Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος

Abstract

In the 4th century BC the great Athenian philosopher Plato described in his dialogs Timaios and Critias a huge state, which he called Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, the Island Atlantis. Until now, this island could not be localized with absolute certainty. In this paper a new approach to the analysis of Plato’s dialogues is described and the results of this analysis are presented. By means of a hierarchical constraint satisfaction procedure, a variety of geographically relevant indications from the antique texts is used to infer the most probable location of the island of Atlantis. Surprisingly, this turns out to be the Souss-Massa plain in today’s Southwest Morocco. This plain is surrounded by the High Atlas, the Anti-Atlas, the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara in the further South and East. Because of this isolated position, the Amazigh (Berber) People actually call the Souss-Massa plain island. Not only global (large scale) but also regional (mid scale) and local (small scale) geographic and geologic attributes of the Souss-Massa plain can be matched to the descriptions of Plato. In addition, cultural and linguistic correlations can be firmly established. In this context, an interesting analogy with the Heracles myth was found: The “Golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides” can be understood as fruits of the Argan tree (Argania spinosa) which is endemic in this particular region.

Of major archaeological interest is the fact that in the Northwest of the Souss-Massa plain a large circular geomorphologic structure was discovered. This structure fits the dimensions of Plato’s capital of Atlantis. Moreover, this structure is covered with hundreds of large and small prehistoric ruins of different types. The presence of substantial landscaping at the site and several findings of prehistoric artefacts provide even more circumstantial evidence to the author’s localization hypothesis.

The Atlantis Enigma

In Plato’s account Atlantis was a naval power lying in front of the Pillars of Hercules that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years before the time of Solon, or approximately 11,600 years before today. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean in a single day and night of misfortune. Since Plato gave a highly detailed account of Atlantis, many people have over the years attempted to search for this island (currently more than 100 different hypotheses coexist), but until now with poor archaeologically verifiable evidence. To keep this in perspective, the Atlantis mystery can be described as follows:

* One question (Where was Atlantis located?).
* Multiple indications (close to an ocean, many high mountains, etc…).
* Multiple possible solutions (Santorini, Troy, etc…).
* Only one true solution: Either Atlantis never existed or Atlantis is located at a specific place on the Earth, whereby the latter should be archaeologically verifiable.

Hierarchical Constraint Satisfaction

Fortunately, this kind of problem can be approached by a method called hierarchical constraint satisfaction, which is commonly used in computer science for similar problems. Using this method, we first need to classify all the indications given by Plato. Since we are searching the whole of Earth’s surface, these classes should be of a hierarchical geographical type, namely:

* The class of global indications (GI)
* The class of regional indications (RI)
* The class of local indications (LI)

Indications relating to a very large geographical area are classified as global (e.g. the name Island Atlantis indicates vicinity to the sea or ocean => the area of all oceans including coastlines is potentially the area where Atlantis was located => oceans are of global size => GI). Indications that can be related to a geographical, geological or cultural attribute of sub-global size are classified as regional (geographical: there should be a wide plain; geological: there should be iron, silver, gold and tin ore deposits; cultural: the Atlanteans had blue clothes => RI). Indications describing details which are very small on a geographical scale are classified as local (e.g. the concentric structure of the capital of Atlantis).

Step 1: Masking & Visualization of Global Indications

All global indications can now be used to constrain the area of Atlantis. This can simply be done by creating indication layers or masks, which can be laid over an Athens-centric world map. Each layer “greys out” the subjacent map where the respective indication does not apply. In doing so, it is more important to over-dimension the mapping of the indication (in dubio pro reo) than to precisely work out where an indication applies and where not. Afterwards all masks (indication layers) are combined. An area of the map which is shaded by all masks, is shown in black (Atlantis is most probably not located here). An area which is not shaded by any mask is therefore still visible in white (Atlantis is most probably located here). Each area, where at least one ore more indications do not apply, is accordingly shown in grey. This is an example of an global indication layer (please refer to the paper (Huebner, 2009), section 2 “Indication Classification” for a complete list of indications and indication layers):

Global Indication 02 – Atlantis should be located close to a sea or ocean

„Bordering on the sea [...] there was a plain [...]“ (Crit. 113c)

If the core plain of Atlantis is located at the sea, Atlantis should also be located at the sea or ocean.

