All language subtitles for Forbidden Knowledge - Legends of Atlantis Exposed (2022) 1080p WEB-DL x264 An0mal1

The Harappan or
Indus Valley Civilization,

which flourished across
what is now Pakistan

and north-west India,
from about 3000 BC,

but was abandoned in 1800 BC,

according to some, due
to a terrible atomic war.

The Indus Valley
was thought to be

the earliest
civilization in the area,

but over recent years,
discoveries have been made,

which indicate the
existence of a civilization

on the Arabian Sea
coast of India,

as far back as eight
to 10,000 years ago.

Some fringe researchers
even believe

that pre-Ice Age
structures and artifacts

from a lost civilization,
await discovery

on the sea bed in the area.

The remains of one of the
world's first great cities,

Mohenjo-daro, lie on the
bank of the Indus River,

in the Sindh province
of southern Pakistan.

It was one of the
major urban centers

of the Indus Valley
Civilization,

which originated about 3,300 BC

in the Indus and
Ghaggar-Hakra River Valleys

in what is now Pakistan
and western India.

Around 1,000 towns
and settlement sites

of the Indus Civilization
have so far been discovered,

with the main sites
being the cities

of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa,

located 400 miles
north of Mohenjo-daro,

and the coastal site of Lothal.

Traces of the Indus Civilization
have been discovered

as far north as the Himalayas
and northern Afghanistan,

and as far south
as Mumbai, Bombay.

During its peak period,
between 2600 and 1900 BC,

it has been estimated that
the Indus Civilization

may have had a population
of as much as 5 million.

Located on the lower Indus,

surrounded by a
fertile front plane,

Mohenjo-daro must have been
an extremely prosperous city,

controlling the trade routes
based on the river network.

Signs of change at
Mohenjo-daro began to appear

in the material culture
of the city after 1900 BC,

and within 100 years,
Mohenjo-daro was abandoned

as the Indus Valley
Civilization declined.

Some bizarre claims
have been made

surrounding the supposed
destruction of Mohenjo-daro,

without doubt, the most
extreme theory is that it

and other cities of
the Indus Civilization

were destroyed by
ancient atomic warfare.

Cited as evidence
for this, are facts

from the skeletons found
at the ancient city,

were highly radioactive,

comparable with those from
Nagasaki and Hiroshima,

and that many of these skeletons

were sprawled in the
street, some holding hands,

as if some instant horrible
doom had taken place.

The supposed discovery
of a heavy layer

of radioactive ash
in Rajasthan, India

which covers a three
square mile area,

is also given in the
support of the claims

of ancient atomic warfare.

In his 1970 book, "Gods
From Outer Space,"

Erich Von Daniken says
that the old India

and Tibetan text in particular,

team with science
fiction weapons.

"I am thinking of the divine
lightning and ray weapons,

and of the texts that
seem to be referring

to bacteriological weapons."

Another source, which
probably added to the myth

Science of Aeronautics,"

which first appeared
in English in 1973,

translated by G.R. Josyer.

This supposedly
ancient Sanskrit text,

discusses the
construction of vimanas,

mythical self-propelled
aerial vehicles

described in the Sanskrit epics.

Recent research into
this text has however,

shown that the manuscript
was actually written

sometime between 1918 and 1922.

Though, this has
not prevented it

having a significant influence
on proponents of the theory

that vimanas were real
ancient flying machines,

probably used for
ancient aerial warfare.

From here it is but a short step

to ancient nuclear destruction.

Many of the structures
at Mohenjo-daro

were constructed
of fired bricks,

and it is partly
for this reason,

that the site is one
of the best preserved

ancient cities in the world.

In fact, the walls of
some of the structures,

still stand 10
feet or more high,

pretty impressive after
a nuclear destruction.

For decades,
archeologists have argued

about the origins of the
Indus Valley Civilization.

In 2001, new findings
by Indian scientists

from the National Institute
Of Ocean Technology,

working in the Gulf of Cambay,

suggest that the
Harapans were descended

from an advanced mother culture

that flourished at the
end of the last Ice Age,

that was then submerged
by rising sea levels,

before history began.

In 2001, the remains
of a huge lost city

were located 118 feet underwater
in the Gulf of Cambay,

off the western coast of India.

A year later, further
acoustic imaging surveys

were undertaken and
evidence recorded

for human settlement
at the site,

which included the foundations
of huge structures,

pottery, sections
of walls, beads,

pieces of sculpture
and human bone.

One of the wooden
finds from the city,

has given a radiocarbon
date of 7500 BC,

which would make the
site 4,000 earlier

than the oldest known
civilization in India.

Research is ongoing at
this fascinating site,

which if the dates
are proved correct,

may one day radically
alter our understanding

of the world's
first civilizations.

Researcher Graham Hancock,
author of the 2002 book,

Flooded
Kingdoms of the Ice Age,"

believe such discoveries
vindicate his long-held beliefs

about the existence of
highly advanced civilizations

throughout the world
in prehistoric times,

and their obliteration
from the historical record

by huge catastrophe
over 10,000 years ago.

Hancock commented on
how the discoveries

in the Gulf of Cambay,

fitted in nicely
with his theories.

In India, new evidence
from the bottom of the sea

is showing substance
to the myth.

This in the Gulf of Cambay
in north-west India,

in late 2001, scientists
conducting pollution studies,

made an astonishing
accidental discovery.

25 miles from shore,
at a depth of 120 feet,

they picked up traces
of an ancient city,

covering a large
area of the sea bed.

The discovery threatened
to overturn everything

that archeologists believed,

about the origins
of civilization.

They found a city,
the size of Manhattan,

with massive walls and plazas

and man-made objects from
the submerged cities,

have yielded carbon dates
up to 9,500 years old,

that's 5,000 years older

than any city discovered
by archeologists anywhere.

It means we are dealing
with a civilization

lost at the end of the Ice
Age, perhaps even one of those

that the flood myths speak of,

which flourished
before history began.

The conclusion drawn by the
geologists who found the site,

was that the remains constituted
a prehistoric civilization,

that was the forerunner,
a model to the subsequent

advanced Harapan civilization
known to history.

They believe that
the prehistoric
metropolis of Cambay,

was in existence from about
13000 BC to around 3000 BC,

making it the most ancient
and largest city civilization,

not only in Asia, but
also the entire world.

