My Name is A S. Nika and I am a Computer Scientist specializing in theoretical
Computer Science as well as Reverse linguistics from CUNY New York. I am fluent in Ancient Greek(there is no such a thing as an Expert in A.G.), a helpful tool in order for me to better understand one of the greatest Philosophers, and apparently writers, of Western/Ancient era, PLATO!
Many legends and myths have captured the imagination of humanity but one of them has
totally “Exploited” it; the legend of Atlantis. According to Professor Feder of the Connecticut University, you can't even use the word Atlantis in a sentence unless you can say you've read Plato.
No mater what historians say we all know that you can’t talk about Atlantis without
mentioning the work of Plato; TIMAEUS and CRITIAS, the only credible reference, and
unfortunately the only one, which describes Atlantis into such details.
But first, we have to examine the ground on which this work was prepared. So, let’s see who Plato was, the period that he lived in, as well as the “mentality” of the people that surrounded him.
We all know about the Golden age of ancient Greece. We don’t have to know the exact
time. Let’s say roughly 600-100 B.C, so few centuries before the birth of Jesus. Many
philosophers lived at this time in the capital of Hellenic state, the democratic society of Athens.
Three of them were the founders of Western philosophy; Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Socrates, known for his enlightenment of truth through his dialogs, was the inspiration of many works of Plato. From all 36 dialogs that he wrote, Socrates is the main “Star”.
Nevertheless, we don’t care about 35 of them but one; Timaeus and Critias, and in particular the reference about Atlantis. I will try to make it easy for the simple reader by not using high and sophisticated words;
The year is more or less 360 B.C. Socrates has gathered some of his students around him. Plato, Critias, Timaeus and Hermocrates. The topic of discussion; describe a Perfect Society.
We do have to understand at this point that we’re talking about Socrates, a philosopher that all his life talked about truth. He was fascinated by the truth. It’s the golden age of observation. One has not to forget the definition of a philosopher; a philosopher is someone dedicated to studying and producing results in philosophy. The word "philosopher," literally, means "lover of wisdom.” Plato is Socrates best student. How can he imagine things? Don’t forget that Plato uses dialogs which are nothing more than the Socratic methodology for finding the truth. The best methodology to date! It is used today in courts and is called crossexamination.
This is the point where skeptics that dismiss the idea of Atlantis as being real and
invented by Plato, HAVE to reconsider their claims. Don’t forget about Socrates’ statement; that this is a true Story!
The following image was taken from the book Timaeus and Critias by Plato, published
by the ‘Odiseas Haxhopulos’ and stored in National Libriry of Athens. On the left side of the
book it’s the ancient writing and on the right side it’s its counterpart Neo-modern-Greek
translation.
Translation:
Socrates: And what other important, Critias, can we find that will be better than this, which is
natural and suitable to the festival of the goddess, and has the very great advantage of being a
fact (αληθινόν-λόγον=real-word…fact) and not a fiction (πλασθέντα-µΰθον=fakemyth…
fiction)?
How or where shall we find another if we abandon this? We cannot, and therefore you must
tell the tale, and good luck to you; and I in return for my yesterday's discourse will now rest
and be a listener.
Pay attention to what Socrates says; fact and not a fiction. And one may notice the same
statement through the entire passage, mentioned by Critias at least three times.
Do you know who was the first skeptic to dismiss the existence of Atlantis? Plato’s best
student, Aristotle. It got me thinking; why Aristotle would even bother to comment on it?! Plato
never said anything about Atlantis. He is just presenting us with a conversation between Socrates
and Critias. There is only one explanation for it; Plato, probably, was bragging about Atlantis all
the time. He must have told many people about the lost city. I am sure that, as today, many
people must have looked for the island, driven by the riches of gold and Glory.
Everyone has a story to tell, but Critias has one that is greater than all of them!
About 600 B.C there was a lawmaker/Poet called Solon who visited Egypt. At this point
we do have to understand that Greece just came out of what we call dark ages. Unfortunately, we
don’t know much about the time before Solon (as he didn’t either). Just fragments of myths
mixed with some historical facts; Homer with his Iliad and Odysseus as well as some
archeological facts about Mycenaean societies that lived about 1,500 B.C and were, suddenly,
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brought to an end by an eruption of the Volcanic Thera in Aegean Sea and changed the course
of humanity for ever!
