The Atlantians & Amazons in Libya

The Atlantians and the Amazons of Libya
(by Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus)

The Atlantians and the Amazons, according to Diodorus Siculus (Historical Library, book three, chapters 53, 54, 56)

The ancient Greek historical Diodorus of Sicily provides us with many interesting facts by writing very revealingly in his book above about the life and culture of two peoples who lived in Libya (Africa): 1) about the Amazons, a female-dominated tribe that lived on the island Hespera in the Lake Tritonis near the Atlas mountain, 2) about the Atlantians, the most civilized people of that region who lived in an area on the African coast of the Ocean (at that time this area was called Libya), with the coastal city of Cerne as their capital, 3) for the conquest of the Atlantians by the Amazons 4) about another race dominated by women, called the Mermaids, who lived next to the Atlanteans and constantly attacked them

Since at the time of Diodorus most writers believed that the only Amazons who existed in the prehistoric ages were the Amazons who inhabited the Black Sea, Diodorus additionally specifies in the same book (III, chapter 52) that the Libyan Amazons performed deeds of great worth and they lived much earlier (older) than the Pontic Amazons (who lived in the Thermodontus River). He also mentions some chronological orientation, writing that "the generation of the Libyan Amazons disappeared many generations before the Trojan war, while the women of the Thermodontus River flourished just before the Trojans. And it is not unreasonable that the later and better-known ones inherited the glory of the older ones because of the intervening years".

Pay close attention below, the descriptions of the Diodorus are shocking, according to them the history of the Atlantians of Libya is closely intertwined with the history of the African Amazons.

Chapter 53.

1 ... We are told, namely, that there was once on the western parts of Libya, on the bounds of the inhabited world, a race which was ruled by women and followed a manner of life unlike that which prevails among us. For it was the custom among them that the women should practise the arts of war and be required to serve in the army for a fixed period, during which time they maintained their virginity; then, when the years of their service in the field had expired, they went in to the men for the procreation of children, but they kept in their hands the administration of the magistracies and of all the affairs of the state ...

3 ... When their children were born the babies were turned over to the men, who brought them up on milk and such cooked foods as were appropriate to the age of the infants; and if it happened that a girl was born, its breasts were p251seared that they might not develop at the time of maturity; for they thought that the breasts, as they stood out from the body, were no small hindrance in warfare; and in fact it is because they have been deprived of their breasts that they are called by the Greeks Amazons

4  As mythology relates, their home was on an island which, because it was in the west, was called Hespera, and it lay in the lake Tritonis. This lake was near the ocean which surrounds the earth and received its name from a certain river Triton which emptied into it; and this lake was also near Ethiopia and that mountain by the shore of the ocean which is the highest of those in the vicinity and impinges upon the ocean and is called by the Greeks Atlas ....

6 ... And after this Amazons subdued many of the neighbouring Libyans and nomad tribes, and founded within the lake Tritonis a great city which they named Cherronesus after its shape.

The invasion of the Amazons in the land of the Atlantians of Libya

Chapter 54.

1 Setting out from the city of Cherronesus, the account continues, the Amazons embarked upon great ventures, a longing having come over them to invade many part of the inhabited world. The first people against whom they advanced, according to the tale, was the Atlantians, the most civilized men among the inhabitants of those regions, who dwelt in a prosperous country and possessed great cities; it was among them, we are told, that mythology places the birth of the gods, in the regions which lie along the shore of the ocean, in this respect agreeing with those among the Greeks who relate legends, and about this we shall speak in detail a little later ...

2 ... Now the queen of the Amazons, Myrina, collected, it is said, an army of thirty thousand foot-soldiers and three thousand cavalry, since they favoured to an unusual degree the use of cavalry in their wars ...

4 ... Upon entering the land of the Atlantians they defeated in a pitched battle the inhabitants of the city of Cernê, as it is called, and making their way inside the walls along with the fleeing enemy, they got the city into their hands; and desiring to strike terror into the neighbouring peoples they treated the captives savagely, put to the sword the men from the youth upward, led into slavery the children and women, and razed the city ...

