Atlantis: The Antediluvian World

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Atlantis: The Antediluvian World
Author	Ignatius L. Donnelly
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject(s)	History, Archaeology, Speculative
Genre(s)	Non-fiction
Publisher	Harper & Brothers
Publication date	1882
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	NA

Atlantis: The Antediluvian World is a book published in 1882 by Minnesota populist politician Ignatius L. Donnelly, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1831. Donnelly took Plato's account of Atlantis seriously and attempted to establish that all known ancient civilizations were descended from its high-neolithic culture.^[1]

Many of its theories are the source of many modern-day concepts we have about Atlantis, like the civilization and technology beyond its time, the origins of all present races and civilizations, a civil war between good and evil, etc. Much of Donnelly's scholarship, especially with regard Atlantis as an explanation for supposed similarities between ancient civilizations of the Old and New Words, was inspired by the publications of Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg.

1 Author's stated intentions
2 Version information
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Author's stated intentions

Donnelly covers many aspects of his proposed theory in extreme detail. He includes many illustrations as well as charts with lingual similarities. With his book he states that he is trying to prove thirteen distinct things:^[2]

There once existed in the Atlantic Ocean, opposite the Mediterranean Sea, a large island, which was the remnant of an Atlantic continent, and known to the ancient world as Atlantis.
That the description of this island given by Plato is not, as has been long supposed, fable, but veritable history.
That Atlantis was the region where man first rose from a state of barbarism to civilization.
That it became, in the course of ages, a populous and mighty nation, from whose overflowings the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, the Amazon River, the Pacific coast of South America, the Mediterranean, the west coast of Europe and Africa, the Balkic, the Black Sea, and the Caspian were populated by civilized nations.
That it was the true Antediluvian world; the Garden of Eden; the Gardens of Hesperides; the Elysian Fields; the Gardens of Alcinous; the Mesomphalos, the Olympos; the Asgard of the traditions of the ancient nations; representing a universal memory of a great land, where early mankind dwelt for ages in peace and happiness.
That the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks, the Phoenicians, the Hindus, and the Scandinavians were simply the kings, queens, and heroes of Atlantis; and the acts attributed to them in mythology are a confused recollection of real historical events.
That the mythology of Egypt and Peru represented the original religion of Atlantis, which was sun-worship.
That the oldest colony formed by Atlantis was probably Egypt, whose civilization was a reproduction of that Atlantic island.
That the implements of the "Bronze Age" of Europe were derived from Atlantis. The Atlanteans were also the first manufacturers of iron.
That the Phoenician alphabet, parent of all the European alphabets, was derived from an Atlantis alphabet, which was also conveyed by them from Atlantis to the Mayans of Central America.
That Atlantis was the original seat of the Aryan or Indo-European family of nations, as well as of the Semitic peoples, and possibly also of the Turanian races.
That Altlantis perished in a terrible convulsion of nature, in which the whole island sunk into the ocean, with nearly all its inhabitants.
That a few persons escaped in ships and on rafts, and carried to the nations east and west the tidings of the appalling catastrophe, which has survived to our own time in the Flood and Deluge legends of the different nations of the old and new worlds.

Illustration of a volcano from the book

[edit] Version information

In 1883, a sequel or companion, Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel, was published.
A version edited by Atlantologist Egerton Sykes was published in 1946 by Gramercy.
It was reprinted by Reprint Services Corporation in 1996 (ISBN 0-7812-2667-8).
It was reprinted by Echo Library in 2006 (ISBN 978-1847027641).

[edit] References

Mace, Carroll Edward (1973), “Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, 1814-1874”, in Cline, Howard F., Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 13, Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 298-325
Maya Codices. Mundo Maya Online - History. Retrieved on July 19, 2005.

^ Ridge, Martin (1991). Ignatius Donnelly: The Portrait of a Politician, Paperback, Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0873512626.
^ Donnelly, Ignatius (1882). Atlantis. The Antediluvian World, Paperback (2006 reprint), Echo Library, p. 1. ISBN 978-1847027641.