So, as I was saying; Solon, from Athens, visits Egypt, and in particular the City of King
Croesus of Sardis. Solon, eager to learn about the dark ages of ancient Greece, lures the
priest/historians of this city, known as well-documented historians into telling him about the
past. To make the long story short one of them, the oldest, and apparently the smartest, begins by
telling the story of Atlantis as being the greatest of all that were previously recorded.
Wait! At this point we don’t have to go into details about the narrative. We haven’t
finished with the credibility of the STORY, YET!
Solon, by using the so called Papyrus writes everything down and when he returns back
to Athens translates them into ancient Greek. He was considering into using them for his poems.
Don’t forget; he was also a Poet.
Dropides, a friend of Solon, comes into the scene and has into his possessions the
writings. He is the grand-grand-father of our “friend” Critias. From Dropides the writings are
handed down to his son, Critias the first, the grand-father of, apparently good friend, Critias the
second, the student of Socrates and Plato’s uncle. We can confirm this by his mentioning to
Socrates that he still has the writings in his possession! This takes care of the claims by skeptics
that even if Plato didn’t make up the story about Atlantis, the story was corrupted by the young
Critias. The old man, Critias#1 was 90 years old at the time when the story was told to
Critias#2 (10 years old).
Figure 1 Timeaus by PLATO. Pg 266
Translation:
CRITIAS:
My great-grandfather, Dropides, had the original writing, which is still in my possession, and
was carefully studied by me when I was a child.
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So if Critias had in his possessions the writings, do you think Plato wouldn’t get them
when he was about to write one of the best dialogs of the ancient time?! And don’t forget; Plato
visited Egypt somewhere between 400-300 B.C in order to confirm the writings.
At this point we have established, somehow, the credibility of the reference of Atlantis
by Plato. Having said that, we haven’t proved that the story is entirely true. Nevertheless, for our
purpose we going to take everything that Plato said for granted. We’re not looking for Atlantis
itself but for a candidate (location) that will fit the description given by him.
The account is given to Solon by an Egyptian, so we do have to be “located” in Egypt
and facing North, toward Athens. The year is 9,600 B.C so 9,000 years before this description
takes place. Also, don’t forget that the Mediterranean Sea was very different at the time of
Atlantis. Here we can use some help from our “friends” at NASA as well as data from
Oceanography. By using the so called world-wind software provided by NASA we “lower” the
Sea-level of Mediterranean Sea by at least 120 meters.
According to Oceanography, the sea level has risen more than 120 m since the peak of
the last ice age about 18,000 years ago. However, only 2-4 m of this increase has occurred in the
last 6,000 years. So in other words, it was very different at the time of Atlantis by 120 meters or
so, but not very different at the time of Plato with respect to our time.
At this point I think I am ready to claim that the work of Plato has been lost in
translation! Meaning that the main reason that the Island hasn’t been found is that it was never
really read from its original version, ancient Greek! Look at this passage below, having in mind
Fig#2, and notice the big difference between Ancient and Modern-Neo Greek.
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Figure 2. Timeaus by PLATO. Pg 52
Here I made a great discovery; the Neo-Greek was never, actually, translated from Ancient
Greek, but rather from the English Version of the Great Translator Benjamin Jowett! I believe
that this happened for two reasons;
a) either the translator didn’t really speak ancient Greek
b) Or he took Benjamin for granted and wanted to finish the translation faster.
Let’s go over the passage and see for ourselves what I am talking about. Look at the passage
on the left and notice the word Pelagos[πελάγους], line 7, which stand for Sea not Ocean, when
we all know that Greeks use Oceanus (Okeanos) for Ocean or Pan-Pelagous
(Endless/Everything Sea)! In contrast on the right side the Greek translator uses the word
Ocean[ωκεανού], line 7, the same way Benjamin used it.
Here is the exact sentence from Benjamin:
This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean,
This was, precisely, translated into Neo-Greek!
Notice the word, left side the 6th line: Εξωθεν ορµήθεισάν (so got out and started the offense!)
Unfortunately, the ancient Greek version translates into: started an offensive outside of
the Atlantic Sea. So in other words came out of that Sea. Where is that SEA? We’ll see!
Go back to Fig#2, look at it and read this exact passage below which shows the location of that
SEA!
Written By Plato…Translated By Albert S. Nikas.
The coloring will help you locate the English version sentence to the ancient counterpart.