5 ...But when the terrible fate of the inhabitants of Cernê became known among their fellow tribesmen, it is related that the Atlantians, struck with terror, surrendered their cities on terms of capitulation and announced that they would do whatever should be commanded them, and that the queen Myrina, bearing herself honourably towards the Atlantians, both established friendship with them and founded a city to bear her name in place of the city which had been razed; and in it she settled both the captives and any native who so desired.

6 Whereupon the Atlantians presented her with magnificent presents and by public decree voted to her notable honours, and she in return accepted their courtesy and in addition promised that she would show kindness to their nation ...

The Atlantes of Africa and the "sea of Atlantis" according to Herodotus

 Diodorus Siculus was not the only historian who wrote about an Atlantean tribe that once lived on the coast of Northwest Africa (then called Libya). A few centuries before Diodorus, the ancient historian Herodotus (484-425 BC), who was rightly established as the "father of history", gives us approximately the same information, describing the geography of Africa and the customs and habits of the peoples who lived there earlier in this, in his work "Historiai". Herodotus mentions that there used to be a people who lived in different areas of the Atlas mountain. He even describes the mountain with the shape of a perfect circle (conical), with a small area and with very high peaks that are impossible to see because they were covered with clouds in winter and summer. From the name of this mountain these people were called "Atlantes".

... After another ten days' journey there is again a hillock of salt, and water, and men dwelling there. Near to this salt is a mountain called Atlas, the shape whereof is slender and a complete circle; and it is said to be so high that its summits cannot be seen, for cloud is ever upon them winter and summer. The people of the country call it the pillar of heaven. These men have got their name, which is Atlantes, from this mountain. It is said that they eat no living creature, and see no dreams in their sleep... (Herodotus, Historiai, 4th book, par. 184.3 - 184.4)

Related to the above is also the name given by Herodotus for the sea to the west of North Africa, where the Atlantes were located and outside the columns of Herakles, in his first book. He calls it "the sea of ​​Atlantis" and not the Atlantic Ocean, describing the seas around the Mediterranean:

...This is a sea by itself (note: he means the Caspian sea) which is not united with the other sea. For that in which the Greeks sail, and the sea beyond the pillars of Herakles, which they call the sea of ​​Atlantis, and the Red Sea, are all one: but the Caspian is distinct and of itself... (Herodotus, Book I (Clio), Paragraph 203)

Historical analysis - Comments

It may be curious but not coincidental that first Herodotus mentions a Libyan people named "Atlantes" and after 400 years Diodorus Siculus mentions a people named "Atlantians" (who coexisted with the Amazons and the Mermaids). Were they two different peoples living in different periods of time or were they the same people?

From the fact that they lived roughly in the same areas of Northwest Africa and their names are formed from the same root "atl" or "atlan" it is inferred that both peoples were at least related (in origin) tribes who may have lived at different times. And furthermore, if they lived in the same time period then it surely follows that they were the same people (the slight difference in the ending of the name does not play any role here). So they were a tribe or two related tribes with names that refer to the land of Atlantis.

If we follow, during or before its final destruction, the historical route of the inhabitants of Atlantis starting from the "Atlantis island of the Ocean", then it is reasonable to expect the migration of the surviving Atlanteans precisely to the regions of Libya described by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus. These coastal areas around the Atlas Mountains became their new homeland and their springboard for new migrations to the east. Even their distant descendants, the Atlantians, lived there until "many generations before the Trojan war" according to Diodorus.

The "Atlantes" of Herodotus and the "Atlantians" of Diodorus Siculus were doubtless the descendants of the survivors of the deluge, and finding themselves in North Africa, evidently retained memories of their gods, traditions, and culture, "the source of which was the ocean' (i.e. the Atlantic). It is also more than interesting and not coincidental that Herodotus (450 BC) had already called the ocean to their west by the name "Sea of Atlantis" almost a hundred years before Plato.

The Titan-Atlantes spread their gods and mythology to the world

In the following chapters and paragraphs, Diodorus Siculus describes the life of the Atlantians, elements from their mythology and their origin from the Titans, Also, how were their gods born that their worship spread to many peoples of the earth, even to the ancient Greeks:

Chapter 56.

1. But since we have made mention of the Atlantians, we believe that it will not be inappropriate in this place to recount what their myths relate about the genesis of the gods, in view of the fact that it does not differ greatly from the myths of the Greeks.

