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The Lost Empire of Atlantis: History's Greatest Mystery Revealed
“Tremendous. This guy has done history like you would not believe.”
—Glenn Beck The secrets of history’s most enduring mystery are finally revealed in The Lost Empire of Atlantis. Through impeccable research and intelligent speculation, Gavin Menzies, the New York Times bestselling author of 1421 , uncovers the truth behind the mysterious “lost” city of Atlantis—making the startling claim that the “Atlanteans” discovered America 4,000 years ago and ruled a vast Mediterranean empire that was violently destroyed in 1,500 BC. Forget everything you’ve ever thought about the Atlantis legend—Gavin Menzies will make you a believer!
—Glenn Beck The secrets of history’s most enduring mystery are finally revealed in The Lost Empire of Atlantis. Through impeccable research and intelligent speculation, Gavin Menzies, the New York Times bestselling author of 1421 , uncovers the truth behind the mysterious “lost” city of Atlantis—making the startling claim that the “Atlanteans” discovered America 4,000 years ago and ruled a vast Mediterranean empire that was violently destroyed in 1,500 BC. Forget everything you’ve ever thought about the Atlantis legend—Gavin Menzies will make you a believer!
374 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
182 people are currently reading
1259 people want to read
About the author
Gavin Menzies
12 books116 followersRowan Gavin Paton Menzies was a British submarine lieutenant-commander who authored books claiming that the Chinese sailed to America before Columbus. Historians have rejected Menzies' theories and assertions and have categorised his work as pseudohistory.
He was best known for his controversial book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, in which he asserts that the fleets of Chinese Admiral Zheng He visited the Americas prior to European explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492, and that the same fleet circumnavigated the globe a century before the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan. Menzies' second book, 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance, extended his discovery hypothesis to the European continent. In his third book, The Lost Empire of Atlantis, Menzies claims that Atlantis did exist, in the form of the Minoan civilization, and that it maintained a global seaborne empire extending to the shores of America and India, millennia before actual contact in the Age of Discovery.
He was best known for his controversial book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, in which he asserts that the fleets of Chinese Admiral Zheng He visited the Americas prior to European explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492, and that the same fleet circumnavigated the globe a century before the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan. Menzies' second book, 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance, extended his discovery hypothesis to the European continent. In his third book, The Lost Empire of Atlantis, Menzies claims that Atlantis did exist, in the form of the Minoan civilization, and that it maintained a global seaborne empire extending to the shores of America and India, millennia before actual contact in the Age of Discovery.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
October 5, 2012
There are many interesting facts sprinkled in, but it felt to me that this book is a bit out there in terms of scientific robustness. Between actual, interesting, hard scientific facts Menzies throw in random, unscientific, personal postulation to "connect the dots" to make his case. The book would have been stronger if it stuck to the science, been more rigorous and objective, and stopped straying into the world of conspiracy theory. My favorite, where he cites a "USA Today article" as suddenly providing him enlightenment on a specific point. (That said, conspiracy theorists would enjoy this one.) I would classify this as historical fiction, not nonfiction.
July 4, 2012
Menzies has done it again. 'Th Lost Empire of Atlantis' is filled with speculation taken as fact as he had done with his previous books on pseudo archaeology. He may have been in the Royal Navy (indicted for a ship collision during his service) but he knows nothing about ancient seafaring, navigation, ship building, or trade. His speculation about the Minoans is also laughably wrong. Buried in his exploration of the ancient world is some good hard facts but the reader would be better served reading a more authoritative work.
