Said otherwise, this means that the “Atlantic Ocean” – or even more exactly, “the Ocean of Atlantis” of the ancients – included both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans now so called.
The well-informed geographer specifically adds that it was only the enormous size of this ocean which prevented the ships from crossing it either departing from the East (the Pacific Ocean) in the Indies or from the West (the Atlantic) in Europe and in Africa.
Amerigo Vespucci was the first modern person to realize the Americas were an entirely new continent which effectively separated this wide Ocean into two different moieties. But down to the times of Christopher Columbus everybody firmly believed that one could reach the East Indies by sailing westwards into the Atlantic Ocean long enough.
To judge from the lesson of the early geographers such as Strabo, Eratosthenes, Pomponius Mela, Crates of Mallus, Anaximander, etc., the ancients widely believed that the Atlantic Ocean extended all the way to the Far East, to Cipango, Kattigara, China and the East Indies.
This possibility was also explicitly affirmed and confirmed by Medieval travelers like Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville, as well as several Renaissance explorers and geographers more or less contemporary with Christopher Columbus, including Pierre d’Ailly, Paolo Toscanelli, Martin Behaim, Henricus Martellus, and so forth.
Christopher Columbus was actually inspired to make his voyages of discovery by the books and maps of these early geographers. And it was also their teachings which inspired me to look further beyond Gibraltar Strait for the real location of the Lost Continent.
The idea that Atlantis lay “just before” Gibraltar Strait, and hence near the European or the African coasts is nowhere stated in Plato’s text. As shown above, this opinion is derived from a common misinterpretation of Plato’s text, which is highly obscure and intentionally ambiguous, and which probably refers to the antipodes rather than to the neighborhood of Gibraltar Strait.
Even less is this proximity to Gibraltar stated in the remarkably similar text of Diodorus Siculus which we are commenting here. This, despite the false claims to the contrary of some self-appointed Spanish “scriptologists”, whatever that obscure title might mean.
These researchers fail to realize the fact that by “Spain” (Hesperia), the ancient Greeks and Romans really meant two entirely different locations. One was Spain itself, in the Iberian Peninsula. The other one was Taprobane, the “Land of the Dead”, on the opposite side of the world. This dualism corresponds to the one of Ethiopia, of which Homer affirms essentially the same thing.
True Hesperia was of course associated with the Hesperides or Atlantides, the seven daughters (and/or lovers) of Atlas. These were caretakers of the Garden of the Hesperides, where grew the fabled Golden Apples from which the Elixir was fashioned, and which hence also imparted immortality.
It is only natural that Atlas would like to keep his daughters (and/ or lovers, as some say) near himself. Besides, this proximity is specifically affirmed by several authors, Hesiod and Pindar and Aeschylus and Apollodorus among them. Some of these authorities even affirm that the Garden of the Hesperides (or Atlantides) was located on the slopes of Mt. Atlas.
And they also affirm the fact that the Garden of the Hesperides was located beyond the Ocean, in the Far East, precisely where the sun rose every day in order to start the new day.
This fabulous garden was also the same as the Islands of the Blest, where the immortal dead heroes abide, free of toil and worries, enjoying an eternal life imparted by the Elixir of Youth. For instance, Hesiod (Works, 158-69) affirms of the Fourth Race – the heroes killed in the War of Troy
– that they were placed there by Zeus, the son of Kronos: 19
Zeus the son of Kronos made yet another, the fourth race, upon the fruitful earth (pouluboteira), which was nobler and more righteous, a god-like race of hero-men who are called demigods, the race before our own, throughout the boundless earth. Grim war and dread battle destroyed a good part of them... when it had brought them in ships over the great abysmal sea to Troy for rich-haired Helen’s sake: there death’s end enshrouded a part of them.
