EVIDENCE OF ATLANTIS

The “Quest for Atlantis”

A website named “Quest for Atlantis” also examines some interesting facts surrounding the languages and writings of our remote past. It is a collection of materials from various scientific fields such as anthropology, geology, linguistics, archeology, paleontology, and ancient writings. The site ties information from these subject areas together with various legends and mythical stories to create a scientific basis for the historical existence of a place called Atlantis. The website is based on a book22 of the same name by Dr. R. Cedric Leonard. It highlights many areas the book covered and updates others. Dr. Leonard's credentials include a major in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma where he received his B.A. degree. Although concentrated on archaeology, his studies included Latin, Attic Greek, Classical Sanskrit and Linguistics. Majoring in languages at Oklahoma City University, he studied New Testament Greek under Prof. Thurman McGee--and schooled himself in the basics of Egyptian hieroglyphics. He also majored in Comparative Religion at the Kansas City College of Philosophy where he received his Doctorate in 1966.23

“Quest for Atlantis” offers an interesting and varied approach to the study of Atlantis. The website has separate articles from the above mentioned scientific fields summarizing the findings and offering possible different conclusions from the available evidence that would be proof of Atlantis. Some of the material is of course from Dr. Leonard's own area of expertise: linguistics and ancient writings. Dr. Leonard writes,

Scholars the world over have repeatedly declared that ancient sources describing Atlantis are plentiful, "but before Plato - nothing". They make such a declaration because of several reasons. (1) They disregard every record in which Atlantis is not mentioned by name. (2) Atlantis must be spelled the same way Plato spells it. (3) They are unfamiliar with the Sanskrit writings of India. These criteria are totally invalid.

He then describes two sources that pre-date Plato: ancient Egypt and India. From Egypt, Dr. Leonard describes the four basic facts known about the earliest Egyptian "rulers":

Plato described Atlantis as being ruled by ten kings before its demise. Egyptian king-lists going back thousands of years before Plato (we will look at one example here) establish four important facts which we should notice. They are:

Egyptian tradition begins with the "reign of the gods"
In all there were ten of these so-called "god-kings"
They were said to have reigned in a foreign country
From all appearances they were called "Atlanteans"
This last statement will be challenged by scholars, so let's take a closer look at the Egyptian king-lists. One noticeable fact is that Manetho (250 B.C.) calls the first series of kings who ruled during the "reign of the gods," Auriteans. This seems to be nothing more than a corruption of the word "Atlantean". Let me explain.

Egyptian hieroglyphics only approximate real sounds: for instance, a hieroglyphic "k" must be used to represent the hard "g" sound. The hieroglyph that Manetho transcribed as r can equally be transcribed as an l. Thus the "Auriteans" of Manetho's king-lists could just as well be "Auliteans": phonetically almost identical to "Atlanteans". This idea obtains credible support from the fact that the ancient Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon (1193 B.C.) calls these very same kings "Aleteans" (Cory, 1826). Isn't it likely that Aleteans=Atlanteans?