Atlantis Destroyed

Rodney Castleden. 1998. Atlantis Destroyed. Routledge, London. 192 pp, notes, a bibliography, and an index.

In Atlantis Destroyed, Rodney delves into the evidence that the ancient Minoan culture was the inspiration for Plato's Atlantis story. Using archaeological data, information from frescos and writings from Plato and other Greek writers, and stories in Egyptian temple archives, Castleden makes an intriguing argument.

The book is divided into ten chapters, beginning with the mythological underpinnings and the history of archaeology of the Minoan world and Akrotiri. Elements of Minoan society, including the architecture of Bronze Age city of Thera; ceramics, stone, and metal-working; food and trade; writing and murals; and art, religion and society are all discussed in their season. And the book ends with a discussion of the volcanic death of Akrotiri, the birth of the legend, and finally, a comparison of mythology and reality.

I, of course, know little of Atlantis and the Minoan culture, except what I remember from stories told to me when I was young, so for me, the inspiration was this crossword puzzle, noticeably short on theory, but fun to do (and, with any luck, fun to solve).

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