atlantida Tou Okeanou, in ancient Greek Linear B' script

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Atlantis in Greek mythology

Myth is a fake story referring to gods, demigods and human heroes in the nature and meaning of the universe. Myths compose the first creating of human imagination, and that is why all people on earth have myths. But the Greeks, who have the most myths, are considered to be the first mythmakers. Historians, philosophers and poets dealt with myths during the ancient years.

The first poets who occupied themselves with the registration of myths in the then spoken Greek language, were Homer in "Iliad" and "Odyssey" and Hesiod (750-700 BC) in his work "Theogony". Homer and Hesiod were not just poets. They were also members (mystics) of the clergy and therefore revealed many of the secrets registered by it. The clergy used to register stories, myths and events from a long time before in unintelligible languages to the people. Many times it mixed the events with the beliefs, desires and dreams, and other times intentionally covered or altered events. Real people who had made impressive work, were presented as mythical heroes like for instance the builders of ancient cities which are named by them; remains of these cities as well as inscriptions have been found (i.e. Troy). This way an insolvable confusion of historic and mythic figures, phenomena and gods was created. This is how we can explain the fact that, as seen below, there are different myths for the same people and events.

The most famous historian is Herodotus, who is aware of the religious and mythical portrayals of the civilized eastern people and compares and contrasts them to the Greek ones. As far as the philosophers are concerned, it' s worthy naming the stoics, who interpreted myths related to the gods as religious symbols or ones of natural meanings.

Later, during the Alexandrine times, Evimerus tried to alter mythology into history. He used to teach that both gods and myths referring to gods come from historical events. Evimerus (4th-3rd century BC) wrote that "gods" were not supernatural creatures but famous warriors who became legends and therefore "gods".

Studying the Greek myths that existed among the citizens in different places in Greece from 2000 BC and hence, we will discover many legends saying that many old heroes of Greece and other people of the Mediterranean, even gods, mythical and historical figures, leaders and kings of several areas of Greece came from the Atlanteans the generation of Titans.

The oral tradition (myths) about Atlas, Poseidon, Cronus, the Giants, the Cyclops, the Titans and their whole generation, the mermaids, the amazons and "gods" such as Zeus, Hermes, Athena etc. talk about their relation to a heaven, in the imagination of the ancient people, island all around earth, west in the ocean. This island was Atlantis. The Greeks and the most ancient people, having some memory of this great land and its history made many kings and heroes of it "gods". This occurred as many countries and cities were colonized and many people were civilized by the Atlanteans or others contacted them; this does not mean that there were not other civilized people at that time or previously.

The sinking of the metropolis (Atlantis) caused by a universal flood (this is referred to the traditions of many people in the same way) had a lot to do with this deification since the written documents were lost, most of the monuments and technical works were destroyed and so on. The universal flood did not affect in the same way all the places on earth; this is why some constructions were maintained in many places (i.e. the Pyramids). So a new generation of people and a new civilization emerged from the survivors.

The Atlantean conquerors that survived in the colonies losing the power of the metropolis that protected them assimilated with the natives. But they transmitted orally to the new generations the story of their island, the achievements of their leaders and the sinking. The story of the Atlanteans as well as their traditions became myths, connected with the traditions of the local people and many heroes of the Atlanteans were deified. We assume that the story of Atlantis is the key of the Greek mythology. Today the belief that the "gods" of Greece were human beings becomes strong. The tendency to attribute god qualities to great chiefs is deeply connected with the human nature. Herodotus (History book b) assures that the ministers of Thebes in Egypt showed him 341 giant statues of archbishops; each one represented a past generation and all of them covered a period of 11340 years. He was told that before these generations "gods lived among humans".

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