List of the Frequently Asked Questions: 1) What are indeed Atlantis and Lemuria? 2) What is the importance of Atlantis for Mankind? 3) How can you claim to have discovered Atlantis, when so many other great authorities have failed before? Is this one just another illusion as so many before? 4) You claim Atlantis is located under the South China Sea. Is it not true that "if it is Atlantis, it is got to be located in the Atlantic Ocean"? 5) Was Atlantis an island or a continent? 6) Can continents sink? 7) Are there vestiges of a sunken island or continent in the Atlantic Ocean? 8) Thera or Santorini, the volcanic caldera located is the Greek region of the Mediterranean Sea, is often claimed to be the remains of Atlantis by several Atlantologists of scientific repute. Is this view tenable? 9) Is there any possibility that Atlantis was located in the Caribbean region, as many authors claim? 10) Is Atlantis possibly located in the North Sea, as some authorities claim? 11) What makes you so certain that Atlantis is not located in Antarctica as Flem-Ath, Bauval, West and others affirm? 12) Why have so many different locations been identified with the site of Atlantis? 13) What is the difference between Atlantis and Lemuria? 14) What does the name of Atlantis signify? 15) What is the meaning of the name of Lemuria? 16) You claim to have discovered the true site of Atlantis. Has anyone ever proposed an Indonesian site before? 17) How was Atlantis actually destroyed? 18) Is there any connection between the Flood and the Destruction of Atlantis? 19) What, if any, are the extant vestiges of Atlantis? 20) Is there a connection between Atlantis and the Great Pyramid? 21) Is there a connection between Atlantis and the Millennium? 22) What ancient civilizations were created or influenced by Atlantis? 23) Have you written any books on Atlantis? 24) Who are you, anyway? 1) Q: What are indeed Atlantis and Lemuria? A: Atlantis was a continent of the Atlantic Ocean where, according to Plato, and advanced civilization developed some 11,600 years ago. Plato affirms that, as the result of a huge volcanic cataclysm of worldwide extent, this continent sunk away underseas, disappearing forever. Official Science - the one you learn at school - rejects the actual existence of Atlantis, as it has so far been unable to find any traces of its reality. But the reason for that is simple to explain. Everybody has been looking in the wrong locations, as Atlantis indeed lies in the opposite side of the world. Lemuria, on the other hand, is an even older version of Atlantis. Lemuria is indeed the same as the Garden of Eden and other such Paradises that in fact existed and were the actual birthplace of Mankind and Civilization, precisely as the Bible and other Holy Books affirm. From there, civilization spread to Atlantis and other parts of the world, in the dawn of times, some 20 or 30 thousand years ago, during the Ice Age. 2) Q: What is the importance of Atlantis for Mankind? A: Atlantis is the source of all Religion, all Science and all races and civilizations. Its discovery now, at the very dawn of the Millennium, has been predicted from deepest antiquity, and is indeed the true message of the Gospels and other such Holy Books. The discovery of Atlantis brings back the hope of rebirth of the Golden Age, with its promise of universal peace, harmony, love and happiness for all Mankind. It will also cause a major revolution in our view of the world and of both our past and our future. All this is to happen now, as we enter the Third Millennium, the Age of Aquarius. 3) Q: How can you claim to have discovered Atlantis, when so many other great authorities have failed before? Is this one just another illusion as so many before? A: No, my find is not an illusion at all. First, it is solidly based on scientific results from both the exact and the human sciences. And these include Geology, Astronomy, Paleontology, Archaeology, Linguistics, Ethnology, Comparative Mythology, Comparative Religion, Philosophy and so on. Second, we had the luck to find the Key to the ancient myths and traditions, so that the difficult alchemical allegories and the mythical enigmas which mainly have to do with Atlantean secrets became crystal clear to us. The problem of Atlantis requires both supports, that of Occult tradition and that of "Official" Science. 