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Santorini & the Atlantis Myth

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Proteus
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« on: May 14, 2007, 01:22:09 pm »

I'd like to say first off that I don't believe Atlantis was Santorini (which is why I am placing this topic here), mainly because there are only superficial comparisons with it at best. However,the eruptions at Mt. St. Helens got me thinking more about the eruption that occurred there at Thera and just how widespread the blast might have been (which is the purpose of this thread).
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« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2007, 01:24:04 pm »

Mainly summarized from Heiken and McCoy (1984), Bond and Sparks (1976), Druitt and others (1989) and Friedrich (1994). Part of the masters' thesis by Tom Pfeiffer (1999), geology department Aarhus, DK, under W. Friedrich.

Introduction

The Minoan eruption happened around 1645 BC in the Late Bronze Age. It was one of the largest plinian eruptions in younger time. It erupted ca. 30-40 km3 rhyodacitic magma and is ranked VEI=6 (Volcanic Explosivity Index after Simkin and others, 1981). The eruption was followed by collapse of the magma chamber that enlarged an existing caldera.
The height of the plinian eruption column is estimated 36-39 km (Pyle, 1990). It dispersed tephra throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and might have led to global climatic impacts. Its deposits on Santorini consist of up to 50 m thick layers of white pumice and ash.

The eruption destroyed an inhabited and culturally high-developed island which perhaps might be the origin of the Atlantis legend as many scientists believe. Since 1969 excavations near Akrotiri have brought to light an important marine Cycladic town famous for its well-preserved and magnificent wall-paintings.

The Minoan eruption has been studied in detail and described by many authors. Among the most important works are Fouqué (1879), Reck (1936), Bond and Sparks (1976), Pichler and Kussmaul (1980), Pichler and Friedrich (1980), Heiken and McCoy (1984) and Druitt and others (1989) (Reference list).

Eruption and tephra sequence

Reck (1936) described 4 major units as BO1, BO2, BO3 and BO4, while Druitt and others (1989) call these Minoan A, Minoan B, Minoan C and Minoan D. Heiken and McCoy (1984) report thin basal units as BO0 that represent precursory volcanic activities before the main eruptive sequence.
Every unit corresponds to a distinct phase of the eruption with its characteristic stile.

Precursory tephra fall unit BO0

Heiken and McCoy (1984, 1990) describe up to 4 very fine-grained yellow, orange-brown and/or light gray layers of fine ashes, lapilli-sized rounded pumice and lithic fragments that are present in southern Thera. Their thickness is in the range of 1 to 4 centimeters.
They interpret them as air-fall deposits of phreatic and phreatomagmatic activity from a vent near the present-day Nea Kameni island that preceded the eruption with a short time interval in the range of some months. Thus, they possibly provided a warning to the inhabitants.



The fine-grained yellowish precursory ash deposit (BO-0) overlying the pre-Minoan soil as it appears in the quarry near Megalochori. A thin veneer of the first pumice fall layer has been preserved from intense quarrying.
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« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2007, 01:24:49 pm »



In places, only the cemented yellow ash layer BO-0 has survived erosion and/or quarrying. Here, it overlies directly a block of the red Cape Riva ignimbrite (21 ka). Quarry of Megalochori. 
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« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2007, 01:25:38 pm »



The yellowish, 2-3 cm thick ash layer BO-0 here seen in the left of the image with a rest of in situ pumice fall deposit in the quarry of Megalochori.
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« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2007, 01:26:55 pm »

First major eruption phase: Plinian pumice fall BO1



Minoan ash is found throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The easterly disperal axis of the tephra blanket indicates the main wind direction at the time of the eruption. After Friedrich (1994).
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« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2007, 01:27:42 pm »



The first pumice fall deposit near Athinios, here about 5 m thick. Walter Friedrich points to holes in the deposit that once were the trunk and branches of a tree. In some of the holes partly charred wood remnants are found, showing that the pumice was still hot enough to burn the tree when it was falling.
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« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2007, 01:28:27 pm »



Detail of a larger partly charred branch in the big hole visible on the left photo. C-14 dating as well as attempts to use the tree for dentrochronology are underway; preliminary results of the C-14 anaylses confirm an age around 1700-1600 BC. For more information please contact Tom Pfeiffer
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« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2007, 01:29:02 pm »