This indication layer supports at least a 200 km wide area along the shoreline of all continents and islands, whereby it is more probable that Atlantis is located within the white than within the gray area. The white area includes a 100 km wide strip of land, based on the shoreline of today’s sea level and a 100 km wide strip of sea, based on a shoreline of 15.000 years ago, and everything in between.

Combination of Global Indication Layers

Figure 2 shows a combination of global indications GI (i.e.: GI02 Close to a Sea, GI05 Presence of Elephants, GI06 Close to and south of many high mountains, etc.) leads to the most probable ‘region’ for Atlantis, which is located in North-West Africa in today’s Morocco (the little white spot on the resulting map).

Conclusions from the Analysis of Global Indications

The most probable ‘region’ for Atlantis is located in North-West Africa in today’s Morocco. All global indications apply. More precisely, the core region of Atlantis must be located in South Morocco south of the High Atlas (because of global indication GI06 “Close to and south of many high mountains”) on the so-called Souss-Massa plain. In this context an interesting fact could be noticed: The Souss-Massa plain is located beyond the Pillars of Heracles, at the Atlantic Ocean, south of the High Atlas. The concepts of ‘Pillars of Heracles’, ‘Atlantic’ and the name ‘Atlas’ are also indications mentioned by Plato, but are not used to constrain this region. The most improbable area for Atlantis is to the North-East of Athens, where only the global indication “Routinely reachable from Athens” (GI01) applies.

In addition to this visual method, we can also compute a hypothesis support value for each area under consideration, which gives us a more accurate and compareable result. Please refer to the paper (Huebner, 2009), section 4 “Hypothesis Support” for details.

Step 2: Examination of Regional Indications

The Souss-Massa plain needs to be submitted to a careful examination, to see if all regional indications also apply. For this purpose, the author made two expeditions to the region of the Souss-Massa plain in April 2007 and May 2008.

The following indications are an excerpt out of 31 regional and local indications (which all apply to the Souss-Massa plain):

Regional Indication 01 – Island

“[...] there lay an island [Atlantis] [...]” (Tim. 24e)

Today the Souss-Massa plain and its adjacent valleys are indeed called island by the native Amazigh people. The Amazigh are said to have inhabited this area for at least 5,000 years. This metaphor was most probably coined by ancient or pre-ancient merchants. These merchants named the Souss-Massa plain an island, because it is surrounded by high mountains in the North, East and South and the Atlantic Ocean in the West. Moreover it is also surrounded by the Sahara in the far South and East. The easiest and fastest trade route to this plain, especially from the Eastern Mediterranean, was by sea (through the pillars of Heracles and along the shore of West Africa). During the so-called Green Sahara Period (approx 8,500 – 1,200 BC), this plain (and the Sahara) (Kröpelin, 2008) must have been a huge fertile oasis (with rhinos, giraffes, elephants and crocodiles) suitable for agricultural use.

Plato also attributed this island to be of continental size (Tim. 25e) and to have innumerable dwellers (Crit. 119a). From a scientific point of view, it is improbable that such a huge island sank into the sea within this geologically short time range (of ~10,000 years) even less probable in one day and one night (Tim. 25d).

The indication island applies to the Souss-Massa plain. Also the indication continental size applies to the Souss-Massa plain, since it is part of the continent Africa.

Regional Indication 04 – Buildings of Red, White and Black Stone

„And the stone [...] some of it being white, some black and some red“ (Crit. 116b)

“And of the buildings some they framed of one simple color, in others they wove a pattern of many colors [...]” (Crit. 116b)

This figure shows new and older buildings in Agadir made out of the natural red, white and black stone, which is quarried in the Souss-Massa plain. The patterns used are reminiscent of symbols of the Amazigh alphabet Tifinagh, which is at least 2,000 years old.

There are buildings made from coloured stones (particularly red, white and black) and bricklayers use “weaving” patterns.