4) Q: You claim Atlantis is located under the South China Sea. Is it not true that "if it is Atlantis, it is got to be located in the Atlantic Ocean"? A: Yes, that is right. But the fact is that what we call by the name of "Atlantic Ocean" is not the same as that of the ancients. Herodotus, Aristotle, Plato, Strabo, and several other ancient authors are very specific on the fact that the "Atlantic Ocean" - otherwise called "Ocean of the Atlanteans", "Outer Ocean", "Kronian Ocean", Mare Oceanum ("Ocean Sea") or Mare Magnum ("Great Sea") was indeed the whole of the "earth-encircling ocean". This Ocean surrounded the whole world then known, that of Eurasia and Africa. In other words, the Atlantic Ocean of the ancients was the World Ocean that is indeed coterminous and encircles the entire globe of the earth, and which we now arbitrarily divide into Pacific, Indian and Atlantic, despite the fact that all three are coterminous. A quote from Aristotle, the great disciple of Plato, will show what we mean: "Men have divided the inhabited earth into different islands and continents. But this is the result of their ignorance of the fact that the whole of it is an expanse surrounded on sides by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean". (De Mundo, III:18) Herodotus is even more explicit on this. After affirming that "some say the [Atlantic] Ocean begins in the East", he adds: "The sea frequented by the Greeks, that beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which is called the Atlantic or, also, the Erythraean (Indian Ocean) are all one and the same sea." (Hist. I:203) Hence, we see that the Atlantic Ocean or, rather, Ocean of the Atlanteans, of the ancient Greeks of the time of Plato and Aristotle was not only the one we call by that name, but included the Indian Ocean and that portion of the Pacific Ocean along the eastern coast of Asia. 5) Q: Was Atlantis an island or a continent? A: Atlantis was a continent. Its capital was called by the same name or by that of Poseidonis, and was located on an island next to its coast. After this continent sunk under the seas, only the peaks of its loftiest mountains remained above the water, forming what the ancients later knew as the Islands of the Blest, and which we know as those of Indonesia. 6) Q: Can continents sink? A: No. Continents float isostatically over the molten magma, more or less like a ship over the seas. But the seas can rise - as they did at the end of the Ice Age - submerging large portions of the low-lying lands. As a matter of fact, Plato's sunken continent of Atlantis is the large extension of continental dimensions to the south of Southeast Asia called Australasia by geographers. This vast Pleistocenic continent was known of old by many legendary names such as Elysian Fields by the Greeks, Field of Reeds (Sekhet Aaru) by the Egyptians, Aztlan by the Mayas, Rutas by the Hindus, and so on. As the seas rose by 100-150 meters at the end of the Pleistocene and, as these lands were very low, they sunk away, and now form what we call the South China Sea. This sea is very shallow, and its depth averages under 60 meters or so. Hence, is easy to reckon that this unique region was indeed subaerial during the Pleistocene. 7) Q: Are there vestiges of a sunken island or continent in the Atlantic Ocean? A: No. Extensive sounding of the entire Atlantic Basin for over a century reveals no sunken continent or remains of one anywhere in the Atlantic Basin. The fact is that Europe and Africa were originally coterminous with North and South America, forming a super-continent called Pangea ("Whole Earth") by geologists. Due to Continental Drift, these continents began to separate some 200 millions ago, forming the Atlantic Ocean. At the center, where the super-continent of Pangea cleft, the fissure known as the Great Rift remained, as a sort of scar separating the two Tectonic Plates and marking their original position. From this fissure, volcanic magma continuously issues, forming a huge mountain range and causing the tectonic plates to separate at a rate of about 2.5 cm/year. It is this mountain range - called the Mid-Oceanic Ridge - that is often mistaken for the remains of Atlantis. But, this only occurs among some ancient Atlantologists such as I. Donnelly, or with those unaware of the recent advances of Geology and Plate Tectonics Theory. Moreover, the islands of the Atlantic Ocean are all small, rising directly from the abyssal depths, leaving no room for any sunken continent or island of large size. The connection between Atlantis and the Sargasso Sea is likewise absurd, as this sea is indeed very deep, and never held any continent or large island in its vast expanse. 