March 31, 2012
Gavin Menzies is a retired submarine captain from the British Royal Navy, whose retirement hobby is pursuing unlikely beliefs about long-past history. In this book he recounts his pursuit of a belief that the sometimes-thought mythical country of Atlantis was in fact an island nation that was a collection of city states comprising the Minoan nation on Thera (now called Santorini) and Crete and other nearby islands in the Mediterranean, with that civilization having been destroyed when the volcano on Santorini blew up in c. 1450 B.C.. leaving a hole 7.5 miles long by 4.3 miles wide and 1300 feet deep, and creating a tidal wave that Menzies believes simply wiped out the Minoan civilization at a single stroke. Once he came to this belief, after touring the ruins of Knossos while vacationing on Crete, Menzies and his wife went on a whirlwind tour of the Mediterranean and indeed the world, finding more evidence of his growing theory, even to the point of concluding that the Minoans traded not only with Egypt but also with China and had sailed across the Atlantic and up the Mississippi River to mine tin on the Penquaming Peninsula in Minnesota. He has scads of references and lot of maps and pictures, all of which are interesting and even fascinating, but I have a strong suspicion (without having had the time or energy to check things out myself) that he tends to find things that support his beliefs and ignore things that don’t. This is not at all uncommon. I recall many decades ago, when I lived in Minnesota, getting all excited about the supporting evidence for the belief that the Kensington Stone had been left in Minnesota by a band of Norsemen who had made their way up the Hudson River and then halfway across America via the Great Lakes … only now I find what appears to be much the same evidence (Indian legends about white men, European-type relics, etc.) being used to support the claim that it was instead a commercial enterprise of Minoans who had sailed up the Mississippi River.
This is not to say that I disbelieve it-only that I am not ass yet convinced! But the writing is passionate, the pictures are fascinating, and the overall story is interesting.
This is not to say that I disbelieve it-only that I am not ass yet convinced! But the writing is passionate, the pictures are fascinating, and the overall story is interesting.
November 27, 2014
I have always been fascinated by Atlantis. I also have a strong interest in ancient history. So this book was a perfect choice, really, since it deftly combined both topics. Sure, Menzies can be accused of making certain suppositions and then finding evidence to it the theory as he traverses continents, to the proverbial hammer it all looks like nails. But it's SO interesting, so well researched, so accessibly written that even if you don't buy into the main premise, there is still much here to learn, enjoy and admire. I, for one, have found out a great deal about the ancient Thera (modern Santorini) and the Minoans. And whether The Minoans did in fact traveled as widely as Menzies posits or whether it is merely a case of parallel development, the interconnectedness, the similarities of various aspects of different civilizations throughout the world is really a fascinating thing to behold. Menzies' enthusiasm and passion for his subject is tangible, it infuses the book. His theory seems pretty solid and at no point was he self righteous or arrogant about it, major bonus points. Part travelogue, part history, well written (with color inserts, which is always a nice bonus) this was a great read. Pleasure for any history buff. Recommended.
June 21, 2012
This book confirms my thought that I should return to Knossos on Crete. Menzies describes other rediscovered palaces of the Minoan era--before the great eruption of the volcano on Thera/Santorini. He also charts the evidence that during 7000 BCE and afterwards, the Minoans were not just trading/adventuring seafarers in the Mediteranean area, but traveled around the world. Recently discovered evidence from the oil pithoi, serving pieces, artwork all suggest that Menzies is correct but the most interesting is DNA work unique to these people from the sophisticated lands around and on Crete suggests more convincing evidence of their far travels.
Don't let the title put you off. "Finding Atlantis" books and documentaries can be pretty weak stuff. Menzies tracies the history of his travels, site studies, research, and shifts in his own thinking as this book goes along.
Menzies was in the Royal Navy and has written other historical accounts. His perspective from the Royal Navy allows him to look for evidence others have missed. He is picking up on strands that I have studied in other contexts and I am delighted that he supports my musings about the people on Crete. I now think of the early Minoans and later Minoans. (Readers should know that most of excavated Knossos is the rebuilt version after the Thera explosion that decimated Knossos and other parts of Crete. Subterranean electronic "photos" document the palace on which today's Knossos was built.)
More to come.
Don't let the title put you off. "Finding Atlantis" books and documentaries can be pretty weak stuff. Menzies tracies the history of his travels, site studies, research, and shifts in his own thinking as this book goes along.
Menzies was in the Royal Navy and has written other historical accounts. His perspective from the Royal Navy allows him to look for evidence others have missed. He is picking up on strands that I have studied in other contexts and I am delighted that he supports my musings about the people on Crete. I now think of the early Minoans and later Minoans. (Readers should know that most of excavated Knossos is the rebuilt version after the Thera explosion that decimated Knossos and other parts of Crete. Subterranean electronic "photos" document the palace on which today's Knossos was built.)
More to come.
November 19, 2011
I really expected to love this book, but it didn't hold my interest. The author's writing style bothers me. I'd rather be reading something else.
