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One terrible day and night.
The second major objection to the historical existence of Atlantis, is Plato's assertion that it vanished beneath the waves in "one terrible day and night!"
After all, islands don't just disappear, least of all in a day and a night - or do they?
Until now this "day and a night" has proved an enormous stumbling block to the literal interpretation of Plato's account. To the critics this is the
ultimate proof that makes the whole thing absurd. How could an island vanish so quickly? And why is Plato so sure that it did? Was it sheer ignorance, or did this island really submerge in little more
than twenty four hours?
Ambiguity.
Over the years attempts to explain the mystery either as an allegorical reference, a full figurative interpretation, or as some arcane spiritual concept, all fall flat. Even
more confusion stems from not knowing precisely what Plato meant us to believe. Nor are matters helped by the ambiguity of the relevant text. It says: "and in a single dreadful day and night all
your fighting men (referring to Athens) were swallowed up by the Earth, and the island of Atlantis was similarly swallowed up by the sea and vanished."
Two Interpretations.
Here there are at least two interpretations. The first is that Plato gives an equal timescale of a "day and a night" to both the swallowing up of Athens and
"similarly" Atlantis, which according to him then vanishes beneath the waves. The second interpretation is that the "day and a night" refer solely to the demise of Athens, whereas
"similarly" refers to Atlantis only as it concerns its disappearance beneath the waves, and not the time scale involved. That is to say that it then sank gradually beneath the waves.
Of course gradual is a relative term. In the case of Atlantis we are talking of a phenomenal disaster and even if it's demise was not over the course of one day and night, Plato implies it was an event of astonishing rapidity.
Persuasive Theory.
One theorist who believed in the literal interpretation of "a single day and night", was the distinguished German scientist Otto Muck. With painstaking research
Muck put together his own highly persuasive theory of how such a massive island could disappear almost overnight. He believed the answer lay in the treacherous geography of the area Atlantis once
occupied!
If Plato's account is taken literally it occupied a position close to one of the most vulnerable areas of the Earth's crust. This was almost directly astride the Mid
Atlantic Ridge - the Achilles tendon of the world, as many have called it ! Here in a chain of intense volcanic activity, the Earth's crust is dangerously thin. If anything like a plunging meteor were to
rupture the crust anywhere along this ridge, it would trigger off a catastrophe capable of wiping out all life on the planet.
Massive Convulsion.
If this is indeed what happened to Atlantis, then the whole sea-bed surrounding the island would have erupted in a truly massive convulsion! It would be like a line of
gunpowder running between barrels of dynamite. Huge clouds of steam would shoot skywards with red hot magma spewed across the surface of the sea. In geological terms it means that the delicate chain of
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge would quite literally explode in a vast wall of flame stretching far above the sea. The Bible in its flood account speaks of the moment "when all the fountains of the great
deep burst forth!"
It was Muck's contention that so much volcanic debris erupted skywards that it led to the creation of a huge magma depression. So huge in fact that Atlantis literally sank
on it's base. Explains Muck: "And the forces of hell were let loose.....red hot magma shot up at terrific speed and mixed with the waters of the Atlantic. This created all the conditions for a
submarine volcanic eruption of the greatest possible force. The fracture seam ( The North Atlantic Ridge) was torn apart. The bottom of the sea burst open to the north and to the south." Continues
Muck: "A magma depression was created below the centre of the Atlantic basin .... and the magma level must have dropped by 2-2.5 miles."
Sinking Island.
Like a stricken warship Atlantis began to sink. Mucks exceptionally detailed calculations based on Plato's size of the island estimated that Atlantis would not only have
begun sinking, but that it would have completely submerged within 24 hours. In other words just like Plato said it did! The author then goes on to complete his amazing hypothesis in the following manner:
"The ocean waves rushed in, hissing and emitting clouds of steam, to their newly created sea bed. The previous day that bed had been a large island with high mountains and buildings. Today Atlantis
lies some 2 miles lower, in the centre of the depression, right on the ancient fracture seam."
Atlantis - Part of a wider catastrophe.
Atlantis - Was it a gradual subsidence?
Atlantean survivors - the evidence.
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