The Atlantians and the Amazons of Libya
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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.
The invasion of the Amazons in the land of the Atlantians of Libya
The Atlantes of Africa and the "sea of Atlantis" according to HerodotusDiodorus 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".
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:
Historical analysis - CommentsIt 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 worldIn 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:
And Diodorus Siculus continues with the birth of the Titan race:
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:
About the Titan Cronus
Historical analysis - CommentsThese 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):
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. |