The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-03-15
BRIDCED AN OCEAN
The Lost Atlantis That Was
Swallowed by the Sea.
A NATION OF MANY LEGENDS.
Plato Got His Story of the Continent
and Its Ruin From Scion, the Old
Laweiver-The Theories That Were
Built by Ignatius DonneIly.

SSHN ~ iSHohho O0HfiSnJ.
Far out beyond the Pillars of Her
cues, where the Atlantic ocean
stretches broad and deep today, men Of
imagination. like to believe there lies a
buried kingdom. The sea washes over
its once fertile plains, and creatures of
the deep float in and out among its top
less towers. Seaweed and silt have
buried its temples for 10000 years.
Here, scientists of romantic turn will
tell you, lies the lost island of Allan
It's, where once there ruled the richest
and most powerful of the earth, a
world power while wolves still howled
upon the seven hills of Rome and the
glory that was Greece lay yet I'M
dreamed.
But today all that remains Of the lost
kingdom is little group Of islands,
the Azores; mountain tops these that
were not wholly overwhelmed when
the proud island sank into the sea.
Many years ago an Irishman, Ignatius
Donnelly, who possessed an active i'm
agination and a mind which worked
along interesting and unusual lines,
wrote book about Atlantis, In which
he proved, to his own satisfaction at
least that the lost kingdom really ex-
listed and was not fable.
The earliest authentic information
about this mystery land we find In
Plato. who averred he had II from his
grandfather. Scion, the famous law
giver. who had spent some years
among the Egyptians. Plato told OF
great continent which had existed 5000
years before lying to the west of the
Pillars of Hercules and making war
upon the nations to the east. Only
Athens and Egypt were able to with
stand the onslaughts of the Atlantans.
and then suddenly, lin day and
night" the island was overwhelmed
and sank inro the sea. This was the
story Solon had from the Egyptians
and which his grandson wrote down.
and the legend has persisted ever since.
Diodorus Siculus, a Roman writer.
tells how the Phoenicians discovered
"a large island In the Atlantic ocean
between the Pillars of Hercules, sew
eral DAYS sail from the coast Of Africa.
This island abounded in all manner or
riches The soil was exceedingly fer
tile. The scenery was diversified by
rivers. mountains and forests 1t was
the custom of the inhabitants to retire
during the summer TO magnificent
country houses, which stood In the
midst of beautiful gardens. Fish and
game were found in great abundance; /
the climate was delicious and the trees
bore great crops OF fruit at all seasons
of the year
Soundngs made by British and
American vessels have shown conclu-
sively that surrounding the Azores
there is a submerged plateau, which II
does not require much Imagination to
identify with the rich plain" mention
ed by Plato. From this lost continent
Donnelly believed that ridges Of land
ran to the present coasts Of South
America and Africa. originally, so that
before the time of which Plato wrote
the eastern and western hemispheres
were connected by land. Thus he ac-
counted for many similarities In the
plants and animals of the two hemis-
pheres which otherwise are very diff
ficult TO explain.
The continent as described by Plato
was mountainous. but was surrounded
by vast fertile plains 1t was rich in
precious metals and had numerous tenn
pies and statues OF gold and silver and
ivory.
In the sudden and violent destruction
Of Atlantis. Gin one dreadful day and
night" Donnelly believed he saw the
origin OF the legend of the deluge. SO
universal among the followers Of all
religions. The Biblical deluge, the
flood in which the Greeks believed,