June 14, 2022
In spite of the somewhat misleading title, this book is not overly concerned with Atlantis mythology proper, only with the actual archeological history of the Minoan people, their astonishingly advanced scientific and naval progress, and the impact of their world-traveling exploits. Ancient people are rarely given that credit they deserve for their seemingly precocious endeavors. In the Bronze age, contemporaries of Joseph and his brothers began to combine 90% copper with 10% to smelt bronze and spread their scientific and technological advancements across the world in great sailing fleets. One might not expect so, but evidence is growing all the time of tools such as magnification lenses capable of magnification to the fourth power, tongue-and groove joints of wood and stone, glass, intricate metalwork, and more existing hundreds of years before history has credited their invention.
Written like a National Treasure story (does he really need to physically go to all these places?) Menzies follows the trail of the Minoans from country to country chronicling all the disparate pieces of culture left behind by the intrepid traders. Those foreigners depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs? Minoans. Those builders of Stonehenge-style monuments at the exact longitude to put the observer directly beneath the moon at the solstice? Minoans. The ones who used these monuments to devise star-charts for comparing sidereal time in cross-continental navigation? Minoans. The industrious traders who mined and then smelted conspicuous copper ore exclusively identifiable as originating in the Great Lakes which crops up in Eurasian archeological digs? Minoans. The mysterious advanced society of Atlantis praised by Socrates and used as a morality tale of a proud nation punished with destruction for their hubris? The Minoans, destroyed by a tsunami.
This book is consistently fascinating, extraordinarily well-sourced and well-cited, and blends archeological evidence, ancient historical records, ancient literature, modern historical discoveries, and scientific research to provide a complete and compelling picture of an ancient and little-known people doing extraordinary things. I also thoroughly enjoyed Menzies citing by verse all the relevant passages in the Bible where these figures and societies cross Biblical paths. Highly recommend.
Written like a National Treasure story (does he really need to physically go to all these places?) Menzies follows the trail of the Minoans from country to country chronicling all the disparate pieces of culture left behind by the intrepid traders. Those foreigners depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs? Minoans. Those builders of Stonehenge-style monuments at the exact longitude to put the observer directly beneath the moon at the solstice? Minoans. The ones who used these monuments to devise star-charts for comparing sidereal time in cross-continental navigation? Minoans. The industrious traders who mined and then smelted conspicuous copper ore exclusively identifiable as originating in the Great Lakes which crops up in Eurasian archeological digs? Minoans. The mysterious advanced society of Atlantis praised by Socrates and used as a morality tale of a proud nation punished with destruction for their hubris? The Minoans, destroyed by a tsunami.
This book is consistently fascinating, extraordinarily well-sourced and well-cited, and blends archeological evidence, ancient historical records, ancient literature, modern historical discoveries, and scientific research to provide a complete and compelling picture of an ancient and little-known people doing extraordinary things. I also thoroughly enjoyed Menzies citing by verse all the relevant passages in the Bible where these figures and societies cross Biblical paths. Highly recommend.
June 12, 2018
A terrific read. At this mid-year point, my best non-fiction read of 2018.
for full review go to: http://thebooksmithblog.wordpress.com
for full review go to: http://thebooksmithblog.wordpress.com
September 15, 2012
I don’t recall where I got to know about this book, but I had it in my wish list. When I got my hands on it finally, it was amazing how the book took hold of me.
Gavin Menzies takes us on his journey to rediscover the Lost Empire of Atlantis. He builds up on his theory that the Minoan empire was more accomplished that it is assumed. He tries to bring together facts and goes on to try to prove that the Minoan civilization had extensive sea faring abilities and that they might have discovered America way before Christopher Columbus. He challenges some of the accepted notions of the lost civilizations.
I have no real knowledge of history, so I would not be in a position to say whether all that he says, could actually be true or not, but he sure does paint a very convincing picture.
The manner in which he relates it, makes it a fascinating read. It left me wanting more, at the end of the book. To me, the added interest was that I had visited Thera(Santorini), which has an important role to play, and it helped me visualize things a bit better. I had also read about how it is assumed that Atlantis might have been there, before the mighty volcanic eruption ended it all.