8) Q: Thera or Santorini, the volcanic caldera located is the Greek region of the Mediterranean Sea, is often claimed to be the remains of Atlantis by several Atlantologists of scientific repute. Is this view tenable? A: Not at all. Plato and other authorities are very specific on the fact that Atlantis lay "outside the Pillars of Hercules". It is ridiculous to suppose that Plato would ignore the real position of neighboring Crete in relation to Gibraltar, or that he would believe that a whole continent ever existed inside the Mediterranean Basin. The scientists who propose this theory support themselves on the fact that the island of Thera (Santorini) was indeed sunk by a huge volcanic explosion that destroyed the tiny island. This explosion took place at about 1,700 BC, and very probably swept away the civilization of the vicinal island of Crete with a tsunami of colossal proportions. Other than that, there is no evidence connecting the event with Atlantis, though the two cataclysms are obviously similar.By the way, the name of Crete means precisely "swept clean [of people]" in Dravida, the language of the Proto-Mediterraneans. Despite its name, Minoan Crete was only slightly affected by the cataclysm. It did not sink away, and actually reached its apogee after it. Second, Minoan Crete never formed anything like the huge empire described by Plato, being far lesser in size and population than, for instance, nations such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India., etc.. The "force-fitting" that such proponents do, shrinking Atlantis' size and the date of its cataclysm by a factor of ten, is utterly unscientific and cannot be maintained at all. 9) Q: Is there any possibility that Atlantis was located in the Caribbean region, as many authors claim? A: None at all! Despite the predictions of Edgar Cayce, no evidence has turned up so far confirming the existence of Atlantis anywhere in the Caribbean region. The sunken archaeological remains found in the region turned out to be natural formations. The detailed submarine mapping of the region disclosed no vestiges of any sunken features or buildings larger that a few meters at most. The geological evidence precludes any sunken continent or submerged large island in the Caribbean region. 10) Q: Is Atlantis possibly located in the North Sea, as some authorities claim? A: No. During the Pleistocene Ice Age, Scandinavia and nearby regions were an icy desolation, and could not possibly support a luscious civilization such as the one described by Plato. Besides, Plato's Atlantis is fully Tropical, with many forests, rivers and canals full of fragrant fruits, perfumes and luxuriant vegetation. Moreover, in contrast to what Plato claims, Scandinavia and neighboring regions never sunk away underseas. In fact, it is still there, as it has always been in the past, far before its formidable people came all the way from Atlantis, when this continent sunk away under the sea. 11) Q: What makes you so certain that Atlantis is not located in Antarctica as Flem-Ath, Bauval, West and others affirm? A: The idea that the crust of the earth flipped, taking Atlantis from the tropics into the Polar Circle is just a modern flaunt of the ancient theory called Pole Shift. But if earth's crust indeed flipped - an impossibility in geophysical and astrophysical terms - several other consequences would necessarily occur that are not observed in practice. As the crust is solid, it would take, if it flipped, the former Polar Region into the Tropics. This effect is not observed at all in the time scale of 10,000 years or so of the Atlantean events. Furthermore, the Polar Glaciers and others such as the one of Greenland have been drilled recently, and the results of the detailed analysis they underwent show that they have been on site for the last million years, having formed without intermission along this huge space of time. Moreover, recent pallinological analyses (of plant pollen) and those of the sediments of the bottom of the seas made on a worldwide scale again show that that these regions have been on more or less their present position for hundreds of millions of years. Rock magnetism, again, supports the above results, just as do a dozen others we could quote. No, the notion of Pole Shift is preposterously anti-scientific. The above results are no theory, but observational fact that will have to be embodied in any decent theory of the earth. So, unless you are a fanatic of some sort, forget Pole Shift and concentrate on more tenable theories of earth behavior. Scientists may not indeed know what causes the Ice Ages. But they are no fools, and well know it is not Pole Shift. 