For them, it's at
least 7,500 years older

than the oldest Mesopotamian
city civilization.

A certain Dr. Badrinaryan,
chief geologist of the team,

also put forward the rather
extreme unscientific theory

that strong evidence supports
the presence of humans

from at least 31000 BP,

who were evolving and developing

and formed a great hitherto
unknown civilization,

that was submerged by the flood,

giving credence to local
and global flood myths.

There has been
considerable controversy

over these discoveries
and their dating.

Critics noted that the team
who found the ancient remains

were geologists and
not archeologists,

and therefore had no
experience with investigating

archeological sites and
dating archeological material.

The single early
date of 7595 BC,

obtained from the remains

comes from one
single C-14 dating.

Normally, several C-14
dates have to be obtained

from objects from
the same context

to be certain of the date.

Claims of the existence
of the submerged

city-like structures
have also been disputed,

with some archeologists
maintaining

they are natural, not man-made.

The same is true of
these stone artifacts

recovered from the site,
which many researchers believe

are merely natural
stones or rocks.

The pottery recovered
for example,

is merely drenched up
casts of tube worm tunnels

from the ocean floor.

At the University of
Pennsylvania in the US,

archeologist Gregory Possehl,

who has excavated a number
of Harrapan sites in India,

points out that there's no
scientific reason to believe,

that the fossilized wood piece
was dated back to 7500 BC

and is linked to the
ruins in the sea bed.

Taking into account the strong
tidal movement in the area,

it could easily have been
swept from elsewhere.

Other archeologists
don't think it possible

that organic matter
would've survived

for thousands of
years in the ocean,

thus making it
extremely unlikely,

that finds from the site
would contain anything

that could be carbon dated.

Despite the claims of Hancock

and the National Institute
of Ocean Technology,

nothing has been
published from the site

since its discovery in 2001,

neither have the
artifacts from the site

been made available to
outside investigation.

In fact, nothing at
all has been heard

of these supposedly
amazing discoveries

in the Gulf of Cambay
for at least 10 years.

Taking all of this into account,

it does indeed
seem that the story

of a 9,000-year-old sunken city,

is just another wild claim
made by dubious researchers

and completely rejected

by the legitimate
archeological community.

A few years ago, newspapers
all over the world

carried the story that
ancient history researcher,

Robert Sarmast, has located
the lost continent of Atlantis

off the Mediterranean
island of Cyprus.

Sonar scanning apparently
revealed man-made structures

in the water around the island,
one mile beneath sea level.

Sarmast believed that
the Mediterranean basin

was flooded in 9000 BC,

which submerged a
rectangular land mass,

which he maintains was Atlantis.

Although archeologists
at the time

dismissed Sarmast's
claims out of hand,

new evidence suggests there
may indeed be an ancient city

submerged in the
waters around Cyprus,

Atlantis everywhere.

Almost every year without fail,

the headline "Atlantis
Found," blares out

from various newspapers
all over the world.

In fact, the range of
hypothetical locations

for Atlantis is staggering.

The Minoan civilization
of late Bronze Age Crete,

supposedly destroyed by
a colossal earthquake

on the neighboring island of
Thera, modern day Santorini,

around 1450 BC, was long
thought to have been

an indirect influence
on Plato's Atlantis.

However, research into
late Bronze Age Crete,

has shown that the
Minoan civilization

continued to flourish long
after the Theran quake.

This vast array of wildly
different theories,

has contributed to the
skepticism of many researchers,

who believed that
Plato's Atlantis,

was merely a political allegory,

designed to glorify Athens
as the perfect state,

fighting against a decadent
and greedy Atlantean Empire.

For them, the story begins
and ends with Plato.

Solon never visited Egypt

and heard the story from
the priests at Sais.

They reason, that
Plato located Atlantis

out in the Atlantic, beyond
the Pillars of Hercules,

because in his time,
this vast ocean

represented the limit of the
world known to the Greeks.

Atlantis researchers of course,

would completely disagree
with this conclusion.

Indeed, one of them,
Iranian American architect,

Robert Sarmast, believes he
knows exactly where Atlantis is.

Did Robert Sarmast find
Atlantis off Cyprus?

Sarmast first hit the
headlines in November 2004

when newspapers
carried the story

that after nearly 10
years of research,

using ocean mapping technology

and accounts from ancient techs,

he'd located
Atlantis off Cyprus.

Sarmast was quoted as saying,

"This is going to rewrite
the history books.

We are set to make the biggest
archeological discovery

of all time."

He claimed that around 9000 BC,

the Mediterranean basin
was flooded in a deluge

that submerged the
rectangular man-made site,

which he believed was Atlantis.

The lost civilization
apparently lay around

5,000 feet below sea level,

50 miles or so off the
south-eastern coast of Cyprus.

Sarmast and his
team had carried out

deep water sonar scanning,

which indicated man-made
structures on a submerged hill,

including a wall almost
three miles long,

a walled hill summit
and deep trenches.

Sarmast's six day expedition
cost about $200,000

and was partly funded by the
Cypriot tourist organization.

Sarmast was quoted at the time
a saying of his discoveries,

"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.

We cannot yet provide
tangible proof

in the form of
bricks and mortar,

as the artifacts
are still buried

under several
meters of sediment,

but the circumstantial and
other evidence is irrefutable.

My discovery will
vindicate Plato.

Within his dialogues, Plato
provides factual clues

as to what Atlantis was like.

I have matched all,
but two of the 45 clues

with the area around Cyprus.

That's either the
biggest coincidence

in the history of the world

or we have found
Plato's Atlantis.

Plato's account is so
detailed that it is possible

to make city plans based
on his description.

These match exactly the
antediluvian maps of Cyprus,

as discovered through
oceanographic mapping."

Sarmast had in fact
revealed his discoveries

the year before he hit
the newspaper headlines,

in a book entitled
"Discovery of Atlantis:

The Startling Case for
the Island of Cyprus."

At a 2004 press conference
to announce his discoveries,

Sarmast was challenged
by Michel Morisseau,

a French geologist
who lives on Cyprus,

to provide evidence
that the Mediterranean

had been flooded
far more recently,

than the conventionally
accepted 5 million years.

Unfortunately, Sarmast
was not able to provide

any evidence whatever,
to back up his claims.