I think it would make interesting reading for anybody who likes historical research of this sort. I had not known that I enjoyed it before I read this book. And maybe if someone with a better grasp of history read it, they could tell me how much of it is fiction and how much could be reality?
For me, it was a fantastic read. I will be reading it again, to absorb it better, and maybe do some other related reading as well, to understand it better. And yes, I will try to get hold of his other books. I really enjoyed his style of writing and his obvious enthusiasm for his subject.
Gavin Menzies takes us on his journey to rediscover the Lost Empire of Atlantis. He builds up on his theory that the Minoan empire was more accomplished that it is assumed. He tries to bring together facts and goes on to try to prove that the Minoan civilization had extensive sea faring abilities and that they might have discovered America way before Christopher Columbus. He challenges some of the accepted notions of the lost civilizations.
I have no real knowledge of history, so I would not be in a position to say whether all that he says, could actually be true or not, but he sure does paint a very convincing picture.
The manner in which he relates it, makes it a fascinating read. It left me wanting more, at the end of the book. To me, the added interest was that I had visited Thera(Santorini), which has an important role to play, and it helped me visualize things a bit better. I had also read about how it is assumed that Atlantis might have been there, before the mighty volcanic eruption ended it all.
I think it would make interesting reading for anybody who likes historical research of this sort. I had not known that I enjoyed it before I read this book. And maybe if someone with a better grasp of history read it, they could tell me how much of it is fiction and how much could be reality?
For me, it was a fantastic read. I will be reading it again, to absorb it better, and maybe do some other related reading as well, to understand it better. And yes, I will try to get hold of his other books. I really enjoyed his style of writing and his obvious enthusiasm for his subject.
March 24, 2015
This book is not nearly as rigorously researched as I had hoped it would be. Menzies was clearly hit by a flash of inspiration, partly divine, partly mad, and just went with it. In his rush to show his readers the connections between Minoan Crete, Stonehenge, Plato's accounts of fabled Atlantis, and the missing copper of Lake Superior, he forgets to ruthlessly question his hypothesis.
This ultimately leaves Lost Empire as a slight book, albeit one padded to length by his travelogue detailing his journeys to discover the ancient Minoans around the world. Most of his discoveries are sitting, apparently, in plain sight in museums, and a long argument spins out of his wife reading an article in USA Today, so that tells me plenty about how much effort went into actual research.
His central thesis: that Plato's Atlantis was Minoan Crete, a naval empire that dominated the Mediterranean, traded with Egypt, Africa, and India, mined for copper in America, Plato's island beyond the ocean that was larger than Libya and Asia combined, and ran the bronze trade that gave the Bronze Age its name. This all sounds wild but plausible. I only wish there was a more rigorous, academic tome that explored the thesis.
This ultimately leaves Lost Empire as a slight book, albeit one padded to length by his travelogue detailing his journeys to discover the ancient Minoans around the world. Most of his discoveries are sitting, apparently, in plain sight in museums, and a long argument spins out of his wife reading an article in USA Today, so that tells me plenty about how much effort went into actual research.
His central thesis: that Plato's Atlantis was Minoan Crete, a naval empire that dominated the Mediterranean, traded with Egypt, Africa, and India, mined for copper in America, Plato's island beyond the ocean that was larger than Libya and Asia combined, and ran the bronze trade that gave the Bronze Age its name. This all sounds wild but plausible. I only wish there was a more rigorous, academic tome that explored the thesis.
November 18, 2021
According to Menzies, the answer is that Atlantis was not an island in itself but a trading empire that ranged from India to Isle Royal in Lake Superior (the missing copper that was extensively mined during the Bronze Age) and centered on the island of Crete. Yep, Atlantis was the Minoan civilization.
He gives some interesting correlations - the royal palace was on Crete but the center of the trading was on Thera (currently Santorini). The volcanic eruption around 1500 BCE that tore the island apart launched a tsunami that destroyed the Minoan fleet as well as scoured the coast of Crete itself as well as other ports along the edges of the inland sea.
