Morocco and Eastern Atlantis

There was an article some years ago in Ancient American about this area during Roman times, all the north-west corner of the continent then called Mauritania....recounting quite an amazing story.

The king of that country had such a good relation with Rome that he was the only non-Roman ruler within the Roman Empire. He was literate and very immersed in artsand immensely wealthy, as was the line he came from. His son (or daughter) was married to a Ptolemy offspring of Cleopatra apparently, and had close relations with Egypt. There were many Romans that lived throughout Mauritania. Then Nero was in control in Rome and quickly ran through the state coffers....he set upon a plan to get more money by "inviting" the Mauritanian king to officially visit Rome, a summons that could not be refused. It is possible that his plan was to hold the king hostage, but at any rate the king died in the process....

When the Mauritanians heard of the crazy events which led to the death of their king, they arose and killed ALL the Romans living in the country. Meanwhile the king's ship made it's way back. Now Nero had no choice but to send ships to Mauritania and kill the royals and confiscate the treasury. Very neat!

However, the remaining royals, including the Ptolemy progeny (and rumored, the mummy of Cleopatra) scooped up the treasury and with an army of followers took off south for Senegal, long famous for ship-building, captains and able sea men. The Romans, following overland, arrived too late and they were not heard of again.

The author speculates that the contingent of ships followed the current easily across the Atlantic to the "new world" and ended up eventually sailing up the Mississippi to the upper mid-west where there are claims of traces of them in various places.

Interesting story, regardless of whether it's true or not, eh?