τοτε γαρ πορευσιµον ην το εκει πελαγος, νησον γαρ προ του στοµατος ειχεν ο
καλειτε, ως φατε, υµεις Ηρακλεους στηλας, η δε νησος αµα Λιβυης ην και Ασιας µειζων,
εξ ης επιβατον επι τας αλλας νησους τοις τοτε εγιγνετο πορευοµενοις, εκ δε των νησων επι
την καταντικρυ πασαν ηπειρον την περι τον αληθινον εκεινον ποντον. ταδε µεν γαρ, οσα
εντος του στοµατος ου λεγοµεν, φαινεται λιµην στενον τινα εχων εισπλουν, εκεινο δε
πελαγος οντως η τε περιεχουσα αυτο γη παντελως αληθως ορθοτατ’ αν λεγοιτο ηπειρος. εν
δε δη τη Ατλαντιδι νησω ταυτη µεγαλη συνεστη και θαυµαστη δυναµις βασιλεων, κρατουσα
µεν απασης της νησου, πολλων δε αλλων νησων και µερων της ηπειρου, προς δε τουτοις ετι
των εντος τηδε Λιβυης µεν ηρχον µεχρι προς Αιγυπτον, της δε Ευρωπης µεχρι Τυρρηνιας.
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So as I previously stated, it’s the Egyptian priest describing…. looking north and
mentioning that sea. In the Greek language the sea that is in front of you, Mediterranean Sea in
our case, is called in that sea (ην το εκει πελάγους), any Sea next to it, even farther, is called
that other Sea(εκεινο δε πελαγος), which is the Ligurian Sea, or the rest of Mediterranean
around Sardinia (Look at fig#2). How smart do you have to be to understand such a simple
thing! Of course if you don’t read ancient Greek, it happens! Nevertheless, the Sea that the priest
is talking about is the Sea of Atlas (Atlantic Sea):
Plato states that the island was located in front, before you reach, from the Egyptian
priest point of view, what Greeks call the Straits of Hercules. As far as we know they were
located at Gibraltar;
Νησον γαρ προ του στοµατος….
Island because/was just before(you reach) mouth…
An island (just) before you reach…
So the island is located before you reach the Straits of Hercules. Even if the Pillars were
in Gibraltar the island has to be on the inside of Mediterranean Sea! Just this point disregards all
the theories that place Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean or outside the Mediterranean Sea. The
island was before you reach (the word used here is Pro tou, which translates into just before you
At that time there was present in that SEA, an island before you reach, the mouth(
harbor) you call the Pillars of Heracles, an island, greater as big as Libya or/and Egypt
together. From here you could travel to the other islands, which at that time were present,
and from this island you could get to the opposite continent in those real waters/coasts.
Now, within this mouth there was a narrow harbor, but that other SEA, of course, and the
surrounding straight LAND could be called real continent. And in this Atlantis Island there
was a great and wonderful empire which ruled over the whole island as well as many
others, furthermore parts of the continent; in addition parts towards Libya within the
columns as far as Egypt and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenian
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reach a certain place) in our case; when you leave Egypt or Athens. Don’t forget; the story is
told by an Egyptian Located in Egypt.
Just this fact, and only, disregards the theory of Atlantis being in Spartel, near Spain.
Nonetheless, according to the ancient writer Dicearcus, the end of the Adriatic is farther from
Greece than the Pillars of Hercules. Sicily fits
perfectly this description but not
Gibraltar! Also by using some common sense,
we’re talking about the time of Plato, where the
notion of the world didn’t surpass further than
Sicily. Also, didn’t Plato visit Sicily and lived
there for while?!
What are Pillars of Hercules? They’re
nothing more than the end of the world for the
ancient Greeks. They’re the gates to the
unknown, probably to the other world, the
world of the dead that only brave Hercules can
go. One has not to forget that at the time of
Plato, Sicily was the end of known world. Look
at the image on the left. You can see that
Sardinia is the underworld. There is no Iberia
or any of its surrounding Islands. The Pillars
have to be in Sicily. This was described by
Homer in his Iliad around 700-600 B.C. At the
same time that the story was narrated to Solon by the Egyptian Priest.
That’s why the Egyptian-Priest states; what you (GREEKS) call Pillars. So other
civilizations, which may, as well, have Hercules as a mythological figure, have the pillars located
somewhere else?! Now, just 2 generations later, Alexander the Great comes into the scene and
expands the horizon of the Greek people until Gibraltar into west as well as to India into east. It
is after him that most of the known historian started recording history the way we know it. You
can’t keep calling Sicily the Pillars of Hercules if at this point you already reached Gibraltar.