The first phase of the eruption is a typical pumice fall-out deposit from an estimated 36 km high eruption column. It ranges in thickness on Thera from 50-500 cm (Pichler and Friedrich, 1980) or 10 to 600 cm (Heiken and McCoy, 1984). It mantles uniformly the pre-Minoan surface which proofs its origin as fall-out. A clear southeasterly trend in greatest accumulations reflects the dispersal of the tephra-bearing eruption column by strong atmospheric winds (Bond and Sparks, 1976).
The greatest thickness and the largest pumice clasts up to 30 cm are found directly south of Fira in the pumice quarries. This and the position of the isopach lines allow to define the vent. Its position probably was somewhere west of Fira between Cape Katofira and the present-day Nea Kameni island (Pichler and Friedrich, 1980).

The deposit is widespread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean region. Finer particles were transported to great heights and could be transported to long distances. The deposit is clearly present in many deep-sea cores of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and was found in locations on other islands and in western Turkey (Watkins and others, 1978; Sigurdsson and others, 1990).

On Santorini the deposit consists mainly of massive pumice and is only poorly sorted. In most sections, however, it shows a slight reverse grading in clast size which suggests that the eruption was increasing in violence with time (Sparks and Wilson, 1990).

More than 90% of the deposit is coarse white-pink rhyodacitic pumice (sizes typically 0,5-30 cm, 70,5-71,4% SiO2), rare crystal-rich pumice (52,5-63,6% SiO2) and few cauliform-shaped clasts of gray andesitic scoria (58% SiO2). Less than 10% are fine ash and lithic fragments (Druitt and others, 1989).
No signs of magma-water interaction or breaks and changes in eruption style occur; the eruption was a continuous dry event driven only by magmatic gas (Sparks and Wilson, 1990). This adds support to the view that the vent was subaerial and lay on the supposed Pre-Kameni island (Druitt and Francaviglia, 1992).

In its uppermost part a thin (2-40 cm) layer of very fine white ash occurs that Heiken and McCoy (1984) called the "phreatomagmatic break". Its interpretation is the first significant interaction of magma with sea-water that intruded into the enlarged vent and announced the end of this phase
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« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2007, 01:30:41 pm »

Second major eruption phase: Base surge deposit BO2

The deposits of this phase consist of numerous individual beds, mostly white layers of pumice lapilli bearing ash, with abundant lithic blocks and fragments of up to 1-2 m size. Up to 90% of the total volume is fine ash and well-rounded pumice, the latter more present in proximal sections (Heiken and McCoy, 1984). Strong variations in structure and composition are present within the deposit. Lithic fragments and blocks reach up to 20% of the volume and mark prominent beds (Heiken and McCoy, 1984).
Eroding contacts to the underlying phase 1 deposits, cross-stratification, ripple-, dune- and antidune-structures and bomb-sags implying ballistic transport for the larger blocks are characteristic.



Large ballistic block from the second phase on top of Mt. Profitis Ilias, ca. 7 km away from the vent. Note that the block has split in two on impact and penetrated into the first pumice fall layer BO-1.

Pichler (1973) was the first to interpret the second phase deposits as pyroclastic base-surges produced by phreatomagmatic explosions. As the result of cracks, fissures and vent-erosion seawater entered the crater and produced violent explosions that pulverized the magma and ejected large lithic blocks. Similar explosions were observed during atom-bomb tests. These produced fast-travelling, ring-shaped clouds that expand and spread horizontally away from the center (Friedrich, 1994).
The bedding structures show that the bulk of the material was transported laterally within individual flows moving at high velocity (15-50 m/s) (Pichler and Friedrich, 1980). The deposits are controlled by topography. Close to the vent they climb up slopes of 10-30E and reach heights of 200-400 m (Heiken and McCoy, 1984), whereas further away they thin out considerably and are lacking on most of Mt. Profitis Ilias.
In the lowest parts of phase 2 up to 2 pumice air-fall beds are present which are similar to the phase 1 fall-out unit. They show that phase 1 activity continued for a while after the beginning of phase 2, or that there was a period of fluctuation in erupting style on the transition from dry to phreatomagmatic activity (Heiken and McCoy, 1984).
Measuring the degree of pumice vesiculation, Wilson and Houghton (1990) found that during the whole eruption magma had vesiculated before the level of fragmentation, thus concluding that water-magma interaction occurred above this level, in a shallow depth of possibly a few hundreds of meters.