12) Q: Why have so many different locations been identified with the site of Atlantis? A: For one thing, Atlantis created a worldwide empire, and had colonies the world over. These colonies, as usual, attempted to duplicate the motherland, as colonists are wont to do. Secondly, for many reasons, the ancients hid away the true whereabouts of Atlantis, for fear that the empire, weakened, disorganized and destroyed by the cataclysm would become an easy prey of pirates, raiders and conquistadors of all sorts. 13) Q: What is the difference between Atlantis and Lemuria? A: Atlantis and Lemuria have been grossly distorted and misplaced by all sorts of investigators in what concerns both their epochs and their sizes and locations. Indeed, Atlantis and Lemuria coexisted side by side, at more or less the same date. More exactly, Lemuria was the archetypal Atlantis, the same as Eden or Paradise, the site of origin of both Mankind and Civilization. From there, the Lemurian Atlanteans colonized the nearby region of India, which became its "twin" and partner. In mythical terms, we can say that Lemuria-Indonesia was the Mother, and that Atlantis-India was the Father of all the other civilizations. 14) Q: What does the name of Atlantis signify? A: The first thing to keep in mind is that mythical terms have a number of different etymologies, and are often interpretable in different tongues, into which they were adapted when the myths were introduced locally. For instance, Atlas means, in Greek, "the one who could not (a-) withstand (tla) [the skies]." Atlas was deemed the "Pillar of Heaven", that is, its support. When Atlas became overburdened, the skies fell down, burying Atlantis. The names of Atlas and Atlantis originally came from the Sanskrit (the Holy Language of India) name of their Hell called Atala. This word means "Deprived of its Pillar" (a-tala) or, conversely "Bottomless" or, rather, "Sunken to the Bottom". Many further derivations are yet possible. Atlas is the personification of the Holy Mountain that is the support of heaven. He is the god that the Hindus equate with Shiva, also called Sthanu, an epithet meaning "Pillar of Heaven" in Sanskrit. 15) Q: What is the meaning of the name of Lemuria? A: Lemuria was originally the name given to a vast hypothetical sunken continent or a landbridge stretching across the Indian Ocean and Indonesia, all the way to the central Pacific Ocean. It was postulated by the naturalists of the past century, in order to explain the presence of the lemur (a small primate) both in Madagascar and in the Indies. But this notion has long ago been superseded in modern geology. By coincidence, the lemurs derive their name from that of the Lemurs (or "Ancestors"), for the Indonesians long knew that man descends from the apes. Hence, the name of Lemuria can be interpreted as "Land Ancestral" or "Land of the Ancestors". Alternatively, the name can be derive from that of Mu or Mu-devi, the Hindu Mother Goddess. Mu means "Mother" in Dravida, and Mu-devi means "Mother Goddess". In other words, Mu (or Mu-devi) - also called Uma in Sanskrit - is the personification of Lemurian Atlantis itself, the Motherland of Humanity. Similarly, Shiva, her husband and counterpart, is the "Great Father" of Mankind. 16) Q: You claim to have discovered the true site of Atlantis. Has anyone ever proposed an Indonesian site before? A: This one is an extremely interesting question. Of the several thousand books that have been written on Atlantis, not a single one has ever proposed a location in its correct site, that of Indonesia. And why is that? Because they have been searching Atlantis on the wrong side of the world, mainly on ethnocentric grounds. No one ever realized that the true cradle of the Aryans was never the Caucasus Mountains or North Asia, but indeed Indonesia, the true site of Eden. When their pristine Paradise sunk away underseas, the Aryans, like the other races of Eden, moved away, into India first, and from there to distant regions such as the British Isles (the Celts), Scandinavia (the Norse), and even the Americas (the White Civilizing Heroes such as Quetzalcoatl and Viracochan). So did the Dravidas, their darker counterparts and "twins", born in the primeval Atlantis of Indonesia. 