Despo Pilides and archeologists

at the Department of
Antiquities in Cyprus,

said of Sarmast claims,

"The latest theory
should be taken

with a very large pinch of salt,

archeologists only work
with hard evidence.

There is no evidence whatsoever

to give credence
to this hypothesis,

and we have no intention
of investigating it."

Commenting on Sarmast's
interpretation of
the sonar results,

Benny Peiser, a
social anthropologist

at Liverpool John Moores
University in the UK,

criticized his
farfetched theories

and unscientific approach.

"Selective interpretation
is nothing more

than the blinkered
reading of very ambiguous

and unconvincing
images," he said.

"Anyone with a critical eye
can pick out these images,

that they're far too
vague and uncertain

to be regarded as
compelling evidence

for any man-made structures.

The very foundation on
which the hoax is based

is completely bogus.

According to his theory,
Mr. Sarmast claims

that the Mediterranean
basin was flooded

in a deluge at around 9000 BC,

which submerged a
rectangular land mass,

he believes was Atlantis.

The problem is, there is
no evidence whatsoever

for any large scale flooding
of the Mediterranean basin

at that time."

Not to be deterred, Sarmast
organized a second expedition

to the site in 2006,

but results of the
work were inconclusive.

He returned to
Cyprus in June 2011

to film a documentary in
support of his Atlantis theory.

He again had the backing of the
Cyprus Tourism Organization,

as well as the History channel,

together with a number
of private investors.

However, Sarmast appears to
have made no further discoveries

at the supposed site of Atlantis

and nothing has
been heard from him

on the subject since 2013,
new discoveries off Cyprus.

However, the theory
that ancient Atlantis

may lie submerged in
the waters of Cyprus

does not seem to be dead yet.

In April 2018, Cypriot
newspaper, "The
Cyprus Traveller,"

announced that a chance
discovery by a group of tourists

had led a team of
marine archeologists

to the location of Atlantis
off the coast of Paphos,

a coastal city in
south-west Cyprus.

The team, led by
archeologist, Marios Asteio,

used luge cutting-edge
sonar technology

to scan the ocean bed.

After further surveillance,
deep ground radar

and digital mapping,

a team was sent
to the ocean floor

where they discovered an
ancient statue of Afphrodite.

After extensive analysis,

Professor Costas Anoitos,
from Cyprus University's

Department of Antiquities,

authenticated the
relic and confirmed

that the extraordinary find,

was the first artifact
that categorically proved

that the great and
wonderful empire of Atlantis

was located off the
coast of Paphos.

A large scale operation to
recover further artifacts

and building remains,
was soon under way

with the Cyprus
Tourism Organization,

also planning to
put out a tender

for the building of a
Paphos-based Atlantis museum.

Marios Asteio commented on
these spectacular discoveries.

"Over the centuries,
there's been heated debate

over whether Atlantis was a
mythical or historical location

with hundreds of
archeologists and geologists

searching for its location.

In fact, the reason I became
a marine archeologist,

was to try to discover the
true location of Atlantis.

Having completed
my lifetime goal,

I'm looking forward to
enjoying an early retirement."

He added, "I was astounded

when I heard that
Asteio and his team

had discovered the location
of the lost city of Atlantis,

mainly because my
great-grandmother

always used to tell us that
Atlantis could be found

at that exact spot in the ocean.

No one listened
to her of course.

It seemed the old
bird was right."

Marina Mylona, a marketing
and tourism officer

at the Cyprus Tourism
Organization added,

"It's been long rumored that
the lost city of Atlantis

was located just off
the coast of Cyprus,

and we're delighted

that this has been
officially confirmed."

Researchers at an
Irish University,

have claimed that
they have found proof

that Ireland is the
lost land of Atlantis.

They say that the astonishing
neolithic temple tomb

at Newgrange in the
Boyne Valley is in fact,

the famous temple of Atlantis

and one of the oldest
temples on Earth as a result.

The researchers state
that Atlantis island

was devastated by a huge
tsunami triggered by a comet

that hit earth over
11,000 years ago.

Other scholars say that
Atlantis was not Ireland itself,

but lay just off the
country's west coast,

perhaps the land once
known as Hy-Brasil.

What is the evidence to
back up such extreme claims?

The great temple
tomb of Newgrange.

One of the greatest
archeological achievements

of prehistory, the
vast neolithic tomb
temple of Newgrange,

is one of the earliest roofed
buildings in the world.

Newgrange was probably
built around 3200 BC

and consists of a passage
running for 62 feet

and a 20 foot high chamber,
with a corbelled roof

constructed of large stone
slabs without mortar.

The passage and chamber
are covered by a huge stone

and turf mound, about
262 feet in diameter

and around 44 feet high,
surrounded at its base

by 97 large stones
known as curb stones,

some of which are
elaborately ornamented

with megalithic art.

For over 100 years,

there has been speculation
about who built Newgrange

and what its primary
function was.

Excavations inside the
chambers have revealed

relatively few
archeological finds,

probably because the
majority had been removed

in the centuries that
the site remained open

from 1699 until it was
examined by archeologist,

Professor Michael
J. O'Reilly in 1962.

The burials discovered
consisted of two inhumations

and at least three
cremated bodies,

all of which were found
close to a huge stone basin,

which seems to have been used

for holding the
bones of the dead.

Archeological finds
inside the monument,

have not been spectacular.

Though a few gold
objects have been found,

including two gold torcs,

a piece of jewelry worn
around the neck like a collar,

a gold chain, two rings, a
large phallus-like stone,

a few pendants and beads,

a bone chisel and
several bone pins.

Lack of pottery
finds at Newgrange

is typical for passage
grave cemeteries,

which seem to have
been places reserved

for certain types of
ritualistic activity,

involving a limited
number of people.

The entrance to the
Newgrange passage tomb,

consists of a doorway composed
of two standing stones

and a horizontal lintel.

Above the doorway
is an aperture,

known as the roof
box or light box.

Every year shortly
after 9:00 am,

on the morning of
the winter solstice,

the shortest day of the year,

the sun begins it's ascent
across the Boyne Valley,

over a hill known
locally as Red Mountain.

The name possibly
originates from the color

of the sunrise on this day.

The newly risen sun then
sends a shaft of sunlight

directly through the
Newgrange light box,

which penetrates
down the passageway

as a narrow beam of light,

illuminating the central chamber

at the back of the tomb.