Literature data for phase 2 thickness differ considerably. Pichler and Friedrich (1980) report 0,5-7 m, Bond and Sparks (1976) and Heiken and McCoy (1984) give 0,1-12 m. The difference could be explained by the gradual transition of BO2 into the phase 3 deposits as evident in many sections.

From the point of their greatest thickness between Fira and Cape Athinios and from ballistic impact sags, Pichler and Friedrich (1980) conclude a vent position similar to that of phase 1. Heiken and McCoy (1984; in press) measured a number of flow directions within that phase and found a more or less radial pattern of flow-directions pointing from a central area south of Kameni Island.



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« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2007, 01:32:11 pm »




View of a 25m-high exposure of Minoan tephra in the quarry near Megalochori at the caldera cliff. The first pumice fall phase BO-1 overlies the dark Minoan paleosoil (lower middle of photo), followed by a thick sucession of BO-2 cross-bedded dune-forming surges and lithic-rich ash-flows of BO-3 (upper part of wall).

Third major eruption phase: Ash-flows BO3

At most localities the base surge deposits grade into a chaotic, unsorted, massive lithic-rich flow deposit that is most prominent along the caldera cliffs.
It consists of fine ashes, pumice and 25-30% lithic fragments and blocks up to 10 m or more in diameter. It thickens strongly into topographic lows (Friedrich, 1994). Along the caldera rim it reaches maximum thickness of 40 m (Pichler and Friedrich, 1980), 55 m on southern Thera (Heiken and McCoy, 1984) and thins out rapidly at greater distances. On the Profitis Ilias Mountain it is missing (Heiken and McCoy, 1984).
Within the matrix of usually very fine vesiculated ash occasional degassing pipes occur. This implies emplacement with 3 components: pyroclasts, liquid water and gas (steam) (Sparks and Wilson 1990). Lithics and larger pumice blocks sometimes show concentrations that can be traced, horizontally and some few hundreds of m downflow. They define individual flow units (Sparks and Wilson, 1990).

Only a few of the larger lithic blocks show clearly ballistic impact sags; most of the lithics were obviously transported by flows (Sparks and Wilson, 1990). The flows must have been very energetic, as they are present on slopes as steep as 30E on the upper flanks of Micro Profitis and Megalo Vouno Mountain and because many intraclasts are sheared in the flow direction (Heiken and McCoy, 1984).
Studies from Wright (1978) and McCleeland and Thomas (1990) report different results concerning emplacement temperatures. Some of the deposits seem to have been emplaced cold, others at temperatures up to 400E C.

The origin of the phase 3 deposits is controversial:
Bond and Sparks (1976) interpret the deposits as mud-flows due to apse of a giant tuff-ring built up by the surge flows.
Pichler and Friedrich (1980) consider them rather ash-flows that were produced from an extremely enlarged vent and like "boiling milk" poured over the caldera-rim. The large amount of lithic fragments is seen as the result from beginning caldera collapse.
Heiken and McCoy (1984, p.8454) recognize a multiple emplacement facies comprising:
- ballistic (proximal, on the caldera rim),
- base surge (proximal, in the south-western corner of the caldera complex),
- mud-flows (distal, on the outer flanks of most of Thera and all of Therasia) and
- slumps (distal, on steep slopes of the Profitis Ilias Mountain).

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« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2007, 01:33:42 pm »

Fourth major eruption phase: Ignimbrite or reworked (?) BO4

Phase 4 deposits differ from phase 3 by a subtle color change from white to cream colored; they are finer grained with smaller lithic blocks and pumice clasts; the total lithic concentration, however, is significantly higher (34-50%) (Bond and Sparks, 1976). Phase 4 contains abundant different flow units usually marked by concentrations of normal-graded lithics or erosional contacts (Bond and Sparks, 1976). On the caldera rim the deposits are thin (0,7-2 m, Heiken and McCoy, 1984), if present at all, but form thick fan-shaped units up to 40 m thick on the coastal plains (Bond and Sparks, 1976).

