ABSTRACT

Plato's legend of Atlantis has become notorious among scholars as the absurdest lie in literature. Atlantis Destroyed explores the possibility that the account given by Plato is historically true.
Rodney Castleden first considers the location of Atlantis re-examining two suggestions put forward in the early twentieth century; Minoan Crete and Minoan Thera. He outlines the latest research findings on Knossos and Bronze Age Thera, discussing the material culture, trade empire and agricultural system, writing and wall paintings, art, religion and society of the Minoan civilization. Castleden demonstrates the many parallels between Plato's narrative and the Minoan Civilization in the Aegean.
Fired by the imagination a new vision of Atlantis has arisen over the last one hundred and fifty years as a lost utopia. Rodney Castleden discusses why this picture arose and xplains how it has become confused with Plato's genuine account.

chapter 2|18 pages

Preludes to discovery

chapter 3|11 pages

Thera: the second rediscovery

chapter 4|15 pages

The bronze age city of Thera emerges

chapter 5|8 pages

Atlantean arts and crafts

chapter 6|14 pages

Theran food and trade

chapter 7|10 pages

Writing and wall-painting

chapter 8|24 pages

Art, religion and society

chapter 9|20 pages

The last days of Akrotiri

chapter 10|38 pages

Atlantis destroyed

chapter 11|19 pages

Deconstruction of Atlantis