After just 17 minutes,
the ray of light narrows

and the chamber is once
more left in darkness.

This spectacular event was
in fact not rediscovered

until 1967, by Professor
Michael J. O'Reilly,

though it had been known about,

in local folklore
before that time.

In fact, the monument
was known locally

as the cave of the sun.

The Newgrange light box
reveals in spectacular fashion,

the knowledge of surveying
and basic astronomy,

possessed by the neolithic
inhabitants of the area.

It also illustrates,
that for the people

who align their monument
with the winter solstice,

the sun must have
formed an important part

of their religious beliefs.

But some researchers
think that Newgrange

was something else entirely,

no less than the temple of
Poseidon in ancient Atlantis,

as described by Plato.

Ireland as Atlantis.

According to Swedish
scientist, Ulf Erlingsson,

the mythical sunken island of
Atlantis was actually Ireland.

He bases his claim on
the geographical details

described by Plato in
his original account

of Atlantis in 360 BBC,

linking it to the
story of Dogger Bank,

a shoal off the coast of England

that was sunk by a
tidal wave in 6000 BC.

Erlingsson described his
theory in his 2004 book,

"Atlantis from a
Geographer's Perspective:

Mapping the Fairy Land."

In January, 2020,

an organization calling
itself Keystone University,

which described itself as
a new type of university

that provides the
best educational
seminars on the planet,

released a video on YouTube,

claiming that Ireland
was ancient Atlantis.

The organization
claims on its website,

"Atlantis was a
megalithic mother culture,

an island in the Atlantic
Ocean of seafaring people

during the Stone Age.

Our team have undertaken the
largest ever investigation

into the legend, and have
compiled overwhelming proof

that the legend of Atlantis

is loosely based on
Stone Age Ireland.

Our findings go completely
against mainstream opinion

and revolutionized
human history,

our work will stand up to the
highest levels of scrutiny,

and we aim to have our
work independently verified

by impartial experts."

Keystone University is
not a real university.

Its curriculum consists of
brief seminars, three per year.

One involves improving
one's mental faculties,

another concentrates
on business skills,

and the third is about
ancient mysteries,

including Atlantis
and human evolution.

Each three-day
seminar is available

at the bargain cost
of 1,000 euros.

There are numerous problems

with identifying
Ireland with Atlantis,

the Irish myths and
sagas linked to Newgrange

and other megalithic monuments,

quoted by researchers
in favor of the theory,

date to the early centuries AD,

perhaps a few centuries earlier.

Thus, they are many
thousands of years later

than the megalithic period,

and have no known
connection with it.

Plato wrote clearly
that Atlantis,

was in front of the
Pillars of Hercules.

The entrance to the
Strait of Gibraltar

between Spain and Morocco and
Ireland is nowhere near there.

Plato also said
Atlantis was the size

of Asia and Libya combined,

while Ireland is many, many
times smaller than this.

But if Atlantis was
not Ireland itself,

could it have been
located nearby?

Hy-Brasil is a mythical island

that is said to
have once existed,

and may still exist
in the Atlantic Ocean

off the west coast of Ireland.

In fact, it was often
shown on old maps

as a very small island
in that location.

An island named
Bracile was first shown

on a portolan chart by
Majorcan cartographer,

Angelino Dulcert in 1325.

Venetian cartographer,
Andrea Bianco,

placed an island named Insula
de Brasil on a chart in 1436.

So real was Hy-Brasil
thought to be,

that a number of
expeditions were launched

to try to find it,
all without success.

There is one intriguing mention

by Italian explorer, John Cabot,

who wrote in a letter while at
sea in the area of Hy-Brasil,

that the land he was approaching

was also discovered in the past

by men from Bristol
who found Hy-Brasil.

Even more strangely, in
1674, a Captain Nesbitt

not only claimed to
have found the island

while sailing from
France to Ireland,

but that he'd also
met its inhabitants,

a solitary magician in a castle

and a race of huge
black rabbits.

What the truth of these
strange assertions are,

or what they were
based on, if anything,

no one has ever been
able to find out.

Despite the lack of evidence,

the phantom island continued
to appear on maps until 1873,

when it was shown
for the last time

on a British Admiralty chart.

Because of its
description and location,

a number of researchers
have linked Hy-Brasil

to Plato's Atlantis.

According to Irish legend,
Hy-Brasil is mysterious island

forever blanketed in a thick fog

and invisible to the naked eye,

only except for one
day every seven years,

when it is visible from
the west of Ireland.

As early as the 12th century,

locals believed in the existence
of a mysterious island,

that could be seen along
the west coast of Ireland,

once every seven years.

There was an oral tradition
of stories about an island

in a fog bank or a floating
island that would disappear

when people approached it.

According to Barry Cunliffe,

professor of European
archeology at Oxford University,

the story of Hy-Brasil
has a long history,

predating its appearance
on 14th century maps.

"The legend goes
back much further,

probably into
pre-Christian times,

appearing first in
the seventh century,

in the Irish text

known as 'The Adventure
of Bran Son of Febal, '

which tells of Bran's visit
to this other world island,

supported on pillars of
gold, where games are played,

people are always happy, there
is no sorrow or sickness,

and music is always to be heard.

Truly at land of the blessed."

One or two researchers
are of the opinion

that these stories of
Atlantis and Hy-Brasil

may have a common origin.

They believe that both
legends may be based

on a common ancient source.

A story was passed down
through generations

from the end of
the last Ice Age,

when sea levels were much lower.

Though that is an
extraordinary length of time

for a story to have survived,

it's not completely beyond
the realms of possibility.

Some researchers believe
that a map of Atlantis

created in the 16th century,

shows Atlantis was in
fact, South America.

They reason, that if
this was the case,

the culture of the Aztecs, Maya

and other Central and
South American cultures,

were directly influenced by
the inhabitants of Atlantis.

Other writers have suggested
that gods from the east,

sometimes seen as Atlanteans,
arrived in remote times

to influence the native
culture of the area.

When Columbus reached
the Americas in 1492,

people started to become
aware that the world

was a much bigger place
than they'd ever imagined.

So perhaps it's
not a coincidence

that prior to the
late 15th century,

there were no explorers,
writers or scientists

advocating the
existence of Atlantis.