17) Q: How was Atlantis actually destroyed? A: By means of the giant cataclysm we call the Flood. The views on the Flood - and indeed on global cataclysms in general - has been grossly misstated by geologists ever since the times of Darwin and Lyell. Cataclysms of huge proportion range up to the Big Bang, and are a central feature of Evolution itself. They have occurred by the thousands on earth in the past, and are amply attested in the geological records, along with the extinctions of Life that they caused along time. Quite often they are caused by meteoritic/planetary impacts of extra-terrestrial origin. Far more often, they are caused by the cataclysmic endings of the Ice Age Episodes which have occurred fairly regularly at intervals of 30,000 years or so. The Flood was indeed caused by one such, and is just the last of a long series of similar cataclysms of global proportions. As many myths describe it, the Flood was caused by a giant submarine volcanic explosion that stirred up the seas, sending them over the continents. So, the waters reached up to the summit of the loftiest mountains, killing all life in their way. The colossal volcanic explosion also covered the skies with cinders and evaporated water, so that, it indeed, "rained for 40 days and 40 nights" and the skies were dark and gloomy for a long time. The event occurred some 11,600 years ago, and caused the end of the Pleistocene or, more exactly, of its last glacial episode. 18) Q: Is there any connection between the Flood and the Destruction of Atlantis? A: Yes, indeed. Atlantis was actually destroyed by the cataclysm we call the Flood. The Flood is not just a Biblical invention or copy, but a fact that is recorded in hundreds of mythologies, the world over, with a remarkable consistence. The Flood was indeed a giant tsunami (often improperly called a "tidal wave") caused by a very major submarine earthquake. The vestiges of the Flood are visible everywhere, but particulary over the North American continent, as the geologists are starting to realize. This tsunami and other consequences of the cataclysm caused the death, sudden or not, of some 70% of the major species of great mammals that once roved the earth. The reality of the Flood was consensually accepted by the naturalists of the past century. But Darwin and Lyell introduced the concept of Uniformitarianism (negation of cataclysms), which became the present paradigm of geological science. However, the better paleontologists and geologists are fast returning towards the ancient view, which is not only Sacred History, but Reality itself, as we found out in our researches on the matter. 19) Q: What, if any, are the extant vestiges of Atlantis? A: The paideuma (or "Soul") of Atlantis is so present in all things we do that it is as difficult to observe as the air we breath. Essentially, the whole of civilization - the things and ideas that renders Mankind something more than just ordinary beasts - derive rather directly from Atlantis. Our Religion, our Magic and Divination, our Laws and Commandments, our Holy Scriptures, our Philosophy and Metaphysics, our Mathematics and our Astronomy, our Music and our Poetry all came to us from Atlantis. Small wonder, then, that so many authors discover vestiges of Atlantis just about everywhere, mistaking the copies for the real thing. Moreover, our Atlantean heritage also encompasses the arts and techniques such as Agriculture and Animal Domestication, the greatest inventions ever. Without the domesticated plants and animals - most or all of which originated in Atlantis, and often embody an advanced use of genetic engineering - Civilization could never have developed at all. Besides these, a series of inventions of mysterious origins, who came to us from the dawn of time, are also owed to Atlantis and Lemuria: metallurgy, stone masonry and sculpture, paper, the alphabet, medicinal drugs, gunpowder, weaving, and so on. 20) Q: Is there a connection between Atlantis and the Great Pyramid? A: Yes. The Great Pyramid - and indeed the pyramids the world over - represents the Holy Mountain, which is no other than Mt. Atlas, the Pillar of Heaven that was the central feature of Atlantis. Mount Atlas was in reality the giant volcano whose explosion destroyed Atlantis, causing the Flood and the end of the Pleistocene. In India, this Holy Mountain - which exists in most traditions - is called Mt. Meru, the Holy Mountain of Paradise. In Judeo-Christianism, the Holy Mountain is variously allegorized as Mt. Zion, Mt. Sinai, Mt. Golgotha (or Calvary), and so on. In the Egyptian tradition, the dead god buried inside the Holy mountain represented by the Great Pyramid is Osiris, the exact counterpart of Shiva and Atlas, the gods who personify the Holy Mountain itself, as the "Pillar of Heaven". Osiris also personifies the dead multitudes of Atlantis, our ancestors killed by the terrible cataclysm that destroyed our pristine Paradise. For gods are indeed no other thing than the paideuma of nations, and die when they go, as Atlantis did. It is in his quality of living Osiris that pharaohs were sometimes buried inside pyramids. 