But to the others, father Zeus, the son of Kronos, gave a living and an abode apart from men, and made them dwell at the ends of earth (peirata gaiês). And they live untouched by sorrow in the Islands of the Blessed on the far shore of deep-swirling Ocean (en Makarôn Nêsoisi par’ Ôkeanon bathudinên), happy heroes for whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and Kronos rules over them; for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds. ↑161
In the above text we have slightly amended the standard translation where required for clarity, and highlighted the more important passages. This remarkable text of Hesiod is however somewhat dense and difficult. It therefore requires some explanation, which we now give for the benefit of the dear readers unfamiliar with such subtleties.
The “fruitful earth” or “boundless earth” is the same as the peirata gaiês, located beyond the confines of the earth (oecumene) and the ocean. Please note that Hesiod explicitly places Troy beyond the “great abysmal sea”, the Ocean. And this agrees with our conclusion given above.
Hence, all attempts to locate Troy in the Mediterranean region – Heinrich Schliemann’s included – are sheer folly, inevitably doomed to failure. The idea here in Hesiod and others is too clear for that. The Greek heroes crossed the Ocean to get to Troy in order to wage war on it. There they mostly met their end, and it became the Land of the Dead, where they now rest in peace.
The Islands of the Blest are here said by Hesiod to produce “three crops a year”. Such is the reason why it is called “the fruitful earth”. Actually, the word used by Hesiod (pouluboteira) implies the idea of “yielding many crops”, apparently in the same sense as commented above.
These multiple crops a year could only have been of rice, the most productive cereal. And they are also an exclusive feature of the East Indies – Java and Sumatra in special. This fact invariably caused great amazement in the Greeks who visited the distant region.
No other cereal produces that much grain and that many crops a year, a fact that did not fail to impress the ancient Greeks. Besides, were it not for its many volcanoes, the over-exploited soil of the region would fast become unproductive and sterile for lack of proper nutrients.
Please note that this translator (Hugh G. Evelyn-White) mistranslates Hesiod’s text to read “the Islands of the Blessed along the shore of the deep-swirling Ocean”, which we have correct to: “the Islands of the
Blessed on the far shore of the deep-swirling Ocean.”
The actual word Hesiod uses is par’, which here literally means: “beyond, farther, against, before, opposite”, rather than just “along, beside”, its alternative meaning. This word is again a double entendre very similar to Plato’s own. The word par’ exactly corresponds to the term pro used by the great philosopher in the same context. And it is also likewise dual, meaning both “near, along” and “opposite, beyond”.
So one may choose the actual meaning desired according to the context, which is quite clear here. Such is also the case with the ambivalent expressions (contra, adversus) used by Pliny the Elder in the same context, as we commented further above. We will also comment further similar cases next.
Strictly speaking, this word can be taken to mean either of the two above acceptions. The Greek word par’ (or para) is cognate with the English “far”; Sanskrit para; Greek peran; Zend para, etc., all meaning the same thing. It is also related to the Sanskrit paradesha (“far country, beyond the sea”), from which the name of Paradise ultimately derives.
The profanes misinterpret the passage the way they are meant to, and place these blessed isles on this side of the Ocean. But the initiates, who know far better than this, interpret it otherwise, and look to the farther bank of the Ocean, to the site of real Paradise, “the distant country” (para-desha).
Homer and the Is
lands of the Blest
We believe that Hesiod was being obscure on purpose, as is invariably the case in connection with Paradise’s location. However, Hesiod’s text in the Theogony (v. 215, 275, 294, 335) leaves no doubt on the fact that the Garden of the Hesperides – located on the Isles of the Blest – were placed on the far side of the Ocean, “at earth’s fringes”.
Moreover, Homer’s text on the Islands of the Blest, discussed next, also leaves no room for doubting that they were located beyond the Ocean, as we now show. Homer is here describing how Hermes (Mercury) is leading the souls of the suitors of Penelope, all killed by Ulysses, to the site of Hades and the Island of the Blest. Even though Homer also uses the same confusing preposition, his text is unequivocal. The word para is here used by Homer in precisely this sense of “beyond”:
“When they had passed beyond the waters of Oceanus and the rock Leukas, they came to [or passed] the Gates of the Sun and the Land of Dreams whereon they reached the meadow of asphodel” (par d’ isan Ôkeanou te rhoas kai Leukada petrên, êde par’ Êelioio pulas kai dêmon oneirôn êïsan) [Od. 24:12]. ↑162
The above text can again be interpreted in either of the two ways just glossed. So much so, that one can see the how the two translators quoted in the link just given actually use the two different alternatives. No matter what, Homer is specific on the fact that the Isles of the Blest – and hence Atlantis, its alias – lay beyond the Ocean. So are innumerous other Classical authorities equally specific.