After Columbus, Atlantis
began to be reborn

in the popular consciousness,

with some writers and
researchers beginning to think

that it may actually
have been a real place.

17th century German
Jesuit scholar, Kircher

published around 40 major
works during his lifetime.

In 1664, Kircher decided to
create a map of Atlantis.

Kircher's map places the
south at the top of the map,

possibly a reference to
ancient Egyptian beliefs,

about cardinal directions
or his own theories

about water traveling through
the center of the earth,

from the South to North Pole.

Kircher's map of Atlantis
proved to some people

that the Atlantis myth must
have had a basis in reality.

Where the shape of Kircher's
Atlantis came from,

is somewhat of a mystery.

Kircher himself stated that
it was based on Egyptian maps

and the writings of Plato,

while other records claim
that he found an ancient map

in archives somewhere
and copied it.

Others alleged that he
borrowed the maps image

from contemporary
depictions of South America.

It certainly matches
closely Abraham Ortelius'

map of South America,
published in 1592,

though turned upside down.

One of the results of the
similarities of Kircher's map

with that of the outline
of South America,

was to influence some
writers and researchers

to look for traces of
Atlantis in the Americas.

Over the years, a number
of researchers and authors

have put forward the idea
that Plato's mythical Atlantis

was located in the Americas.

They reason that the continent
matches the vast proportions

of the Atlantic island
described in Plato's work

and that the ancient
Greek author,

was somehow aware of its
existence on the other side

of the western ocean, perhaps
through trader stories.

Beginning in the 19th century,

various writers proposed that
the Toltecs and the Aztecs

were members of
the Nahuatl race,

which originated in Atlantis.

When Atlantis submerged
in the Atlantic,

they migrated to North America

and eventually to
the Valley of Mexico.

The language that was
spoken by the Aztec

and Toltec peoples of Mexico,
has often been put forward

as an explanation for
the word Atlantis.

Indeed some researchers believe

that the word Atlantis has
an origin in that language.

The word Atlan combines
Atl meaning water,

with tlan, which can
mean into, under or in.

So Atlantin could mean
in between the water

or the water in between.

According to fifth century BC,
Greek historian, Herodotus,

a Venetian expedition
circumnavigated Africa,

sometime between 610 and 595 BC.

The ancient historian,
Diodorus Siculus,

states that Venetian ships

traveled as far as
the Canary Islands,

Madeira and the Azores.

Perhaps the Venetian expedition

was blown off course
by a severe storm,

driving the ships as
far as Central America.

Could the Venetian sailors

have picked up the
story of Atlantis

from the inhabitants there

and transferred it back
to the Mediterranean?

While this is a possibility,
or be it rather remote,

to date, there is
no archeological
evidence to confirm

that Venetians or any other
ancient Mediterranean culture,

ever crossed the Atlantic.

One proposed location for
Atlantis in the Americas

is Tenochtitlan, the ancient
capital of the Aztec Empire,

located on the ancient
site of Mexico City.

An early description
often called it,

"The Atlantis of the
Ancient Aztec Empire."

It certainly has hints
of Plato's Atlantis.

It was written by Bernal
Diaz del Castillo,

a Spanish conquistador,

who participated as a soldier
in the conquest of Mexico

under Hernan Cortes.

Part of his description
of the great city reads,

"When we saw so many cities
and villages built in the water

and other great towns on
dry land, we were amazed

and said that this was
like the enchantments.

On account of the
great towers and cues

and buildings rising
from the water

and all built of masonry.

And some of our
soldiers even asked

whether the things that
we saw were not a dream.

I do not know how to describe
it, seeing things as we did,

had never been heard
or seen of before,

not even dreamed about."

In many ways, it was
similar to Plato's Atlantis.

The entire city was
built on an island,

in what was then Lake Texcoco
in deep Valley of Mexico,

and also possessed a
complex series of canals

that connected all the
sections of the city.

One legend connected with the
foundation of the ancient city

tells that it was populated
by a group of Nahua tribes,

migrating from Aztlan,

a place whose exact
location remains a mystery,

though many researchers have
linked it with Atlantis.

It's not just the Aztecs

who've been an alleged
Atlantis connection,

in his 1973 book, "Atlantis,
Mother of Empires,"

author Robert B. Stacy-Judd,

wrote that the Mayan
civilization had arrived

in Central America as the last
significant surviving group

of the fully developed Atlantean
Empire from the Antilles.

The Mayan books, "Chilam
Balam" and "Popol Vuh,"

state that the first
inhabitants of the Yucatan,

were the Chans coming
from the east in 219 AD.

The Spanish bishop, Diego de
Landa, arrived in the Yucatan

shortly after Cortes,

and he said that
the Maya told him

that their ancestors
had come from the East.

Spanish writers of the
17th and 18th centuries,

concluded that the Olmecs
had preceded the Toltecs

and they had come from the
East, perhaps from Atlantis.

In the mid 19th century, the
Abbe de Brasseur Bourbourg,

a Catholic priest and journalist

apparently gained access to
official records in Mexico City.

From these records, he
learned that Atlantis

was the true cradle
of civilization,

disappearing in a
Catholicism in 9937 BC.

He believed that the culture
and society of Atlantis

was continued by the
ancient Maya civilization,

and that there were
extensive parallels

between the Maya and Egyptian
pantheons and cosmologies.

Due to the fact that they
had both had an origin

on the lost continent
of Atlantis.

From perusing the archives,
he put together a theory

that the Atlantean continent
had originally occupied

the Gulf of Mexico, extending
into the Caribbean Sea,

as far as the Canary Islands.

It had been destroyed in
several disastrous cataclysms

between 9937 and 10500 BC,

though succeeding
upheavals restored parts

of the Yucatan,
Honduras and Guatemala.

In his book published in 1862,

he wrote that Atlantis
as described by Plato,

had existed with a high
level of civilization

long before the beginning
of civilizations

in Europe and Asia.

He also put forward the
idea that the origins

of European and Persian
words, could be traced back

to indigenous languages
of the Americas.

He even suggested
that Latin languages

were derived of Quiche Maya,

and the myth of Quetzalcoatl

could be traced to
Plato's Atlantis.

Atlantis has not been the
only civilization put forward

as being a civilizing
influence on ancient Central

and South American cultures.