Their origin is controversial:
Pichler and Kussmaul (1980), and Friedrich (1994; in press) believe that they are reworked phase 3 deposits. Processes like intensive flooding during and after the caldera collapse, rainfall, tsunamis, wind, agriculture and other factors could have eroded and washed away large parts of the Minoan tuff. Especially where it originally was deposited on steeper slopes, it would be easily removed by such processes and deposited in the coastal plains. On the outer flanks of Profitis Ilias, Mikro Profitis Ilias and Megalo Vouno Mountain the effects of erosion are visible: the Minoan tuff has virtually disappeared.
Bond and Sparks (1976), Heiken and McCoy (1984) and Sparks and Wilson (1990) argue that the deposits are ignimbrites, hot gas-rich and highly fluid pyroclastic flows that only came to rest "on low gradient (1-2° ) slopes" (Bond and Sparks, 1976, p. 7). The eruption-sequence from Plinian fall-out over phreatomagmatic deposits to ignimbrite-forming styles is a frequent observed feature.
They support their interpretation by the presence of typical lag-breccia, gas-segregation pipes, the existence of many individual flow units which follow the topographic valleys, and occasional co-ignimbrite ash-fall deposits interbedded within the flow units described by Sparks and Walker (1977). Furthermore, studies of Wright (1978), Downey and Tarling (1984) and McCleeland and Thomas (1990) indicate hot emplacement temperatures from 200 to 400E C.
The primary magmatic origin of the phase 4 deposits is questioned by some authors (e.g. Friedrich, 1994, 2000).



http://www.decadevolcano.net/santorini/minoaneruption.htm

http://forums.atlantisrising.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001027

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« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2007, 03:10:46 pm »



The white Minoan pumice and ash
tuff covers most of the island
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« Reply #12 on: May 14, 2007, 03:12:17 pm »

MODELS OF THE PRE-MINOAN ISLAND (prior to ca. 1645 BC)



Introduction

Until about 20 years ago, it was thought that the shape of the island before the Minoan eruption was circular with a central cone or a system of several overlapping volcanic shields. This model, however, has been considerably modified over the last years (see graphic to the left).

Evidence has been found that the present-day caldera that consists of several basins existed already before the eruption, at least in parts.
This evidence can be summarized as follows:

1. First of all, if the pre-Minoan island was a central cone the volume of the caldera collapse would be around ca. 60 km3 (Druitt and Francaviglia, 1992) which exceeds greatly all dense rock estimations of the total eruption volume, most probably 27-30 km3 DRE (Pyle, 1990). Such a huge discrepancy between the collapse and eruption volume is difficult to explain.

2. The Minoan deposits dip into the caldera at several points, especially in southern Thera and on Therasia, thus indicating that a depression existed before (Pichler and Friedrich, 1980; Heiken and McCoy, 1984; Friedrich, 1994).

3. Stromatolites occur in the deposits and are described by Eriksen and others (1990). Their analysis showed that probably in the northern basin a shallow sea-flooded lagoon existed before the eruption where these stromatolites grew.

4. Druitt and Francaviglia (1990) found deposits of the Minoan pumice plastered in situ at some places on the inner side of the present caldera wall thus proofing that the walls existed before. Further, they observe that other parts of the northern cliffs are relatively eroded and probably not from the Minoan collapse but from the previous Cape Riva collapse.


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Friedrich (1994)'s and other recent reconstructions of pre-Minoan Santorini are qualitatively equal and based upon the one from Druitt and Francaviglia (1990). Druitt and Francaviglia (1991) claim that their model is the up-to-date most accurate one.
It shows a caldera that looked quite similar to the present one with a central volcanic island (Pre-Kameni). Its existence is supported by the presence of abundant black, glassy dacite blocks in the 3rd phase products that are similar to the Kameni lavas but absent in other lithologies on Santorini (Druitt and Francaviglia, 1991).