2. Now the Atlantians, dwelling as they do in the regions on the edge of the ocean and inhabiting a fertile territory, are reputed far to excel their neighbours in reverence towards the gods and the humanity they showed in their dealings with strangers, and the gods, they say, were born among them. And their account, they maintain, is in agreement with that of the most renowned of the Greek poets (meaning the Homer) when he represents Hera as saying:

"For I go to see the ends of the bountiful earth, Oceanus source of the gods and Tethys divine. Their mother." (See Homer, Iliad 14 200‑1).

3. This is the account given in their myth: Their first king was Uranus, and he gathered the human beings, who dwelt in scattered habitations, within the shelter of a walled city and caused his subjects to cease from their lawless ways and their bestial manner of living, discovering for them the uses of cultivated fruits, how to store them up, and not a few other things which are of benefit to man; and he also subdued the larger part of the inhabited earth, in particular the regions to the west and the north.

4. And since he was a careful observer of the stars he foretold many things which would take place throughout the world; and for the common people he introduced the year on the basis of the movement of the sun and the months on that of the moon, and instructed them in the seasons which recur year after year.

5. Consequently the masses of the people, being ignorant of the eternal arrangement of the stars and marvelling at the events which were taking place as he had predicted, conceived that the man who taught such things partook of the nature of the gods, and after he had passed from among men they accorded him immortal honours, both because of his benefactions and because of his knowledge of the stars and then they transferred his name to the firmament of heaven, both because they thought that he had been so intimately acquainted with the risings and the settings of the stars and with whatever else took place in the firmament, and because they would surpass his benefactions by the magnitude of the honours which they would show him, in that for all subsequent time they proclaimed him to be the king of the universe.

And Diodorus Siculus continues with the birth of the Titan race:

57 1. To Uranus, the myth continues, were born forty-five sons from a number of wives, and, of these, eighteen, it is said, were by Titaea, each of them bearing a distinct name, but all of them as a group were called, after their mother, Titans. 2. Titaea, because she was prudent and had brought about many good deeds for the peoples, was deified after her death by those whom she had helped and her name was changed to Gê.

Who were the Titans, the sons of King Uranus?

Book III, chapters 60, 61:

Diodorus Siculus mentions that the three most prominent sons of Uranus was Cronus, Atlas, and Hyperion:

60  After the death of Hyperion, the myth relates, the kingdom was divided among the sons of Uranus, the most renowned of whom were Atlas and Cronus. Of these sons Atlas received as his part the regions on the coast of the ocean, and he not only gave the name of Atlantians to his peoples but likewise called the greatest mountain in the land Atlas.

2 They also say that he perfected the science of astrology and was the first to publish to mankind the doctrine of the sphere; and it was for this reason that the idea was held that the entire heavens were supported upon the shoulders of Atlas, the myth darkly hinting in this way at his discovery and description of the sphere...

3 This king, having once climbed to the peak of Mount Atlas, was suddenly snatched away by mighty winds while he was making his observations of the stars, and never was seen again; and because of the virtuous life he had lived and their pity for his sad fate the multitudes accorded to him immortal honours and called the brightest of the stars of heaven after him.

4 Atlas, the myth goes on to relate, also had seven daughters, who as a group were called Atlantides after their father, but their individual names were Maea, Electra, Taÿgetê, Steropê, Meropê, Halcyonê, and the last Celaeno. These daughters lay with the most renowned heroes and gods and thus became the first ancestors of the larger part of the race of human beings, giving birth to those who, because of their high achievements, came to be called gods and heroes; Maea the eldest, for instance, lay with Zeus and bore Hermes, who was the discoverer of many things for the use of mankind; similarly the other Atlantides also gave birth to renowned children, who became the founders in some instances of nations in other cases of cities.

5 Consequently, not only among certain barbarians but among the Greeks as well, the great majority of the most ancient heroes trace their descent back to the Atlantides. These daughters were also distinguished for their chastity and after their death attained to immortal honour among men, by whom they were both enthroned in the heavens and endowed with the appellation of Pleiades. 

About the Titan Cronus

61 Cronus, the brother of Atlas, the myth continues, who was a man notorious for his impiety and greed, married his sister Rhea, by whom he begat that Zeus (Zeus II) who was later called "the Olympian." But there had been also another Zeus (Zeus I), the brother of Uranus and a king of Crete, who, however, was far less famous than the Zeus who was born at a later time.

