I haven't got that far with it yet......I might revisit at some point. It's defo a headline to grab attention though.
Yeah,is there any solid evidence of the language existing........I don't know. I've never done the deep dive on Atlantis. The dates that Plato gives for its destruction do eerily compare to the last mass extinction event on Earth towards the end of the last ice age (about 12800 yrs. ago) and thought to be due to astroidal impact. We do know there was a 400 ft. rise in global sea levels around this time and recent events in our history re. tsunamis show how destructive nature can be. There are all sorts of theories as to where Atlantis may have been.
I'm fairly sure that Atlantis was a purely fictional invention by Plato. Nobody else had ever mentioned it before and all references since have been based on his story. Plato had Atlantis out beyond the "Pillars of Hercules" i.e. the Strait of Gibraltar and therefore out in the Atlantic. He also considered it a continent, stating that it was larger than Asia and Libya together (Libya being the Greek term for all of Africa as then discovered). The whole thing is incredibly fanciful. Modern undersea mapping and geological science show no possible candidates for such a vast continent as described. Also, from what I've read there isn't enough water in the world to raise the sea level by 400 ft. If all the ice melted it might rise to somewhere between 200 and 230ft. Apparently.
Plato claimed to have Atlantean knowledge passed on to him (indirectly) from Solon apparently. On sea level rise,during the last ice age everything above the latitude of London or Minnesota was covered in ice for many thousands of years,some areas up to 2 miles deep. I don't know if that is sufficient melt for a 400 ft. increase in global sea levels. I do hear 400 ft. quoted often in relation to the end of the last ice age re.sea level rise.
Well first we know that first ice takes up more volume than liquid water due to the molecular shape of h2o. Second there's the layers of ice and snow and how compact it actually is as its laid down over time. Then finally if you place it one place then you take it from another so we know the north seas was effectively open ground and there was a land bridge to Europe.
There was a lot of mistaken things going on back in the classical era. I suspect a lot of legendary things and places had real truth behind them. "Unicorns" were probably Rhinoceros, to a Roman explorer with only knowledge of animals in Italy a horse like animal with a single horn was probably the best way to describe a Rhino. The Greeks believed in Asia there lived giant furry fox-sized ants that dug gold out of the ground. (Modern day people believe these were Himalayan Marmots... Many of which live in areas with rich gold veins). Atlantis could be any island in the Atlantic. It didn't have to sink. If the original explorer charted it wrong and the next person couldn't find the place it could have been said to sink and a legend rose. Heck... Britain could be Atlantis even. Maybe even confused as a continent if they didn't sail around it- the Romans weren't sure if Britain was an island at first... A freak storm took Greek sailors far to the North faster and further than they thought. The next year they go back and think... I swear it was right here... But they don't travel far enough. Mix in some imagination and exaggeration and voila, even Britain could be turned into Atlantis by Greek sailors.
I did once read a suggestion that it might have been Ireland, but again it's just wild speculation as they were only just learning about outlying regions of their world. Really, I think Plato just made it up. Greek writers invented all sorts of things - they were no less creative than later fantasy authors. They knew the Earth was a globe, but they obviously could only make guesses about most of it. There was a Greek writer called Lucian who wrote a book satirising others who told daft tales as though they were true. He called it "A True Story", though he made it plain it was nonsense. In it, a band of Homerian-style adventurers end up in space engaged in a battle between the Moon and Sun Kings who ride about on giant fleas and other weird creatures. Sci-fi of the 2nd Century.
Only in a fictional narrative. As far as I'm concerned, although perhaps based on some island or other, the myth of Atlantis carries about as much plausibility as the Garden of Eden or Noah's Flood.
Well even the flood might have some real historical nugget behind the myth. Perhaps a real flood happened and to the locals it seemed like the whole world was underwater. I know some people claim the black sea could have been created by cataclysmic flooding and might be the source of the Noah myths. Like Atlantis though... Never know if any truth behind it.
There is plenty of evidence for major floods in the region. The flood myths in the Bible are re-hashes of Mesopotamian ones like the Epic of Gilgamesh, and Atrahasis. The Tigris and Euphrates flooded regularly so of course it's easy to believe it's a flood of Biblical proportions when that is most of your world. And in a Four Yorkshiremen-like scenario they could exchange tales of how "my flood was bigger than your flood". "Up to your armpits? That's nothing, it was 10 feet over our heads and we had to swim for a year." "10 feet? Luxury. Our whole world was flooded right to the top of the highest mountain and we had to grow gills to survive".
Isn't the name "Noah" a shortened version of a mesopotamian name from their flood myth? I'll have to do research but there is a lot of people who think the Hebrew flood myths were based on the Sumerian flood myths- reframed to fit with the Jewish God.
Not sure about the name, but the epic tales I mentioned both have a flood myth that predate the Bible. I haven't read the Atrahasis one, but I have read Gilgamesh. It's an incredibly tedious read in places, but there are a few interesting things in it.
I'm pretty sure I had read once that even the name Noah is taken from Sumerian myth... Sumerian name was longer... Unatmatim, or something like that (I'm probably way off)... But somehow the name Noah is derived from that...
Actually to give in context, it's actually quite interesting. Toxoplasma gondii is an interest parasite. You probably know about it because it's famous for spreading by changing the personality of rodents and makes them take more risks and makes them attracted to the smell of cat urine. (To help with their lifestyle). In humans it can also cause several personality disorders in some cases. One thing researchers noticed though was that female rats preferred to mate with male rats that were infected. They did studies in humans and humans who were infected were perceived as better looking than those that weren't and had better facial symmetry. Men had higher testosterone levels and women had lower BMIs. Pretty interesting actually beyond just making rats sexy. Fascinating parasite. https://www.sciencealert.com/mind-a...nfected-people-more-attractive-study-suggests
My wife is a vet and we have / had cats, along with babies/young kids, so the subject of toxoplasma has come up a lot over the last couple of years in our household.