Regional Indication 10 – Region Named after Gadeiros

“And the name of his [Atlas] younger twinbrother [Gadeiros], who had for his portion the extremity of the island near the pillars of Heracles up to the part of the country now called Gadeira after the name of that region [...]” (Crit. 114b)

Today’s Agadir is a fast growing town with 670.000 inhabitants located at the Atlantic Ocean on the North of the Souss-Massa plain. Since masculine substantives begin in Tamazight with an affix A-, I- or U- and masculine substantives end in Greek with an suffix -os, the name of the town A-Gadir and the Hellenized Gadeir-os has the same meaning: the Gadir. The Tamazight word Gadir derives etymologically from the Semitic g-d-r, which means wall, fortification, enclosure (Kossmann, TBP), (Vycichl, 1952) and also sheep fold. The meaning of enclosure, sheep fold also correspond to the Greek translation of the name Gadeiros (Crit. 114b) which is Eumelos = Rich in Sheep (Perseus Digital Library, 2008).

Agadir vs. Gadeiros
A- G A D I R
G A D EI R -OS

Even today, there is a region named after Gadeiros.

Regional Indication OI02 – The Golden Apples of the Hesperides

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas Mountains in Libya. In this garden a golden apple bearing tree grew which was guarded by a dragon named Ladon. The Hesperides were the daughters of king Atlas.

Until now it was assumed that The Golden Apples of the Hesperides were quinces. But the Argan tree (Argania spinosa), which is endemic to the Souss-Massa plain in Southwest Morocco, gives a more plausible explanation for this apple bearing tree. The appearance of the Argan fruit reminds in fact of small golden apples. Also the aroma reminds of baked apple, but the fruit has an unpleasantly flavoured layer of pulpy pericarp. This surrounds the very hard nut, which contains one (occasionally two or three) small, oil-rich seeds. This oil is very expensive and it has a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acid and vitamin E and an excellent taste. The oil from the unroasted nuts is traditionally used as a treatment for skin diseases (unguent) by the Amazigh, and has found favour with European cosmetics manufacturers. Argan oil was probably exported as luxury merchandise in ancient times. This could be the reason why Heracles (in his eleventh labour) was sent to carry the apples to Greece for the purpose of cultivation (but in the end without success, because the Argan needs very special cultivation conditions => Athena returned the apples to their rightful place, in the garden of the Hesperides). The Argan tree is probably also mentioned in Plato’s account: “[...] trees which afford liquid and solid food and unguents [...]” (Crit. 115a) (please refer to (Huebner, 2009), section 2 “Regional Indication 17″ and “The Golden Apples of the Hesperides”), whereby the nut is solid food, the oil is liquid food and unguents. In Greek mythology the tree of these golden apples is guarded by the always-awake, hundred-headed dragon Ladon (on Greek illustrations usually a snake with two or more heads). The legend tells that for every drop of Ladon’s blood that fell on the ground a dragon tree grew. A simple explanation for this image of The Dragon Ladon could be the Argan tree itself because it has thorn-equipped branches and the bark looks similar to the skin of a reptile. The trunk is the body, the branches are the (hundred) heads, the thorns are the teeth and the Argan fruits are the blood drops. Heracles striking this dragon dead probably means he cut the tree down (to have the fruits within reach).

Step 3: Examination of Local Indications

All of the local indications also need to be examined. For this purpose, another expedition to the region, with a specific site in mind, was made in September 2008. This site has several of the characteristics of the capital city of Atlantis (especially, the distance from the Ocean, its location on the margins of the Souss-Massa plain, its circular geomorphology and its scale). Please refer to (Huebner & Huebner, 2009) for a more detailed documentation of this site.

Local Indication 02 – Location within the Plain

“[...] at a distance [from the sea] of about 50 stades, there stood a mountain [...]” (Crit. 113c)

“[…] a wall which began at the sea and ran round in a circle, at a uniform distance of fifty stades from the largest circle and harbour, and its ends converged at the seaward mouth of the channel” (Crit. 117e)

The capital city of Atlantis should be located in a distance of about 50 stades from the sea. Depending on which scale is taken as a basis (1 Sumerian stade = 148.5 m, 1 Attic stade = 177.6 m, 1 Egyptian stade = 211 m) we have a distance of 7.425 km (Sumerian), 8.875 km (Attic) and 10.55 km (Egyptian) to the sea. In reality, the distance from the Atlantic Ocean to the structure is approximately 12 km and therefore the Egyptian stade applies best.

