Atlantis is the world's most famous lost city. Over the centuries it has been sought everywhere, from the Canaries to the Caribbean, from Antarctica to the North Sea. Of all the theories, the one linking it to the island of Santorini is the most debated by scholars, because it rests on a real disaster.
What Plato tells
The myth first appears in two dialogues by the philosopher Plato, the Timaeus and the Critias, written in the 4th century BC. Plato says he is passing on a story the Athenian lawgiver Solon heard from Egyptian priests. Nine thousand years before Solon, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, lay an island larger than Libya and Asia together, ruled by the descendants of Poseidon. Its capital was built in concentric rings of land and water, with temples, harbours and palaces of white, black and red stone. Grown arrogant, the Atlanteans tried to conquer the Mediterranean but were stopped by ancient Athens. Then, "in a single day and night", earthquakes and floods sank the island into the sea.
The real catastrophe
Santorini, now crescent-shaped, is the rim of a volcano. In the Bronze Age it was an almost round island, home to a wealthy people linked to the Minoan civilisation of Crete. Around the 17th-16th century BC one of the largest eruptions of recent millennia emptied the magma chamber; the centre of the island collapsed, forming the caldera we admire today from the white houses of Fira and Oia. Its ash has been found as far as Turkey and on the floor of the Aegean, and a tsunami struck the north coast of Crete.
- Before the 17th century BCAkrotiri is a thriving port town linked to Crete.
- Minoan eruptionEarthquakes, then a colossal eruption: the centre of the island collapses.
- 15th century BCThe Minoan palaces of Crete decline; the Mycenaeans take over.
- 4th century BCPlato writes the Timaeus and Critias.
- 1967Spyridon Marinatos begins excavating Akrotiri.
- 1974Marinatos dies during the excavations and is buried at the site.
Akrotiri, the "Pompeii of the Aegean"
In 1967 the Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos, who as early as 1939 had linked the eruption to the end of Minoan civilisation, began digging at Akrotiri, in the south of the island. Under metres of ash he found a whole town, with two- and three-storey houses, paved streets, a drainage system and splendid frescoes: festive ships, blue monkeys, antelopes, young fishermen. Unlike Pompeii, no bodies or valuables have been found: warned by earthquakes, the inhabitants probably had time to flee.
For and against
| Arguments for | Arguments against |
|---|---|
| A rich seafaring island suddenly destroyed by sea and fire | Plato places Atlantis beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in the Atlantic |
| The ringed capital recalls the caldera | Plato says 9,000 years before Solon, not about 1,000 |
| White, red and black stones recall Santorini's volcanic rock | The island described is huge; Santorini is small |
| The Egyptians knew the Cretans as Keftiu, a sea people who vanished | Many scholars see Atlantis as Plato's philosophical invention |
The most common view among historians is that Atlantis is a philosophical tale: Plato wanted to show how arrogance leads to ruin and how a just city, the ideal Athens, can stand firm. Distant memories of real disasters such as Santorini's may still have coloured his story.
Visiting
The Akrotiri site is under a large roof and open all year; the original frescoes are partly in the Museum of Prehistoric Thera in Fira and partly in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Boat trips leave Fira and Oia for the caldera and the still-active volcano of Nea Kameni.
See also Crete, Minoan civilisation and places of myth.