide tangible proof in the form of bricks and mortar as the artifacts are still buried under several meters of sediment at a depth of 1,500 meters (1,640 yards), but the evidence is now irrefutable," he added.

Asked if the ruins could not be that of another city that sank beneath the waves, Sarmast said the remains match Plato's description of Atlantis so closely that they could not be anything else.

"If you compare it with Plato, you will be astonished," he said. "We hope that future expeditions will be able to uncover the sediment and bring back physical proof."

Plato wrote of Atlantis as an island in the western sea, which has been widely interpreted to mean the Atlantic Ocean. An earthquake undermined the island and it was submerged. But societies dedicated to finding Atlantis remain.

For its time, Atlantis was a highly civilized nation and in legend it has become associated with utopia. The English philosopher Francis Bacon called his 1627 book on the ideal state The New Atlantis.

Flourentzos said it was possible that Atlantis was near Cyprus.

"The myth of Atlantis has been around for ages and it is generally believed that, if it ever existed, it was somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean -- hence its name. But ancient cities and civilizations in the Mediterranean region, such as the Minoan civilization of Crete, have disappeared as a result of major volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. For all we know, Atlantis may well have existed in our region."

Sarmast said his expedition had cost about $250,000. The funds came from public donations to his US-based company "First Source Enterprise," which is devoted to the project, sales of his book "The Discovery of Atlantis," and the Cypriot Tourist Organization, which donated $60,000.

He said the book, published in September 2003, said Atlantis was in the east Mediterranean and his latest sonars confirmed it.

[EDIT] Link fixed [/EDIT]

[willed]

Originally posted by hyperb0le:
An American researcher claimed...

I smell bullsh1t already

"It is a miracle we found these walls as their location, and lengths match exactly the description of the acropolis of Atlantis provided by Plato in his writings,"

Less of a miracle, perhaps when you consider this:

Sarmast said his expedition had cost about $250,000. The funds came from public donations to his US-based company "First Source Enterprise," which is devoted to the project, sales of his book "The Discovery of Atlantis," and the Cypriot Tourist Organization, which donated $60,000.
He said the book, published in September 2003, said Atlantis was in the east Mediterranean and his latest sonars confirmed it.

what are the chances?

Perhaps he has found something down there, which would be quite interesting. I'm not familiar wit Plato's descriptions, but it is likely that they were included in the same way that dimensions often are in the Bible and much other ancient literature: artistic verisimilitude. I doubt Plato implies that he ever went to 'Atlantis', and I expect that, even by his time, it was a legend. This guy is, I expect, cashing in on the gullible.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Link doesn't work.

And isn't this the 10th time in the past few years they found it?

[Simon X]

I've been reading about this guy's search for Atlantis for a while now, not that I'm actively following the story but I happen upon the articles every now and then. I saw the story on the Cypriot TV news today and I'm not convinced. The sonar image is incredibly vague and could be a number of things, the most likely being a natural formation on the sea bed. But hey, it would be great for tourism in Cyprus. Maybe I should start printing the T-shirts - "My folks sailed above Atlantis and all they bought me was this lousy T-shirt."

[KP*]

Originally posted by willed:
I doubt Plato implies that he ever went to 'Atlantis', and I expect that, even by his time, it was a legend. This guy is, I expect, cashing in on the gullible.

No, Plato never says he went to Atlantis. His account is supposedly from a Greek guy who heard it from an Egyptian priest centuries before Plato's own time. It was an ancient story to the priest, too. Supposedly Atlantis was destroyed about 9,000 years before Plato, so something like 11,000 years ago, right around the end of the last ice age.

I enjoy reading various books on Atlantis, but while I think it probably existed in some form, I don't really have an opinion of where it is. Every theory makes sense in its own way, but also somehow contradicts Plato's account. Like this guy thinks he found it in the Mediterranean, which is a popular theory, but Plato says Atlantis was outside the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar). Who knows, hopefully some day we'll find it and settle it once and for all.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

too much hype for "Atlantis"


it was just a regular city back in the day. no mermaid kings, no big deal beyond the archeological significance

[TheBadgerHunter]

Originally posted by Apple Pro Underwear:
too much hype for "Atlantis"


it was just a regular city back in the day. no mermaid kings, no big deal beyond the archeological significance

'

What can you expect from a legend that was passed down over 9,000 years (supposedly)?

[MacNStein]

http://www.discoveryofatlantis.com/

The researcher's site.

[Secret__Police]

Someone somewhere is always finding Atlantis every other year.

[wdlove]

Either was these archeological finds help us to understand our past.

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally posted by Secret__Police:
Someone somewhere is always finding Atlantis every other year.

and someone is making that same point every other post.

[MacGorilla]

"Extroidinary claims require extroidinary evidence"
The evidence is lacking here.

[Brass]

My two favourite Atlantis stories are:

1. J.R.R. Tolkein in "The Silmarilian" (and also vaguely referred to in The Lord of the Rings). Where the ancient race of men lived on Numenor, which sunk into the sea. In another of Tolkein's languages, the name for the island was "Atalanta".

2. Stephen Lawhead who merged the legends of Atlantis and of Kind Arthur with a christian theme. Good reading.

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by Apple Pro Underwear:
too much hype for "Atlantis"


it was just a regular city back in the day. no mermaid kings, no big deal beyond the archeological significance

I agree .. I prefer the future lost city of Atlanta =P (Futurama)