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« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2007, 03:13:39 pm »



Judging that the total volume of lithics within the deposits is at least 5 km3 (after the published data of Heiken and McCoy (1984) and Pyle (1990)) they estimate that "the volume of the intracaldera volcano (pre-Kameni) must have been at least 3 km3" (Druitt and Francaviglia, 1991, p. 492).
Based on the assumption that the pre-Minoan caldera was shallow, they calculate the corresponding caldera collapse volume to be 22" 1 km3 or 25" 1 km3 if the volume of Pre-Kameni is included. If a Minoan tuff layer of 80-120 m within the present caldera is added the figure rises by 5-8 km3 and the total collapse volume then is about 29-34 km3. If the collapse volume equals the eruption volume, this number corresponds well to the dense-rock estimation of the total erupted magma-volume of 30-33 km3 published by Pyle (1990).
 


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http://www.decadevolcano.net/santorini/preminoan.htm
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« Reply #14 on: May 14, 2007, 03:19:49 pm »

Could Santorini have been Atlantis?

Many serious investigators think that the source of the legend is actually the Minoan eruption of Santorini.
Why? There are some fairly convincing arguments:
1. Plato tells about a circular island with concentric structures. Santorini today does have an impressive concentric geographic setting and had it also before the Minoan eruption. This has come out as a result of detailed geologic studies during the past 20 years, see the chapter of the reconstruction of the ring-shaped pre-Minoan island with a central shield. Furthermore Heiken and McCoy (1990) indicated that the famous picture in the West House from the Akrotiri excavations most likely represents a relatively naturalistic portrait of Thera. It shows an inhabited and flowering island landscape and the departing Therean fleet, and actually some concentric water-land ring structures are visible, too.

2. Plato writes that Atlantis was situated in the ocean, beyond the "Pillars of Hercules". The "Pillars of Hercules" were at Platon's time the Straigts of Gibraltar and this would put Atlantis into the Atlantic Ocean. Further, Plato tells that Atlantis was bigger than Libya and Asia together. If one believes Plato literally, Atlantis was then outside of the Mediterranean region. But it is also possible that Solon or Plato either were misinterpreting their old sources or that Plato put it willingly far beyond the Greek-influenced world..
- The first possibility could be explained by the fact that the original text was much older and the Pillars of Hercules had not necessarily always been associated with the Straigts of Gibraltar; it could very well have meant a place within the Aegean Sea. The association of pillars could even be an allusion to the giant eruption cloud from the Minoan eruption (almost 40 km high) that undoubtedly was visible in the whole Eastern Mediterranean and virtually reached the sky. How could such a sight be forgotten? Then, there is the connection to the mythical titan Atlas who held the sky upon the shoulders. The idea is temptating.
- Putting Atlantis and its civilisation far away from the ancient world would also suit Plato's intention of providing a antitheses to the Greek society and its values that he defends. This is clearly Plato's major purpose in his account. - The same is true for Plato's words, "bigger than Libya and Asia together". Also it has been interpreted that Plato or someone before him in the chain of the oral or written tradition of the report accidentially changed the very similar Greek words for "bigger than" ("meson") and "between" ("mezon"). If this was the case, Atlantis could be identical with Santorin (Luce, 1969). Besides, it is geologically not possible that a large continent could disappear in a dramatic event, i.e. in a very short time span. There is nowhere on earth such evidence.

3. Galanopoulos and Bacon (1969) argue that the date for the destruction of Atlantis Plato gives as 9000 years before his time should be read as 900 years and that there was an erroneous translation by Solon from the old Egyptian number system. Plato lived ca. 300 BC and Solon's journey to Egypt had taken place about 300 years earlier. Adding the figures, the Atlantis event should have taken place around 1500 BC, in good agreement to the recent datings of the Minoa eruption 1640BC. It is also imaginable, that 900 years looked not far enough in time for Platon (or Solon etc.). Putting it far into the past adds weight to the historic self-conception of the Athenians. Also, as far as Archeologists know (and they know a lot about the past of Athens...), there is no trace of a highly advanced Athenian culture at around 9000BC. From our knowledge's point of view, 9000 years must be wrong, or invented. Almost certainly.

