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The city layout of Atlantis.
Much copied style.
According to Plato the centre of Atlantis was styled around a series of concentric circles that formed alternating strips of land and canal. On the plains there was also a
huge irrigation area that once again featured broad water channels. Strangely enough this is a style we see copied through much of the ancient world. This is particularly true in Central America where
several of the principal cities including Tenochtitlan and La Venta have obvious comparisons with this Atlantean original.
Copied far and wide.
In his book The History of Atlantis author Lewis Spence makes the following comment: “I have also shown elsewhere that the general architectural plan of the city of
Atlantis as described by Plato appears to have been copied far and wide. It is well known that the plan and outline of the great cities of antiquity were frequently carried out in their colonial
settlements, and many sites both in Europe and Africa appear to have been copied from the Atlantean model”.
Carthage
Of
the most outstanding ( of these Atlantean copies ) is Carthage, the plan of which is almost identical to that of Atlantis. Indeed both Atlantis and Carthage had a citadel hill encircled by zones of land and water, a canal to the sea and bridges over the zones fortified by towers. In both cases the docks were roofed in, the cities were encircled by three walls, both had great cisterns for the supply of drinking water and baths, and both were guarded by a great sea-wall masking the entrance to the harbour.
Common discovery
This circular design “an island within and island,” was fairly common in West Africa. Hanno, the Carthaginian voyager, discovered such a plan in that region, and it is
indubitably found also in America, especially in the ancient plan of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan and elsewhere.
Other links.
Click here for a description of the island of Atlantis by Plato
Click here for a description of the centre of Atlantis by Plato
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