In his 1961 book, "In
Quest of the White God,"

French German diplomat,
Pierre Honore,

explore legends which
persisted among the natives

of Central and South America
of pre-Colombian visitors,

revered as gods that
had come from the east.

He concluded that the
most important cultural

and political influences
on the Inca, Mayan, Aztec

and other
pre-Colombian cultures,

were contributed by traders

from the ancient
Mediterranean world,

most especially from Crete.

According to Honore, white
skinned Bronze Age Minoans

interacted with
native Americans,

and brought a system of
science and engineering,

gave them their legal codes

and helped them achieve a
high level of civilization.

The Minoan culture on
Crete was at its peak

between 1700 and 1450 BC,

with a great city of Knossos
and the surrounding settlement,

having a population of
perhaps as many as 100,000.

There is no evidence
that all the Minoans

had any connection with peoples
outside the Mediterranean,

nevermind across the
Atlantic and Central America.

Critics of Honore's work,

correctly point out that
it was racially insensitive

and that the list
of gifts bestowed

on the Central and South
America native populations

was uncannily similar to
that the French claimed

to confer on the
colonized people

of Africa, Asia,
and the Pacific,

even as their empire
was collapsing.

According to authors,
James Churchward

and Auguste Le Plongeon,

the mythical, lost Pacific
continent of Lemuria or Mu,

extended from north
Hawaii to the south,

as far as the Fijis
and Easter Island,

and also included Australia.

Churchward claimed Mu was the
site of the Garden of Eden

and the home of 64
million inhabitants
known as the Naacals.

Its civilization flourished
50,000 years ago,

and was technologically
more advanced than our own.

In the ancient
civilizations of India,

Babylon, Persia,
Egypt, and the Mayas,

were merely the decayed
remnants of its colonies.

Fascinatingly, some researchers
claim that there are echoes

of Churchward's submerged
continent in Australia.

Certainly the idea of the
lost continent of Lemuria,

had a significant influence
among late 19th century,

early 20th century
Australian writers

with often bizarre results.

Colonel James Churchward.

James Churchward
was born in Devon,

Southwest England in 1851.

Throughout his life, he
preferred to be known

as Lieutenant Colonel,

though it was never
discovered where he served.

In his claims of knowledge
of India and Tibet,

would suggest that it
was in British India.

By 1872, Churchward was
serving in Sri Lanka

and later borrowed money to
finance a tea plantation there.

In 1881, he was back in England,

where he is listed in
the census of that year

as a tea planter living
in Croydon, Surrey.

Churchward moved to Brooklyn
in the USA in the 1890s,

where he later
patented NCV Steel,

armor plating to protect
ships during World War I.

While in Brooklyn, Churchward
became a close friend

of British American
photographer and explorer,

Auguste Le Plongeon
and his wife, Alice.

The Le Plongeon's had traveled
extensively in South America,

photographing ancient sites

and were amongst the first
people to photograph and study,

the Mayan city of Chichen Itza.

Auguste Le Plongeon
advocated the theory

of the sunken lost
city of Atlantis

and its links with the Maya

and the civilizations
of ancient Egypt.

Unfortunately, Auguste
Le Plongeon's credibility

was badly damaged by his
attempted translation

of a Mayan book known
as "Troano Codex"

also known as the
"Madrid Codex."

In his books,

"Sacred Mysteries Among the
Mayans and Quiches," 1886,

and "Queen Moo and the
Egyptians Sphinx," 1896,

Plongeon interpreted part of
the text of the "Troana Codex,"

revealing that the
Maya of Yucatan,

were the ancestors
of the Egyptians

and many other civilizations.

He also believed that
an ancient continent,

which he called Mu,

had been destroyed by
a volcanic eruption,

the survivors of this cataclysm,

founding the Mayan civilization.

Plongeon equates
Mu with Atlantis

and states that a Queen Moo,
originally from Atlantis,

traveled to Egypt, where
she became known as Isis

and founded the
Egyptian civilization.

However, Plongeon's
interpretation of the Mayan book

is considered by experts in
Mayan archeology and history

as completely erroneous,
indeed much of which,

he interpreted as hieroglyphics,

turned out to be
ornamental design.

Nevertheless, Le
Plongeon's ideas

were to have a profound
influence on Churchward,

and he began research

looking into his own
lost civilization.

In the early 1930s,
Churchward, now in his 70s,

authored a series of books on
"The Lost Continent of Mu."

His theory expounded
in these books,

was that the now lost
Pacific continent of Mu

maintained an advanced
level of civilization

and colonies around the world.

He also stated that Mu was
the origin of the human race

and that catastrophic events
had eventually sunk Mu

beneath the waves, many
thousands of years ago.

One of the places
Churchward included

in his lost continent,
was Australia.

Lemuria and Australia.

Theosophy was an occult movement

originating in the 19th century,

with roots that can be traced

to ancient Gnosticism
and Neoplatonism.

The contemporary theosophical
movement came into being

with the founding of
the Theosophical Society

in New York City in 1875 by
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky,

Henry Steel Olcott and
William Quan Judge.

In her massive tome, "The
Secret Doctrine" in 1888,

Blavatsky describes
a history originating

millions of years ago,
with the Lords of Flame

and goes on to discuss
five root-races,

which have existed on Earth,

each one dying out in an
earth shattering cataclysm.

The third of these root-races,
she called the Lemurian,

which lived a million years ago

and who were bizarre
telepathic giants

who kept dinosaurs as pets.

The Lemurians eventually
drowned when their continent

was submerged beneath
the Pacific Ocean.

The progeny of the Lemurians
was the Fourth Root-Race,

the human Atlanteans,

who brought down by
their use of black magic

and their continent of Atlantis,

sinking beneath the
waves 850,000 years ago.

Present humanity represents
the fifth route race.

Blavatsky envisioned her
gigantic land of Lemuria

as covering a vast area.

She also seems to have
been the first writer

to include Australia as part
of the ancient lost continent.

In her own words,
Lemuria stretched from

"the foot of the Himalayas,

which separated it
from the inland sea,

rolling its waves over what
is now Tibet, Mongolia,

and the great desert Shamo,
Gobi from Chittagong,

westward to Haridwar
and eastward to Assam.

From thence, it stretched south
across what is known to us,

as southern India,
Ceylon and Sumatra,

then embracing on its way
as we go south, Madagascar

on its right hand and Australia
and Tasmania on its left.