2 Now the latter was king over the entire world, whereas the earlier Zeus (Zeus I), who was lord of the above-mentioned island, begat ten sons who were given the name of Curetes; and the island he named after his wife Idaea, and on it he died and was buried, and the place which received his grave is pointed out to our day.

3 The Cretans, however, have a myth which does not agree with the story given above, and we shall give a detailed account of it when we speak of Crete. Cronus, they say, was lord of Sicily and Libya, and Italy as well, and, in a word, established his kingdom over the regions to the west; and everywhere he occupied with garrisons the commanding hills and the strongholds of the regions, this being the reason why both throughout Sicily and the parts which incline towards the west many of the lofty places are called to this day after him "Cronia.

4 Zeus II, however, the son of Cronus, emulated a manner of life the opposite of that led by his father, and since he showed himself honourable and friendly to all, the masses addressed him as "father." As for his succession to the kingly power, some say that his father yielded it to him of his own accord, but others state that he was chosen as king by the masses because of the hatred they bore towards his father, and that when Cronus made war against him with the aid of the Titans (Note:  the so-called Titanomachy mentioned by Hesiod and other writers), Zeus II with his own Titans overcame Cronus in battle, and on gaining supreme power visited all the inhabited world, conferring benefactions upon the race of men. (Note: they were the new Olympian "gods" worshiped by the Greeks) 

6 In return for all this, after he had passed from among men he was given the name of Zên, because he was the cause of right "living" among men, and those who had received his favours showed him honour by enthroning him in the heavens (Note: They gave his name to the planet Jupiter), all men eagerly acclaiming him as god and lord for ever of the whole universe.

Historical analysis - Comments

These are in summary what Diodorus Siculus mentions about the story-mythology of the Libyan Atlantians and the genesis of their gods. Their knowledge, legends and traditions, while they had originated in the ocean, were spread by their rescued ancestors, to the coastal peoples of West Africa. And finally we notice that they were "integrated" into the mythology and religious consciousness of the Greeks, but also of some other peoples, barbarians, as Diodorus clearly mentions. (More in our other texts).

To confirm all of the above, Diodorus Siculus also mentions the story contained in the Iliad about the journey of the "goddess" Hera, the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, to the "ends of the fertile earth to meet her forefathers, Oceanus, the father of all of the gods and Tethys, the mother". For a better understanding, I quote this whole paragraph of the Iliad (rhapsody X 200-1), in which Hera (who helped the Danaans in the Trojan War), being in the palace of Olympus, speaks to the goddess Aphrodite (supporter of the Trojans):

...I am going to the ends of the fruitful land, I want to see Oceanus, the father of gods and Tethys their mother, they raised me, they resurrected me in their houses, they took me from Rhea's hands when Zeus, who his eye sees far, overthrew Saturn in the bowels of the earth, in the depths of the fathomless sea. I'm going to find them. (translated by Dimitris Maronitis)

It is also remarkable and worthy of notice that Diodorus plainly asserts in his above comprehensive account (book 3, chapters 56 to 61) of the genealogy and theology of the Atlantians (or Atlantes) of Libya, that the gods whom they worshiped were their ancient ancestors [e.g. Uranus, Titania-Earth, Titans-Titanids-Atlas-Atlantis etc.]. That is, their gods were their first leaders, kings, heroes, who stood out because of their good character, their wisdom and the important work they offered to people in all fields (Administration, astronomy, agriculture, culture) thus obtaining considerable glamor and glory. They were mortals who were eventually proclaimed by the multitudes as eternal "gods", and their name was given to the stars, planets and sky or geological natural elements (rivers, lakes, seas, volcanoes, mountains, etc.).

A characteristic part of Diodorus' narrative is the fact that there were two different kings named Zeus, of different generations. The older Zeus, I call him Zeus I, was the brother of Uranus and was king of Crete. The younger Zeus, I call him Zeus II, was one of the sons of Uranus and brother of Atlas, he was the Olympian Zeus who reigned over the whole world. The older Zeus I who was king only of the island of Crete had ten sons, whom he named Kouretes, he also gave the island the name Idaia, as his wife was also called. After his death, he was buried on the island and his tomb was displayed until the time of Diodorus.