21) Q: Is there a connection between Atlantis and the Millennium? A: To be sure, there is. The destruction of Atlantis is variously allegorized as the Death of the God that we have in almost all religious traditions: the death of Osiris, the one of Christ, that of Adonis, Attis, Kronos, Tammuz, Baal, Dionysus Zagreus, and a myriad others. In more symbolic terms, the death of Atlantis is also allegorized by the death of the Bull or, even better, by that of the Phoenix. But the death of the God is also followed by his resurrection, which is also Phoenix which also represents Atlantis as the City Celestial. And this return of the Phoenix that is the resurrection of the Phoenix. Hence, just as Christ shall return, together with the Celestial Jerusalem, so will the really the one of Atlantis was indeed programmed long ago to occur just now, starting at the turn of this final millennium of Mankind. This is the Millennium prophesied in the Book of Revelation and in a myriad other sources. And that is why you will be seeing Atlantis being reborn in both myth and in reality, from its secret cradle in the Far Orient. 22) Q: What ancient civilizations were created or influenced by Atlantis? A: Atlantis created colonies the world over. Some of these were great, others small, and more primitive, as they received a lesser influence from the Atlanteans. The Atlanteans were the "Gods", or "Angels" or "Civilizing Heroes" whom we find in essentially all traditions. They are the Nagas of India and Indonesia, the OannŽs of Sumero-Babylon, the Cabeiri and Corybants or, yet, the Heroes such as Hercules, Prometheus and Cadmus of the Greeks and Romans, and so on. In the Americas and in Oceania, we have essentially the same traditions on Heroes or Gods such as Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan, Viracochan, Bochica, SumŽ, Kon, Tiki, and so on. Very often these civilizing heroes are Titans or Nagas, the mighty white giants from Atlantis. The term Naga ("Dragon", "Serpent") is at the origin of the myth of the Civilizing Hero who kills the Dragon and initiates the local civilization almost everywhere. In reality, the Dragon and the Hero represent the two races of Atlantis, the Dravidas and the Aryans, one darker, the other whiter, who contend for hegemony everywhere. They are the Twins of all mythologies, the two contending serpents of the Caduceus (or of the Ouroboros and the Uraeus) which devour each other in endless wars from the primordials of mankind down to the present day. But their wars will cease at the coming of the Millennium (now!), for the return of the Golden Age means just that: "the Lamb will lay unharmed with the Lion". 23) Q: Have you written any books on Atlantis? A: I have published two books and several articles on diverse subjects connected with Atlantis. Some of my articles are in English, some in Portuguese. The books are in Portuguese, and have been published by IBRASA, who has the rights for the Portuguese language (only). They are in the final process of being translated into English. I am still looking for a reliable Literary Agent in both the US and the UK in order to promote their publication abroad. 24) Q: Who are you, anyway? A: I am a professional scientist with a Doctoral Degree, a graduate in Electronics Engineering, and a Professor of Nuclear Physics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. For 17 years I have been studying the Occult, and particularly the problem of Atlantis. Much to my surprise - for I set out to refute such theories - I discovered that the Lost Continent indeed existed, and was in reality far more advanced than ever dreamed by anyone. If you want, you can peruse my Curriculum Vitae. Copyright (c) 1997 Arysio Nunes dos Santos. Webmaster Bernardo de P‡dua dos Santos. Fair quotation and teaching usage is allowed, as long as full credit is given to this source, and its home address is given in full. http://www.atlan.org/