It ran down to within a few
degrees of the Antarctic Circle,

when, from Australia,
an inland region

on the mother continent
in those ages,

it extended far into
the Pacific Ocean."

Blavatsky's is the first occult
interpretation of Lemuria,

but on one level, it
should not be equated

with the physical continent,
later proposed by Churchward.

What Blavatsky and other
occultists since have suggested

concerning Lemuria could
be partially interpreted,

as an ideal spiritual
condition of the soul,

a kind of spiritual
historical vision.

Nevertheless, there are
some psychics, some prophets

who even today regard
the existence of
ancient Lemuria, Mu,

as a physical reality.

Indeed, there are a few,
when hypnotically regressed

have recalled former
lives as citizens

on the doomed continent.

The writings of Blavatsky
and other theosophists

about Lemuria, and
the idea of Australia,

is part of this
ancient lost continent,

and the scene of
a lost golden age,

had a significant
influence on mystics

and occultists in the country

at the end of the 19th century.

The earliest theosophical
study group in Australia

was set up in the late
1800s and called itself,

perhaps unsurprisingly, Lemuria.

Queensland born novelist,
Rosa Campbell Praed,

represented Australia
as the last remnant

of ancient Lemuria
and believed the myth

of the lost continent
to be based on fact.

In Praed's case, she used the
theosophical idea of Lemuria,

to present an idealized
primeval history of Australia,

a land very different to the
Queensland frontier country

racked by racial violence

she had witnessed
firsthand as a child.

Other evidence for this
fascination with ancient Lemuria

comes in a series of Australian
adventures of the 1890s,

known as the Lemurian novels.

In "The Last Lemurian,"
written in 1898

by historian of
Australian exploration

and adventure romance
novelist, George Firth Scott,

the narrator, Dick Halwood,

discovers the remains
of legendary Lemuria,

out in the Australian desert,

in a plot involving
reincarnation, pygmies,

a bunyip-monster and
an occult Yellow Queen.

John David Hennessey's,
"An Australian Bush Track"

from 1896, calls
Lemuria, Zoo-Zoo land

and locates it somewhere
in North Queensland.

Its inhabitants, the Zoo-Zooans

are the remnant
of a great nation,

who came there from some
part of mainland of Asia,

but had lost all the
arts of high civilization

they once possessed.

"The Lost Explorer" from
1890 by James Francis Hogan,

has Lemuria as Malua, located
in the center of Australia

and ruled by the
cannibalistic Queen Mocata,

the last survivor
of a superior race

that once lived in the interior

of the great southern continent.

The idea that Australia was
once part of this lost Eden,

has also influenced those
of a more practical bent

and attempts had
been made to locate

traces of Lemurian civilization

on both the West and
East Coast of Australia.

They reason that, if
Lemuria had really existed

and the natural catastrophe
that destroyed it

actually took place,

there should be at least some
remains of this cataclysm

in Australia and New Zealand.

Following in the steps
of Madam Blavatsky,

Aboriginal art,
artifacts and mythology

have been used to
identify the Aborigines

as prehistoric remnants
of the Lemurians,

who somehow escaped
the devastation

of 20,000 or so years ago.

Some researchers believe
Australian Aborigines

have preserved knowledge of
the original Lemurian disaster

in their myths and folklore.

However, the
Aborigines of Australia

had already been
established on the continent

for at least 30,000
years at the time

of the supposed
destruction of Lemuria.

It's generally accepted that
Australian Aboriginal peoples

originally migrated from
what is now Malaysia,

Singapore, Brunei, East Timor,

Indonesia, and the Philippines,

and have been in Australia

for at least 45,000
to 50,000 years.

In fact, Australian
Aboriginal peoples,

are perhaps the longest
continuous cultural history

of any people on Earth.

So the theory of them
having a Lemurian origin

does not hold water.

A mysterious carved
pyramid hidden,

has been discovered amid
the thick trees and bushes

on the slopes of Mount Kasagi
in north-central Japan.

Local folk belief
connects the structure

with a giant white snake that
is sent to reside within it.

Some researchers believe
this strange pyramid

and other unexplained
ancient remains at Atami,

south west of Tokyo,

are surviving testimony to
an Atlantean civilization

who have traveled over the
earth in the remote past.

Atlantis.

The magical lost
land of Atlantis

has captured the imagination
of poets, scholars,

archeologists,
geologists, occultists

and travelers for
more than 2,000 years.

The notion of a highly civilized

advanced island civilization,

which flourished in
remote antiquity,

only to be destroyed overnight

by a huge natural catastrophe

has inspired believers
in the historical truth

of the Atlantis tale,
to search practically

every corner of the earth

for remnants of this
once great civilization.

Most archeologists
are of the opinion

that the Atlantis story
is just that, a story,

an allegorical tale with no
historical value whatsoever.

And then there are
the occultists,

many of whom have approached
the story of Atlantis

from the standpoint
that it represents

either a lost spiritual
homeland like Mu, Lemuria,

or a different plane
of existence entirely.

The original source from
which all information

about Atlantis
ultimately derives,

is Greek philosopher Plato,
in his two short dialogues,

"Timaeus" and "Critias,"

written somewhere
between 359 and 347 BC.

Plato's supposed source
for the story of Atlantis

was a distant relative of his,

a famous Athenian law maker
and lyric poet called Solon.

Solon had in turn
heard the story

on a visit to the
court of Amasis,

king of Egypt from
569 to 525 BC,

in the city of Sais on the
western edge of the Nile Delta.

While at the court of Amasis,

Solon visited the
temple of Neith,

and fell into
conversation with priests

who related the story
of Atlantis to him.

The priest described
a great island,

larger than Libya
and Asia combined,

that had existed 9,000
years before their time

beyond the Pillars of
Hercules, Straits of Gibraltar,

in the Atlantic ocean.

Atlantis was ruled over
by an alliance of kings

descended from Poseidon, god
of the sea and earthquakes,

whose eldest son Atlas,
gave his name to the island

and the surrounding ocean.

The Atlanteans possessed
an empire that stretched

from the Atlantic into
the Mediterranean,

as far as Egypt in the south
and Italy in the north.