Besides, who would be brash enough to question the authority of the prince of poets? The other features mentioned by Homer are also worth explaining in some detail, even though space is short here. The rock Leukas should not be confused with its corresponding feature in Greece used for the execution of criminals. Rather, it is its counterpart and archetype actually located in Paradise.
Leukas’ name means “white”. And this name is perhaps equivalent to the one of the Cyanean Rocks (or Symplegades). No matter what, it here designates the White Island, the name of Paradise in Hindu traditions (Svetadvipa). And it also refers to the white (or light grayish) pumice stone characteristic of volcanic islands such as those of Indonesia, the true site of Paradise.
The Gates of the Sun are the same as the Gates of Dawn. They are associated with sunrise and sunset, and the two straits from which the sun is said to enter and to exit this world and the nocturnal one. Their location is, according to Hesiod’s just quoted, in Tartarus or Hades.
And this is confirmed by Aeschylus in the passage we just quoted. We will return to this theme next, when we discuss the myth of Shamash and Mt. Mashu, the Split Mountain of Paradise.
The Land of Dreams is also significant. This name closely evokes the Dream Time of Australian traditions. Dream Time is associated with the Rainbow Serpent, an alias of the Serpent Shesha, and it is connected with the Wondjina, the beneficent white sprites which we think to be the dead
Atlanteans, turned into ghosts after their demise. ↑163
Curiously enough, the Australian Aboriginals – whose vivid memories of Atlantis we discuss briefly in the figures section (Part II) of the present book – affirm that, after the Flood, these white giants (Wondjina) ceased coming to their land to visit them, as they often did before.
The Wondjina apparently became extinct in the cataclysm, a fact that again suggests a close connection with Atlantis whose people likewise became extinct then.
Ulysses apparently passed this land of dreams (the Lotus-Eaters’) in the course of his travels. If so, this fact proves the hero was sailing the South Seas, where this region is known to be located. We believe these “lotuses” and the “dreams” they induced consisted of hallucinogens such as opium and hashish, produced in the Indies since the dawn of time. Edible lotus is also produced there, though it lacks the narcotic properties mentioned by Homer. ↑164
In any event, even though often poorly translated, Hesiod’s text is unequivocal in that the Islands of the Blest are located on the Peirata Ges. This is the land which encircled the ocean on the outside, preventing it from spilling in outer space, according to the mythical views.
Hence, the poet could never be speaking of the European side of the Ocean in the above quoted text. This passage should be collated with that of Plato on the Peirata Ges, which we have already commented upon above.
This peripheral land – which should not be confused with Atlantis proper – is apparently America itself, which in fact separates the Eastern Ocean into two halves.
Some authors often confuse the Peirata Ges with the Isles of the Blest, as Hesiod is apparently doing here. But Plato carefully distinguishes the two sites in his two dialogues on Atlantis. It seems that the reason for the confusion lies in the fact that the two lands – America and the East Indies – were both portions of the extensive Atlantean empire.
As is known, this vast empire encompassed the whole Pacific Ocean. This fact was firmly established by the noted German archaeologist Leo Frobenius in the early 1900’s and cannot be idly doubted. We already discussed this seminal find in our figures section, to which the interested readers are now directed if they somehow missed it.
It is also no mere accident that both Plato and Hesiod used double entendres (para, pro) in order to describe the position of Atlantis and the Isles of the Blest. So did several other ancient authorities, starting with Homer, the very first and greatest of Greek poets, as we just saw.