4. The exiting archaeological findings on Thera (near Akrotiri) clearly demonstrate that before the Minoan eruption there was a developed, rich, and probably oligarchic marine community whose flourishing economy was provided by intensive trade, shipping, and probably vine, too, - like at present (Doumas, 1983). We do not know what happened to these people. So far, no human body has been found killed by the eruption. It seems that they had been warned in time to evacuate the island. That means even if Platos completely invented the story, it is still true. Something like he describes has happened on Santorini 1640BC.
An event of that size must have had enormous impressions on the people living at that time. It is difficult to imagine that the eruption, which was much bigger than the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption, was completely forgotten in history. But strangely, no unambiguous sources seem to refer directly to the event. On the other hand, there are several ancient myths and hints that could allude to it including the plagues reported in the bible, but the most evident one, the one that fits best to the event is Plato's Atlantis legend.

5. Probably, there were no close eyewitnesses of the eruption that could survive and give a direct report. What the ancient people experienced, must have been terrifying. If one compares the Minoan with the much smaller 79AD Vesuvius and the 1883 Krakatau eruptions one gets an idea of the circumstances of the eruption. The 30-40 km high eruption cloud was seen from hundreds of km and the thundering noise from the explosions must have been heard in almost the whole known world. Ash and pumice was falling throughout the Easter Mediterranean and lasted for several days or weeks (see Figure). East of Santorini, the sky could have been completely dark for hours or days. Probably, tsunamis were generated (like in the Krakatau eruption) and likely devastated the coasts of Crete and other surrounding islands. On a global scale, even the climate might have changed for some years, causing colder weather and failed crops.
It is a matter of speculation how long it took until the first curious visitors arrived again by ship and visited Thera. Considering the possible destructive effects of the eruption and the fact that the sea due to rafting pumice must have been innavigatable for months (as was the case for the much smaller historic 726AD eruption of Palea Kameni), at least some time (years, decades ?) could have passed before a human being first saw the changed island. Was among these people somebody who knew the island before the eruption? Would he or she have recognised it? Probably not. When Vesuvius erupted in 1631, some villages were completely buried beneath ash, and people could not find their houses and fields any more. Santorini erupted 3000 years earlier and 100 times stronger.
Thera itself would have presented to these people a picture of complete destruction and profound change and there would have been visible no trace at all of what existed before, everything being covered with white and unstable masses of ash subject to frequent landslides and other forms of erosion. Furthermore, the shape of the island was largely changed. Some steep slopes had been smoothed and new coastal plains created by the ash flows, the isolated rock of Monolithos, previously a small island, had been integrated. Most striking of all, parts of the former ring-shaped island had subsided and disappeared during caldera collapse. Probably it was not a very pleasant and inviting sight. That explains that no traces of resettlement occur on the island for many hundreds years after the eruption.
Probably the first people who repopulated the island centuries later were the Phoenicians. A new part of history began then; antique legends refer to Thera, then also called 'Callisti' (gr. = the most beautiful one) as a present by the God Triton to the the Argonauts, as for example reported by Pindar (4th Pyth. Ode, Verse 10).

6. Some details of Platon's story are clearly describing volcanic phenomena. Such are the colours Platos describes of being typical of the rocks of Atlantis: black (lava), white (pumice and ash) and red (lava). These are the colours of Santorini. The warm and cold springs are typical of volcanic places and still found on Santorini today. Most obvious, the way the gods, i.e. nature for us, destroyed Atlantis: by earthquake, fire and lightning. Lightning is always accomanying huge eruption columns and probably the most impressive sign of a terrible event if observed from far. From close rage, nobody could have survived. Another hint is the mentioned mud that remained at the site of Atlantis. It is enough to translate mud with the enormous masses of pumice and ash from the eruption that floated on the sea.

REFERENCES:

- Friedrich, W.L. (1994) Feuer im Meer. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin Oxford, 256 p.

- Galanopoulos, A:G: and Bacon, E. (1969) "Atlantis. The Truth behind the Legend." Nelson, London

- Luce, J.V. (1969) "The End of Atlantis - New Light on an Old Legend." Thames and Hudson, London, 224 p.


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