Poseidon’s Paradise: The Romance of Atlantis by Elizabeth G. Birkmaier - HTML preview

NOTES.

“Atlantis, according to the tradition of the Greek geographers, a large island in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of the northwest coast of Africa and the Pillars of Hercules. It was fabled to possess a numerous population begotten by Neptune of mortal women. The sea-kings of Atlantis were said to have invaded the west of Europe and Africa, and to have been defeated by the Athenians and their allies. The inhabitants finally became desperately wicked, and the island was swept away by a deluge. Plato mentions the island in his ‘Timæus.’ On the old Venetian maps, Atlantis is put to the west of the Azores and Canaries.”—The American Cyclopedia.

Atlantis.—“Now, in the island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire, which had rule over the whole island, and several others, as well as over parts of the Continent; and besides these, they subjected the parts of Libya within the Columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. The vast power thus gathered into one, endeavored to subdue at one blow our country and yours, and the whole of the land which was within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind; for she was the first in courage and military skill.... And when the rest fell off from her, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders....

“But afterward there occurred violent earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and night of rain all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth; and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared, and was sunk beneath the sea.”—Plato’s “Timæus”—per “Atlantis.”

Athens.—“For there was a time, Solon, before that great deluge of all, when the city which now is Athens was first in war, and was preëminent for the excellence of her laws, and is said to have performed the noblest deeds, and to have had the fairest constitution of any of which tradition tells, under the face of heaven.”—Plato’s “Timæus,” per “Atlantis.”

Pelasgians.—“Amidst all the obscurity that hangs about the name of the Pelasgians, it is admitted that they were the earliest known inhabitants both of Greece and Southern Italy—at least of the Indo-Germanic stock; for throughout Europe, as well as Asia, there appears to have been a still earlier population. Now we are distinctly told that the whole seaboard of Ionia and the neighboring islands was formerly peopled by Pelasgians. They are enumerated by Homer among the allies of the Trojans; Herodotus found traces of them on the Propontis, and Agathias in Caria; and the name Magnesia, which occurs twice in Lydia, as well as in Thessaly, seems to be certainly as Pelasgic. They were found in the islands of the Ægean from Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos, in the north, to Crete, in the south, as well as in the Cyclades, which form the natural stepping-stones from Asia Minor to the Peloponnesus. Hence, they seem to have passed from one continent to the other both round the head of the Ægean and across its islands; and, accordingly, the chief remnants of the race after they were overpowered by the Hellenes, are found in Thessaly, in Epirus, in Attica, and in the heart of Acadia. From Greece they passed over to Southern Italy; where, perhaps, the ‘golden age of Saturn’ is a tradition of the peaceful agricultural character which is everywhere attributed to the Pelasgians, in contrast to the piratical habits of the Carians and Leleges. It remains, however, a question whether the Pelasgi were a branch of the Phrygian migration, or a still earlier movement of the Indo-European race from their primeval seats. The latter seems highly probable; but, at all events the two races were very nearly akin, and it is hardly practicable to distinguish their migrations.”—“The Ancient History of the East,” by Philip Smith, B. A.

“The Hellenes and the Pelasgi are the two races identified with Greece’s earliest traditions; but when we appeal to history for their origin, or seek for the part that each has played in the majestic drama of antiquity, there is little more than conjecture to guide us.”—Nott and Gliddon’s “Types of Mankind,” page 103.

Deucalion and Pyrrha.—“Deucalion married Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. Zeus determined to destroy the degenerate race of man, but Deucalion and Pyrrha, on account of their piety, were preserved. Deucalion built a ship, in which he and Pyrrha floated in safety, while a nine days’ flood devastated Hellas.”

Hellen.—“The sons of the above were Hellen and Amphictyon. Hellen was king of Phthia in Thessaly. Amphictyon was said to have founded the Amphictyonic of Thermopylae.”—Scull’s “Greek Mythology Systematized.”

Deucalion and Pyrrha.—“Deucalion, king of Phthia, in Thessaly, son of Prometheus and Clymene. According to tradition, being forewarned by his father of an approaching deluge, he built a ship in which he and his wife Pyrrha were saved from an inundation which destroyed all the rest of mankind,” etc.—The American Cyclopedia.

Hellen.—“The Greeks were fond of tracing their origin back to a common ancestor, Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha who were the survivors of a deluge,” etc.—Page 107, Vol. VIII, American Cyclopedia.

Orichalcum.—“That which is now only a name, and was then something more than a name—orichalcum—was dug out of the earth in many parts of the island, and, with the exception of gold, was esteemed the most precious of metals among the men of those days.”—Plato.

Spiral.—“A favorite design of the men of the Bronze Age in Europe is the spiral or double spiral form.”... “We find the same figure in an ancient fragment of pottery from the Little Colorado.”... “The same design is also found in ancient rock etchings of the Zunis of New Mexico.”—Ignatius Donnelly.

Handmaid.—“And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah, Zilpah his maid, for an handmaid.”—Genesis xxix: 24.

Feather Robes.—The Maya nobles of ancient Yucatan wore fine robes of feather work on all occasions.—Author.

Magnet.—“The Phœnicians were familiar with the use of the magnet. At the prow of their vessels stood the figure of a woman (Astarte) holding a cross in one hand and pointing the way with the other; the cross represented the compass, which was a magnetized needle, floating in water crosswise upon a piece of reed or wood.”—Ignatius Donnelly.

1. Dog-headed apes.

2. Chimu—in Peru.

3. Ireland.

4. Mediterranean.

5. Bank of Mississippi (east).

6. Eskaldi—Iberians, in Gaul—Basques.

7. Egypt.

8. Spain.

9. Plato.

10. These less ancient names will be used for convenience.

11. Port of Athens.

12. The Berbers of North Africa.

13. Iberians (in Gaul) same as Basques.

14. Spain.

15. Africa.

16. Faith—fidelity.

17. Plato’s “Timæus.”

18. Plato.

19. Common jugglery is said to have originated in Egypt; and been thence introduced into Greece.

20. Sharpe’s History of Egypt.

21. Plato.

22. Ignatius Donnelly, in “Atlantis.”

23. Donnelly’s “Atlantis.”

24. Gases.

25. The Azores—according to Donnelly.