The Tagragra structure is located at a distance of about 56 Egyptian stades (in Plato’s account 50 stades) from the sea and it has a diameter of about 25 Egyptian stades (in Plato’s account 27 stades).

Local Indication 04 – Attributes of the Circular Structure,
Local Indication 06 – Traces of Prehistoric Settlement

This circular geomorphologic structure is located 8 km East of Agadir in a landscape called Tagragra and is situated between the shore of the Atlantic Ocean (12 km), the Souss River (5 km) and a branch of the western Atlas Mountains (2 km). Click here to view the Google Maps of the precise area. The geological origin of the structure is most probably an anticline. It has a diameter of ~5 km with surrounding hills and strongly resembles a volcanic crater, though no volcanism has been found in this particular area. The subsoil is composed mainly from lime and marlstone. The central hill has a diameter of ~3 km and a maximum high of ~325 m above sea level. Inside the formation and on the surrounding hills many ruins of different types were discovered. Among them are foundation walls of large buildings, semicircular stone wall fragments, oval and horseshoe-shaped floorings, caverns and lime kilns, etc. Old paths and substantial landscaping were also discovered. All buildings are completely ruined and gave the impression of Stone Age buildings. Most of the buildings were found in the central area of the formation.

An exegesis for Plato’s statement of three concentric water rings could be the three main wadis coming out of the inner of the structure. These wadis open out into the river Souss. The wadi (b), which is the closest to the Atlantic Ocean, is hereby the biggest, because its spring is located beyond the structure in the High Atlas and it has therefore many tributaries. The two smaller wadis collect their water in the inner of the circular structure.

Overview of Rivers
(a) Estuary of the Souss, (b) First Wadi passing the Structure, (c) Second Wadi flowing out of the Structure, (d) Third Wadi flowing out of the Structure, (e) Wadi partly encircling the Structure.

The enormous size of the settlement, the large number of ruins and the fact that it is located in and around a circular caldera-like geomorphologic structure make this site much different from other well known prehistoric sites.

Conclusion

Using hierarchical constraint satisfaction for the analysis of Plato’s account of Atlantis points us to a large circular geomorphologic structure, covered with many (pre-) ancient ruins. This structure is situated within the Souss-Massa plain at the Atlantic Ocean in today’s South Morocco. The plain and its adjacent valleys are indeed called island by the native Amazigh people. The Amazigh are said to have inhabited this area for at least 5,000 years. Moreover, nearly all other indications from Plato’s account apply to this plain and the circular structure. The Island Atlantis lies at the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Pillars of Heracles, south of high mountains (the High Atlas), just as described by Plato. Also the Heracles myth seems to be based on pre-historic facts, which partly could have the same geographical origin as Plato’s Atlantis account.

Distress Call

Unfortunately the Tagragra archaeological site is exposed to massive destruction by local building companies (please refer to (Huebner & Huebner, 2009) for details) and should be preserved from this destruction by all adequate means. A scientifically investigation of this site could lead to a better understanding of the ancient interconnections of this territory with other regions, especially with East Mediterranean cultures (Greek, Egyptian and proto-Arabic). Otherwise there is going to be an immense loss to mankind and treasures that have a particular importance for Morocco’s and the World’s cultural heritage may be lost for ever. This ancient settlement should be included on the List of World Heritage in Danger asap (in accordance with Art. 11 (4) of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention).

Additional information can be found in the book: Atlantis? Ein Indizienbeweis, ISBN 978-3981215007

References

* Michael Huebner. “Circumstantial evidence for Plato’s Island Atlantis in the Souss-Massa plain in today’s South-Morocco. TBP in “Proceedings of the International Conference 2008 on “The Atlantis Hypothesis: Searching for a Lost Land”.
* Michael Huebner, Sebastian Huebner. “Evidence for a Large Prehistoric Settlement in a Caldera-Like Geomorphologic Structure in Southwest Morocco. TBP in “Proceedings of the International Conference 2008 on “The Atlantis Hypothesis: Searching for a Lost Land”.

Visit the author’s website: asalas.org

* Article is reproduced by kind permission of the author