Atlantis
The island of Atlantis, as depicted in an engraving in Athanasius Kircher's Mundus Subterraneus (1664; “Subterranean World”). This map, based on Egyptian maps, is oriented with the south at the top (note the compass arrow pointing down), so the American continent and the Atlantic Ocean lie to the right of Africa and Spain. The text in the legend on the upper right, translated, states, “The site of Atlantis, now beneath the sea, according to the beliefs of the Egyptians and the description of Plato.”
Atlantis
legendary island
Also known as: Atalantis, Atlantica
Atlantis, a legendary island in the Atlantic Ocean, lying west of the Strait of Gibraltar. The principal sources for the legend are two of Plato’s dialogues, Timaeus and Critias, philosophical works presented as conversations among Socrates and three interlocutors, including the Athenian statesman Critias, who recounts the story. In Timaeus, Egyptian priests tell the Athenian statesman Solon, later counted among the Seven Wise Men of Greece, of an island larger than Asia Minor and Libya combined....
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