During an attempt to
extend their empire

further into the Mediterranean,

the Atlanteans can came up
against the combined powers

of Europe, led by Athens,

in this remote period,
already a great city

and a society ruled
by a warrior elite,

who disdained riches and
lived a spartan lifestyle.

The armies of Atlantis
were eventually defeated

by the Athenians alone,

after their allies
had deserted them.

However, soon after the victory,

there was a devastating
earthquake, followed
by huge floods

and the continent of Atlantis
sank beneath the ocean

in a single dreadful day and
night, in the words of Plato.

Explorers have been
searching for a real Atlantis

for hundreds of years.

A couple of recent discoveries

have persuaded some researchers

that the remains of
the great civilization,

lie not in the Mediterranean,

as one might reasonably suppose,

but thousands of miles
further east in Japan.

Japanese pyramids.

Mount Kasagi is a
1,950-foot high mountain

located in Kasagi Town,

in the south-eastern part
of the Kyoto Prefecture.

Their area is fairly remote,

but is known for
its Buddhist temple,

known as Kasagi-dera temple,

which has a large
image of the Buddha

carved into the
surface of a rock.

Less known, is an
apparent pyramid

in the foothills at the site.

There isn't a lot of
information available

on the fairly small structure,

but it has apparently
been constructed

from a single massive
piece of granite,

weighing approximately
nine tons.

There are no markings
anywhere on the pyramid

or any indication as to who,

if it is not merely a
natural rock, fabricated it.

One or two researchers
have linked the structure

with the pyramids
of ancient Atlantis,

believing it may be a
relic left by Atlanteans

who visited the area many
thousands of years ago.

There are no similar stones to
be found anywhere around it,

though there are reports

of four other similar
stone structures

based 330 feet apart on
the ridge of Mount Kasagi

three of them, forming
a triangular shape.

One interesting fact concerning
these pyramid like stones,

is that the area is extremely
rich in prehistoric rock art,

which may indicate that it was
seen as sacred in antiquity

and was visited by some
kind of ancient priesthood

to perform rituals,

possibly handed down
from Atlantean refugees

were performed at
the pyramid as well.

In an ancient ritual annually
performed at the site,

an offering of eggs
is left at the pyramid

for the serpentine
spirit of the place,

a sacred snake said
to dwell at the site.

Myths concerning sacred
snakes and offerings of eggs

are unknown elsewhere
in Japan or indeed Asia,

but there are similar
myths from Egypt

concerning the eternal serpent
called Neph or Onophis,

on meaning son, ophis
meaning serpent.

Neph was frequently
depicted as a serpent

thrusting an egg from its mouth,

while Ra himself was
often worshiped as the egg

within the serpents coil.

Some researchers have acquainted

the serpent powers of
Neph with the Benten,

the Japanese Buddhist
goddess of Mount Kasagi.

The myth of Benten calls her
the lady of the white serpents

and describes her
arrival in Japan

after traveling
across east Asia,

sometime around 1,300 years ago.

Her shrine in Shirahama,

located deep in the rock
caves of Sandanbeki,

is associated with water
and the unconscious.

A further connection
to ancient Egypt

is suggested by some
researchers in the similarity

between the name Benten
and the Egyptian Benben,

an Egyptian bird of
immortality akin to a Phoenix.

The Benben stone is an object

found in the mythology
of the country.

This fabled stone is said to
have once been kept in a shrine

within the compounds
of the temple

dedicated to the deity,
Atum, in Heliopolis.

Coincidentally or not,

when considering the
Japanese pyramid connection,

the Benben stone is also
an architectural term

given to the tip of an obelisk

or the capstone placed
on top of the pyramid.

Atami-Atlantis.

Whilst there have been no
more of these miniature

Atlantean type pyramids
found so far in Japan,

there are other connections
with ancient Atlantis.

One of them can be found in
the area of the city of Atami,

at the north-eastern base
of the Izu Peninsula,

less than an hour west of Tokyo.

The city actually
occupies the crater

of the extinct
volcano, Mount Atami.

The surrounding hills are the
remains of the crater wall

which has been drowned
by the sea to the east.

Atami's mild and warm climate,

scenic seascape and hot springs,

have made it a favored resort
since the fifth century AD.

Noting its position
inside an extinct volcano,

almost half beneath the
sea, and the name of Atami,

some researchers
believe that the city

may have had a
connection with Atlantis

in prehistoric times.

However, although some
writers have claimed

that the word Atami
has no meaning in the
Japanese language,

it in fact means hot ocean,

a reference to the town's
famous Onsen Hot Springs.

One or two have even posited

that an ancient volcanic
eruption of Mount Atami

and the destruction of a
prehistoric city on the site

may have in fact, been the
origin of the Atlantis story.

They posit that refugees
from the fabled land

were forced to leave Atami and
relocate elsewhere in Japan,

probably to the coast of the
Japanese island of Yonaguni,

where there are a series of
mysterious rock formations,

which some believe
to be the remains

of Atlantean structures.

Marine geologists
Masaaki Kimura,

believes the ruins of a city

off the coast of Yonaguni Island

on the south-western
tip of Japan,

could even be the
lost land of Atlantis

or even Mu, a Pacific
equivalent of the tale

of the lost city of Atlantis.

Kimura, a professor
at Ryukyu University

and the chairman of the
nonprofit Marine Science

and Culture Heritage
Research Association

said, "Judging by the design

and the disposition
of the ruins,

the city must have looked just
like an ancient Roman city.

I can envisage a
triumphal arch-like statue

stood on the left
of the Colosseum

and a shrine over the hill."

Kimura believes that
the submerged city

had a castle, a shrine,

an arch, statues,
and a Colosseum.

He said, "In my estimation,
the castle was situated

right in the middle of the city.

And though not as
big as the castle,

and a lot of ruins,
Kimura believes the city

was sunk in an earthquake
3,000 years ago."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many
scientists dismiss this claim

saying the ruins can be
explained by natural phenomena,

such as tidal or
volcanic activity.

Perhaps the most
significant objection

to Kimura's theory however,

is that no ancient artifacts
such as clay pots or weapons

have ever been found in the
vicinity of the rock formation

to prove that humans had
once been present there.

Kimura however remains
positive and determined

to prove his theory saying,

"I'm getting close
to a conviction

that this is a
mysterious civilization

lost in a tectonic defamation
in the Pacific Ocean."