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<small>''This article is about the mythical lost continent.  For the Space Shuttle, see [[Space Shuttle Atlantis]].''</small>

<small>''This article is about the mythical lost continent.  For the Space Shuttle, see [[Space Shuttle Atlantis]]. For the fictitious community of defectors in [[Atlas Shrugged]], see [[Galt's Gulch|here]].''</small>

[[Image:Kirchers Atlantis.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Atlantis, as drawn by German scholar Athanasius Kircher in the 17th century]]

[[Image:Kirchers Atlantis.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Atlantis, as drawn by German scholar Athanasius Kircher in the 17th century]]

'''Atlantis''' (Greek: Ἀτλαντίδι) is the name given to a legendary island with an advanced civilization supposedly located somewhere in the [[Atlantic Ocean]], though other locations have also been proposed.  A tale of utopia and calamity, Atlantis has long been fodder for the occult, the paranormal, and [[crank]] science; recent archaeological and geological searches of the [[Aegean Sea]] point to [[Crete]], whose Minoan Civilization was largely destroyed by a massive [[vulcano|volcanic]] eruption during the second millennium, B.C.

'''Atlantis''' (Greek: Ἀτλαντίδι) is the name given to a legendary island with an advanced civilization supposedly located somewhere in the [[Atlantic Ocean]], though other locations have also been proposed.  A tale of utopia and calamity, Atlantis has long been fodder for the occult, the paranormal, and [[crank]] science; recent archaeological and geological searches of the [[Aegean Sea]] point to [[Crete]], whose Minoan Civilization was largely destroyed by a massive [[vulcano|volcanic]] eruption during the second millennium, B.C.

Spyridon Marinatos (1901-1974), a Greek archaeologist who continued the earlier excavations on Crete begun by [[Arthur Evans]], was among the first to believe there may have been a connection between the Atlantis myths and the [[Minoan Civilization]], which flourished there up to ca. 1470 B.C., when it disappeared from the historical record.  Like the Atlantis myths, the Minoans were a seafaring nation who made contact with Egypt, and had engaged in rituals and sport involving bulls.  Structures which have been excavated and studied, such as the palace at Knossos, indicated a skill in engineering and architecture superior to any other prior to the Romans.  By 1939, Marinatos' excavations had revealed extensive deposits of volcanic pumice, and he had suggested that the nearby island of Thera - which was then suspected of going through a catastrophic explosion at that point in history - had been the real source of the Atlantis myth.  "The Egyptians unquestionably had heard about the sinking of an island, which was Thera," he wrote, "but this island, small and insignificant, was unknown to them.  This event they transferred to the neighboring Crete, an island which was dreadfully struck, and with which they had lost contact suddenly"<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=WwEOv4Zt8K8C&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=Spyridon+Marinatos+on+atlantis&source=bl&ots=5KBCClttfP&sig=iKvaSjRyiIlqOR3mpKtBy3OafDk&hl=en&ei=aNiATefCGuyD0QH5mLmFCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCIQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=Spyridon%20Marinatos%20on%20atlantis&f=false</ref>.  His search would take him to the islands of Santorini, of which Thera is the largest; on the southernmost side he would discover the city of Akrotiri in 1967, built with a skill surpassing that of Crete.

Spyridon Marinatos (1901-1974), a Greek archaeologist who continued the earlier excavations on Crete begun by [[Arthur Evans]], was among the first to believe there may have been a connection between the Atlantis myths and the [[Minoan Civilization]], which flourished there up to ca. 1470 B.C., when it disappeared from the historical record.  Like the Atlantis myths, the Minoans were a seafaring nation who made contact with Egypt, and had engaged in rituals and sport involving bulls.  Structures which have been excavated and studied, such as the palace at Knossos, indicated a skill in engineering and architecture superior to any other prior to the Romans.  By 1939, Marinatos' excavations had revealed extensive deposits of volcanic pumice, and he had suggested that the nearby island of Thera - which was then suspected of going through a catastrophic explosion at that point in history - had been the real source of the Atlantis myth.  "The Egyptians unquestionably had heard about the sinking of an island, which was Thera," he wrote, "but this island, small and insignificant, was unknown to them.  This event they transferred to the neighboring Crete, an island which was dreadfully struck, and with which they had lost contact suddenly"<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=WwEOv4Zt8K8C&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=Spyridon+Marinatos+on+atlantis&source=bl&ots=5KBCClttfP&sig=iKvaSjRyiIlqOR3mpKtBy3OafDk&hl=en&ei=aNiATefCGuyD0QH5mLmFCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCIQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=Spyridon%20Marinatos%20on%20atlantis&f=false</ref>.  His search would take him to the islands of Santorini, of which Thera is the largest; on the southernmost side he would discover the city of Akrotiri in 1967, built with a skill surpassing that of Crete.

[[Image:Akrotiri Flotilla Fresco.jpg|center|800px|thumb|The Flotilla Fresco, from Akrotiri, Thera]]

[[Image:Akrotiri Flotilla Fresco.jpg|center|800px|thumb|The Flotilla Fresco, from Akrotiri, Thera]]

==References==

==References==