Now, I would like to translate the word ATLAS into Etruscan, believed to be the ancient
Latin version that existed at least 5,000 years ago. These people lived not far from Malta into the
surround Italian peninsula. It is the oldest Language you can trace that may have been used by
Ancient Sicilian and probably by Ancient Maltese themselves.
Etruscan alphabet.
Be ware as Etruscan is read Backwards! Right-to-left.
As far as we know the island of Atlantis was named after the first king Atlas.
Figure 3. Homer's view of the world.
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Reading it backwards we get:
Coincidence, who knows?!
Try to do the same with Atlantis in Egyptian hieroglyph, who knows what you may find?!
Out of topic here the word Ocean becomes Monaeko (Monaco), Ionian becomes Noah,
Zeus becomes Suez… I can go on for ever, but it is irrelevant to our topic. We must stick with
Plato!
Let’s continue with our passage:
An island, greater as big as Libya or/and Egypt together.
Well, in order for the priest to compare this places they have to be next to each other!
Libya is in front of Malta. Also here we do have to understand that Libya and Asia were
probably city states and not being of the enormous modern size, just small cities.
Furthermore, the passage translates into:
Translated by A.S.NIKAS
From here you could travel to the other islands, which at that time were present, and from this
island you could get to the opposite continent in those real waters/coasts.
Translated by B. JOWETT
And was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite
continent which surrounded the true ocean;
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At this point I found another mistake by both Benjamin as well as the Greek translator;
Look at the difference between my translation and Benjamin’s. Previously he translated
the word Pelagos into Ocean and now the word ποντον which means waters/Coasts, into Ocean.
The “Guy” must have been confused! At this point, please do not laugh; the Greek version was
translated exactly the same way. Even someone that doesn’t speak ancient Greek but rather Neo-
Greek will be able to see it. The Greek translator didn’t even look at the passage!
You don’t have to speak Greek to see it: just check the 4th line on the left side and the 5th
on the right side. The words are ποντον and ωkeavo, respectively.
Translated by A.S.NIKAS: Now, within this mouth there was a narrow harbor, But that
other SEA, of course, and the surrounding straight LAND could be called real continent.
The images below are just a speculation of how the harbor may have looked.
Figure 6. By Vittorio Castellani, Quando il mare sommerse l’Europa------ Ananke, ITALY 1999.
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And in this Atlantis Island there was a great and wonderful empire which ruled over
the whole island as well as many others furthermore parts of the continent; in addition parts
towards Libya within the columns as far as Egypt and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenian
Over here, the priest describes the Atlantis Empire; you DO have to be in Egypt in order
to give such an explanation;
So, from the left side of Egypt from Libya till near Egypt and from
Athens opposite Egypt till Tyrrhenian Sea. So it doesn’t surpass
Tyrrhenian Sea on one side and Egypt on the other side. Just this
fact disregards the theory of Cyprus.
This part was translated by Benjamin, which isn’t different from mine, so for that reason I will
use his work;
Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years which had
elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between those who dwelt outside the
Pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt within them; this war I am going to describe. Of the
combatants on the one side, the city of Athens was reported to have been the leader and to have
fought out the war; the combatants on the other side were commanded by the kings of Atlantis,
Check out where he states that Athens dwelt outside the Pillars of Hercules unlike
Atlantis which dwelt within them! Don’t forget that Egypt was outside also. Libya on the other
hand was considered within.
And when afterwards sunk by an earthquake, became an impassable barrier of mud to
voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the other Sea.
Figure 7
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Figure 8
Look at this picture, above, and notice the area around Malta. All that mud! If you lower
the Sea by 120 meters it will be impossible for someone to travel to the other side of the
Mediterranean Sea, into Sardinia. There is no other place in the world that fits this description!
And this was caused by the subsidence of the island…..
Do I have to say anything Else? This image speaks for itself. I am not a
Geologist…nevertheless; I can tell that something of a catastrophic proportional has happened
here in the past.
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….But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of
misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner
disappeared in the depths of the sea……
Pay attention to; in like manner, so almost instantaneously.
How difficult it’s to understand that the two cities weren’t far apart from each other?
According to seismologists the area around Malta, including Sicily, is at the end of the tectonic
plate as is Athens. Almost every major earthquake felt in Athens it shakes them too.
