Swapping shirts with Plato: Kicking the Atlantis Football Around

In academic circles, the dreaded ‘A’ word (Atlantis) in a book title can be guaranteed to deter serious respectable consideration. In contrast, well-known publishers love the item, as its inclusion in a book title can be a powerful selling point. Recently there has been an outpouring of books claiming of which the lost Atlantis was here, in Indonesia.

Atlantis was first mentioned in two works by Plato, Timaeus in addition to Critias. Many academicians believe of which Plato’s Atlantis can be merely an allegorical myth warning against the hubris of nations. However, taken literally, Plato’s account tells of a vast continent in addition to island-based civilisation called Atlantis of which was destroyed by a cataclysm around 9500 BC. He gives fairly general geographic in addition to zoological information, in addition to quite specific topographical descriptions of the large harbour city of which was Atlantis’ capital.

via a mythological point of view, George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, a spiritual leader of the mid-20th century, in his allegorical work All in addition to Everything, indicates of which there were scattered survivors of Atlantis, some of whom foregathered in what can be at of which point Egypt, forming an esoteric society which built the Sphinx in addition to laid out the groundwork of the Giza pyramid complex for completion over millennia. of which accords with current empirical research being carried out by Robert Bauval, Graham Hancock in addition to John Anthony West on the Giza site.

Thousands of books have been published on the location of Atlantis, in addition to the item seems easier to find a country of which can be not put forward as a contender than the opposite. Recent claims have pinpointed Antarctica, Crete, southern Spain, West Africa, in addition to even Liverpool. Yes, in addition to Indonesia…

The ‘Indonesian’ theories are focused on ‘Sundaland’, (not to be confused with West Java, or the football team which recently escaped relegation via the Premier League). During the last Ice Age, Southeast Asia was 1 huge continent, to which the name Sundaland has been given. Flooding gave shape to the present coastlines of Sumatra, Java, in addition to Kalimantan, at of which point separated by the shallow Java Sea.

The first book inside current ‘Atlantis in Indonesia’ series was Eden inside East (1999), by Stephen Oppenheimer, an Oxford professor using a distinguished career as a clinical paediatrician in Malaysia in addition to Papua brand-new Guinea. To his credit, he avoids using the ‘A’ word. Referring to the drowned Sundaland in addition to the effects of its catastrophes in addition to consequent migrations, he covers geology, archaeology, genetics, linguistics, using a long section on mythology, attempting to show of which much of the mythology of the Middle East in addition to Europe was fertilised via the area which he describes as a lost Eden.

2005 saw the appearance of Atlantis: The Lost Continent Finally Found, by the late Professor Arysio Nunes dos Santos, a Brazilian nuclear physicist who, like his football-hero countryman Neymar, brought some feistiness to our Atlantis arena. Dos Santos conceived Atlantis as a vast continent covering the present Africa, the Indian Ocean, in addition to Southeast Asia. He produced a checklist of 32 criteria matching Plato’s description of Atlantis with features in addition to conditions prevailing in Indonesia in addition to by extension the drowned Sundaland, in addition to concluded of which here was the most likely candidate for the location of the lost Atlantis.

The ‘Atlantis in Indonesia’ movement was given a big boost by the quietly sensational discovery circa 2012 of which Gunung Padang in West Java apparently conceals a step pyramid of which dates back to in addition to possibly beyond the last Ice Age.

Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, the no-nonsense geologist in addition to Caltech alumnus who can be leading the research team at Gunung Padang with the strong support of both previous in addition to present presidents of Indonesia, came onto the field (as a striker, surely) using a book published last year, containing impeccable data on such subjects as geo-tectonics in addition to tsunami generation. although, even Pak Danny couldn’t resist entitling the item Plato Tidak Bohong: Atlantis Ada di Indonesia (Plato can be not lying, Atlantis can be in Indonesia). At of which stage you might feel you want to check out the Monty Python football game between the Greek in addition to German Philosophers – Plato can be in goal for Greece.

The latest player to take the field can be Dhani Irawan, a hydrologist, surely a midfielder, whose book, Atlantis: the Lost City can be in Java Sea, was published in April 2015. His theories do, to some extent, build on those of De Santos, although he also produces some interesting original findings. Based on his own expertise, he commendably draws attention to the remarkable east-west transverse channel system (anjiran) which links the north-south flowing rivers in Central Kalimantan. As I understand the item, Dhani locates the capital city of Atlantis on Bawean Island, which sticks up via the drowned lands between Kalimantan in addition to Java.

Irawan also makes use of Dos Santos’ 32-bullet checklist of correspondences between Plato’s Atlantis in addition to Sundaland/Indonesia, in addition to here I think they are on shaky ground. The first criterion mentioned can be of which Atlantis was inside Atlantic. Dos Santos in addition to Irawan get around of which by stating of which the ‘Atlantic’ was the name of the entire world ocean which for the Greeks surrounded the three known continents, so the Atlantic was also the Pacific. Then there are the Pillars of Hercules, beyond which Atlantis lay. For Dos Santos, these are Gunung Agung on Bali in addition to Gunung Rinjani on Lombok, in addition to for Irawan these are the symmetrical ‘tugu’ gates which we all know via Java in addition to Bali. although Plato knew his Mediterranean. For him the Pillars of Hercules could surely not be some other than Gibraltar in addition to Ceuta where the Med enters the Atlantic.

Some of the local ‘Atlanteans’ can’t resist including, on their sites, blogs, videos or slides via B-movies on Atlantis. These are parodied by Colin Wilson as “the usual scenario with Greek temples, white-bearded priests, in addition to beautiful blondes wearing togas like linen bathrobes.” Some of my former students may find the item hard to believe, although I’m not old enough to have played football against Plato, although I do sometimes trawl the tombstones at the bottom of the YouTube ocean, to listen to Atlantis by the Shadows in addition to by Donovan via the very cool, Ice Age 1960s.

So, what I am suggesting to former in addition to future researchers can be, please kick the ‘Atlantis’ football into touch, in addition to concentrate on the authentic wonders of Gunung Padang; some other potential step pyramids; the celestial alignments of the Borobodur-Prambanan complex; the irrigation marvels of Central Kalimantan; etc., etc. Do we actually want hawkers waylaying us on the steps up to Gunung Padang with chunks of ‘Atlantis Rock’, ‘disappearing’ the remarkable basalt columns there? After all, Britain does all right via Stonehenge without having to cook up an Atlantis connection.

Admittedly, however ancient civilisations in addition to heritage tourism can be a growth industry, with so many positive benefits for Indonesia if properly managed – as President SBY in addition to President Jokowi surely realised when they had the vision to support the activities of the research team led by Danny Natawidjaja at Gunung Padang based on solid empirical scientific evidence. Indonesia may be down there in world soccer rankings, although the item’s surely inside top several for its wealth of cultural heritage. So let’s all try in addition to share the wonders of of which amazing country in addition to preserve in addition to promote its remarkable authentic marvels in a way of which avoids too much sensational focus on the scantily toga-clad sirens of Hollywood Atlantis.