This coincidence tends to prove both the essential identity of Atlantis and the Isles of the Blest as well as the fact that its actual position could only be given in equivocal terms such as the ones just commented here. It is also from such double entendres that the concept of two Hesperias, two Ethiopias and two Atlantises actually arose.
One side of the world was deemed the “mirror image” of the other. Every feature on one hemisphere had its exact counterpart on the other. Hence the two “Pillars of Hercules”, two Straits, two Ethiopias, two Hesperias, two Atlantises, two Paradises, two Hells, two Troys, two Greeces, and so forth.
This fundamental dualism is masterfully expressed in the remarkable Egyptian vase discussed in our figures section, to which we again direct the interested reader. It is this very dualism of the world that is implied in Hermes’ famous aphorism: “As above, so below.”
By “above” is meant the idea of heaven, and by “below” the one of earth. But even this concept is dual, and we may interpret these two words as designating earth (“above”) and hell (“below”). From this comes the widespread concept of the triunity of space: Heaven, Earth, Hell.
As usual, this is a Hindu connection dating from the dawn of time (Bhur, Bhuvas, Svar). The idea is so archaic that it even diffused to the Americas before the Beringian Bridge became permanently closed by the huge sea level rise which happened when the Ice Age ended.
We well realize that the above dualistic explanation might seem farfetched to most of our readers, both lay and experts. But we have gathered several hundreds of similar examples which unequivocally confirm our above conclusion.
These traditions mostly date from remotest antiquity, and were considered sacred by most peoples, both in the New and the Old Worlds. The reason for this dualism designating both the “charred faces” and their “charred land” is easy to understand, now that it has been mooted out.
The ancient countries were named after the peoples which founded them. So, when the Eastern Ethiopians invaded Libya (North Africa) and settled there, they renamed it “Ethiopia” after themselves and their former homeland in the Far East. And the name stuck, in contrast to the former one, which somehow got lost with the passage of time.
These White Ethiopians again eventually settled in Abyssinia (Nubia), which later also adopted that name. And after they settled in Africa, their name was further extended to apply to all Africans, the Negroes included.
In time this origin was forgotten, and the name “Ethiopian” came to designate the Negroes and other dark-skinned peoples due to a wides
pread misinterpretation of its meaning.
The Greeks facetiously interpreted this name as meaning “burnt faces” (aith ops). But it really applied to the Ethiopic land, charred and devastated by the volcanism. The Greek word ops means both “land” and “face”, a fact that clarifies the widespread confusion. But the latter etymology is too well attested to leave room for doubting its reality.
In Roman mythology, Ops is the earth goddess, the Great Mother of Cereals, who is no other than Atlantis itself. The Latin word also alludes to “riches, abundance”, no doubt due to the far famed riches and abundance characteristic of Atlantis, the pristine Ethiopia. ↑165
The Twin Ethiopias, the Two Hesperias and the Dual Spains
Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970)
Celtic mythology on Paradise and the Islands of the Blest (Flath Inis) is as rich or perhaps even richer than the Greco-Roman. According to it, these mysterious islands were also inhabited by the mysterious Fomoré, who seem to be the former Atlanteans themselves.
The name of the Fomoré signifies “[people] of the bottom of the sea”. Their ruler is Tethra, a visible alias and counterpart of Atlas or Kronos, the ruler of the Titans in the Isles of the Blest. And Kronos is, as we shall show next, no other than Yama (or Bali or Yamantaka), the figure of Shiva as the first god to die and to resurrect from the dead, as Atlantis is doomed to be.
Vanquished in the battle of Mag Tured, Tethra later became the Lord of the Dead. As such, Tethra again evokes Kronos, who does the same in Greek mythology. In fact, the two apparently correspond to Yama or Bali, who is the Lord of the Dead in Hindu mythology.
Yama (or Bali) also closely evokes the figure of Hercules, whom the Orphics again identified to Kronos himself. The only difference is that while in both Celtia and Greece the two figures are purely mythical, Yama is considered a real person in India, where no one doubts his historicity.
Atlantis the Lost Continent Finally Found Page 32