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> Some supporting evidence comes in the form of writings from the earliest authors we can find, who explicitly claim that they descended from more advanced prio
by antognini 6y ago
> Some supporting evidence comes in the form of writings from the earliest authors we can find, who explicitly claim that they descended from more advanced prior civilizations, who fell due to big cataclysms. This story is actually quite common.
It's hard to know to what extent Golden Age and Age of Heroes myths were rooted in or developed out of real events, but by the time many of these myths were written down civilization really had collapsed across the Near East and Mediterranean some 800 years earlier [1]. The Late Bronze Age collapse was in many ways more catastrophic than the fall of the Roman Empire 1500 years later.
But the civilizations that fell during this time period were civilizations from which we have ample evidence like the Mycenaeans (who may have been the inspiration for Greek Golden Age myths), not some mysterious civilization that had invented Segway scooters tens of thousands of years in the past.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Bronze_Age_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Bronze_Age_collapse
- prox 6y agoThis fits Occams Razor much better than what the article proposes.
- davedx 6y agoI still wonder what inspired Plato's Atlantis.
- simiones 6y agoDo you also wonder what inspired J K Rowling's Harry Potter? Or Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged? We are quite capable of pure fiction with symbolic inspirations, there is no need to suspect "a kernel of truth" behind any speculation.
- davedx 6y agoMany classical mythologies had basis in reality: the Iliad is a great example. Why are we so sure Atlantis is a myth (or allegory) while the stories of the Bible are based on real events? It’s just not that simple.
- simiones 6y agoThat's very simple: because Atlantis was presented as an allegory by its inventor, while most of the Bible was intended as history. Wondering where the real Atlantis was makes about as much sense as asking who was the historical prodigal son...
- Can_Not 6y agoWe know Europe is a real place and that actual countries called France and the UK existed at the time HP is set in.
- CryptoPunk 6y agoCrete, which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_eruption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_eruption
- TheGallopedHigh 6y agoOr Santorini https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini#Speculation_on_an_Atlantis_connection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini#Speculation_on_an_At...
- CryptoPunk 6y agoYeah, both were part of the Minoan civilization, which suffered significant decline after the eruption.