A DOOMED group of sunken islands found far below the ocean's surface has been linked to the legendary “lost” Atlantis – although it's unlikely it really inspired the fabled sea empire.
The newly discovered islands disappeared millions of years ago, and sit atop an underwater mountain that's 1.4 miles deep.
Researchers probed the deep sea near the Canary Islands to uncover an underwater mountain that once would have poked up above the ocean as a series of islands.[/caption]
Researchers have compared the lost lands to Atlantis, the legendary doomed island from Plato's writings[/caption]
Scientists who made the discovery say the islands – which are located off the coast of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands – sank below the sea like the fabled Atlantis.
Atlantis has its origins as a fictional island in Plato's writings from 360 BC.
Atlantis was described as a powerful naval empire that ruled much of the known world – but was sunk by the gods for trying to conquer Athens.
Fittingly, the seamount has been named Mount Los Atlantes, named after the legendary island.
The seamount has three inactive volcanoes on it, and measures around 31 miles across.
It was found using a remotely operated vehicle that was researching volcanic activity in the area.
The seamount would have been a group of islands poking up above sea level between 56 million and 34 million years ago, the researchers say.
But the volcanoes that make up the underwater mountain stopped erupting.
The lava became solid and dense, eventually causing the islands to sink below the waves.
However, researchers say that the islands are so well-preserved that some of their beaches are still visible.
“They were islands in the past and they have sunk, they are still sinking, as the legend of Atlantis tells,” said researcher Luis Somoza, of the IGME Geological Survey of Spain, in a statement.
“Some of us have been able to verify that they still maintain their beaches.”
Sadly it's impossible to know exactly what inspired Plato's description of Atlantis.
But researchers say that these long-lost islands may have inspired Atlantean myths of old.
The area contains inactive volcanoes – and is now teeming with oceanic life[/caption]
“This could be the origin of the Atlantis legend,” Somoza said, speaking to Live Science.
The bad news is that there is no real evidence that these islands are linked to the legend of Atlantis.
For a start, humans as a species did not appear until around two million years ago – long after the islands sank.
Secondly, there is no proof of any human interaction with the island from ancient times.
Researchers say they even found evidence of beaches on the submerged islands[/caption]
The true origins of the Atlantis legend are hotly debated.
Atlantis was originally mentioned in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias, more than 2,000 years ago.
All other known mentions of Atlantis in writings are based on these sources.
Plato is believed to have invented the island as a way of delivering moral teachings.
PLATO – WHO WAS HE?
Here's what you need to know…
Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher.
He was born in Athens, Greece between 428 and 423 BC.
And he died aged between 75 and 80 in the year 348 BC.
Plato, whose birth name was Aristocles, is one of the foundational thinkers of Western philosophy.
He founded the Platonic Academy, a school where he personally taught.
Plato himself was taught by Socrates, while Aristotle was his student.
His entire body of work is believed to have survived, giving us deep insight into his thinking.
Of his philosophy, Plato is best known for his Theory of Forms.
This suggests that the physical world isn't as real as “ideas” or the essence of things – with real objects being simply imitations.
He also famously created the idea of Atlantis, a fictional island and empire-state destroyed by the gods to illustrate the idea of hubris.
Plato is believed to have been buried in the garden of his academy in Athens.
But he may have been inspired by events like the Minoan volcano eruption around 1,600 BC, the hypothesized Sea Peoples invasion around 1,200 BC, or the Trojan War.
Other experts think the description was entirely fictional and was not inspired by any historical events.
In any case, the term Atlantis has since been used as a way to describe a number of lost lands – fictional or otherwise – completely separate from the specific Plato usage.