Here are recent earthquakes that shook both Cities:
http://www.maltamedia.com/news/2005/ln/article_8605.shtml
http://www.maltamedia.com/news/2005/ln/article_11144.shtml
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/09/06/italy.quake/index.html
http://www.virtual-geology.info/eurogeol/italy.html
http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/03_Yellowstone/030129.Greece.volcano.cata.html
Near the plain again, and also in the centre of the island at a distance of about fifty
stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side.
Look at image below and check out where it says Malta channel. That’s the Plain he is
talking about. Also the mountain must have been within the Maltese Island which is almost at the
same high from any side. Furthermore the distance between the plain and the Maltese Island is
precisely 7,5 km which the same as 50 stadia, a unit used by Plato to measure distances. A
STADION= 150 METERS.
He himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the centre
island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm water and the
other of cold,
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Moreover, there were a great number of elephants in the island; for as there was
provision for all other sorts of animals, both for those which live in lakes and marshes and
rivers, and also for those which live in mountains and on plains, so there was for the animal
which is the largest and most voracious of all.
As you can see on this picture you have a great variety of animals that once lived around
Malta, especially Pigmy-Elephants.
At one point Plato states that the twin brother of atlas got hold of the area toward the land
called Eumelus in Greek and ghadira in the local Language. Eumelus, meaning better in A.
Greek, is nothing more than the predecessor of the Latin name Melita(also better) a.k.a Malta.
There is an area in Malta today called Il ghadira.
Finally, Plato states that; because of the subdue of the island of Atlantis; it was difficult
for anyone to travel to the PAN PELAGOUS (Ocean) which it was further way. Common sense;
Atlantis it wasn’t in Atlantic Ocean, rather inside a local sea.
Furthermore, I have few recent obtained (side-scan sonar) images that still need work but
of interest that shows the area around Malta and Sicily. Notice the building shape images:
Figure 11
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15
This is just part of a massive underwater mosaic of the entire empire of Atlantis. You can
see everything from the pillars to the island itself. At the moment I can’t show the entire mosaic.
The only thing that you, unfortunately, can’t see is the city which was made of tiles or something
and with time has been lost or maybe is the mud which doesn’t let me see it. Nevertheless, you
can see the round shape of the island. What is more intrigues is the fact that when you take a
model of the modern-sea bed of Malta site and place it on top of this mosaic it matches precisely,
The eye…
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with a scale of 1:10. At this point I can’t go any further, because let’s be realistic; I am a
computer Scientist not an Archeologist!
The only thing that I would say, in conclusion, is that even if my images turn out to be
nothing my arguments are independent of them. I am so sure that I have deciphered Plato, I
would bet my life on it. Still I can’t claim that I am the first one that did that. I just found out that
someone some 2300 years ago was looking for the island of Atlantis. That person went to Sicily
in the city called Messina and then he went across to Libya to another city called Cyrene. I drew
a line from Messina to Cyrene and discovered that it crossed the city of Atlantis, which I have
discovered, in half!!!
The name of the Guy was PLATO! Check Plato’s bio and find out where was he at the
time that he wrote the Story of Atlantis. Ironic, he was looking at it! For some reason he didn’t
want others to know about it or there was nothing he can do about….
I am concerned too. Who knows what its discovery will bring. On the other hand I
believe that it may help us avoid its faith; drown in our success of technology.
In conclusion, I am only sure for one thing; If Atlantis ever existed, the only place that matches
all the directions given by Plato is MALTA, every other location-theory; it’s just a mirror
reflection of MALTA!
I am open to any discussion, presentation, representation or questions about my work so I
encourage readers to contact me for more information or to discuss these ideas more fully. Also I
have all the reference upon which my work is based on.
Albert Spyro Nikas
NIKAS@DR.COM
©2003 Nikas.
PAu-2-737-323
Suggestions for further readings that support my idea of Sicily being the Pillars of Hercules:
http://www.world-mysteries.com/11500yearsago.pdf
Bibliography:
Plato. Timaeus and Critias, 360 B.C. Translated by Benjamin Jowett, English.
Plato. Timaeus and Critias, 360 B.C. Translated by Odysseus Hatsopulos, Neo Greek.
Plato. Timaeus and Critias, 360 B.C, Ancient Greek.
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fig# 10. Physical Oceanography unit, University Of Malta.
ioi-moc@capemalta.net
Vittorio Castellani, Quando il mare sommerse l’Europa------ Ananke, ITALY 1999.
R Vieni, Mikonologos.
http://www.world-mysteries.com/11500yearsago.pdf
Software.
World-wind, NASA
Google Earth, GOOGLE.com