He presents quite the convincing premise as he attempts to connect the proverbial dots. Travelling to Turkey, Egypt, Portugal, Spain, the Orkneys and England and the western Great Lakes of America in search for copper and tin for the wonder metal of bronze. To the Balkans for amber. The unseemly discovery of an American tobacco beetle in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II who died in 1213 BCE. Similarities in excavated pottery across the Mediterranean as well as the cargo of re-discovered sunken ships. Ships near-identical to those on murals found in Cretan-Minoan ruins. And more and more as he travels about the Mediterranean, North America, the Indian subcontinent and Europe.
It's is quite convincing. As time passes, there are likely going to be more discoveries of ancient ruins and artifacts that - in turn - can be evaluated by more extensive and discerning technology. Maybe the history books will be re-written telling of the ancient city/empire of the Minoans that Plato - or his Egyptian informants - mistranslated as the city of Atlantis.
2021-232
He gives some interesting correlations - the royal palace was on Crete but the center of the trading was on Thera (currently Santorini). The volcanic eruption around 1500 BCE that tore the island apart launched a tsunami that destroyed the Minoan fleet as well as scoured the coast of Crete itself as well as other ports along the edges of the inland sea.
He presents quite the convincing premise as he attempts to connect the proverbial dots. Travelling to Turkey, Egypt, Portugal, Spain, the Orkneys and England and the western Great Lakes of America in search for copper and tin for the wonder metal of bronze. To the Balkans for amber. The unseemly discovery of an American tobacco beetle in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II who died in 1213 BCE. Similarities in excavated pottery across the Mediterranean as well as the cargo of re-discovered sunken ships. Ships near-identical to those on murals found in Cretan-Minoan ruins. And more and more as he travels about the Mediterranean, North America, the Indian subcontinent and Europe.
It's is quite convincing. As time passes, there are likely going to be more discoveries of ancient ruins and artifacts that - in turn - can be evaluated by more extensive and discerning technology. Maybe the history books will be re-written telling of the ancient city/empire of the Minoans that Plato - or his Egyptian informants - mistranslated as the city of Atlantis.
2021-232
July 2, 2022
I loved reading this book as Gavin Menzies is always so interesting and informative to read. In this book, he did tremendous sleuth work to gather evidence and concoct a very credible story on long-forgotten Bronze Age Minoan Civilization and their trading empire, predominantly in the Mediterranean, but spanning from India to Baltics and North America.
Menzies did painstaking research spanning several years on Minoans, presented the evidence and made logical assumptions and projections based on his findings. I was somewhat skeptical about Minoan excursions to North America and their extensive mining activities in Michigan until I read the epilogue and the excerpts from Plato’s writings in the New Evidence section at the very end, where it became much more convincing. DNA evidence also supports this hypothesis.
Many circular astrological sites, including the famous Stonehenge, survived the ravages of millennia to this day as more visible legacies of the Minoans. Minoans were contemporaries of ancient Egyptians and traded with them extensively and used the Pharaonic Egypt as a stepping stone to trade with India. From reading this book, it becomes clear that Mycenaean Greek and Phoenician civilizations have risen on the shoulders of the gigantic Minoan civilization after its destruction from the catastrophic Thera (Santorini) volcanic eruption in 1450 B.C.
Menzies did painstaking research spanning several years on Minoans, presented the evidence and made logical assumptions and projections based on his findings. I was somewhat skeptical about Minoan excursions to North America and their extensive mining activities in Michigan until I read the epilogue and the excerpts from Plato’s writings in the New Evidence section at the very end, where it became much more convincing. DNA evidence also supports this hypothesis.
Many circular astrological sites, including the famous Stonehenge, survived the ravages of millennia to this day as more visible legacies of the Minoans. Minoans were contemporaries of ancient Egyptians and traded with them extensively and used the Pharaonic Egypt as a stepping stone to trade with India. From reading this book, it becomes clear that Mycenaean Greek and Phoenician civilizations have risen on the shoulders of the gigantic Minoan civilization after its destruction from the catastrophic Thera (Santorini) volcanic eruption in 1450 B.C.
December 18, 2019
This book was so intriguing about the lost civilisation of Atlantis - notably the Minoans. I knew nothing historically about these people but Gavin Menzies took me on a journey that I was very happy to experience. This book reveals a new and very ancient history that is very plausible. As Menzies writes he is also discovering a people that were so amazing, capable, artistic, revolutionary and travellers that took them far and wide. It captures the Bronze Age and the amount of trade and travel that was taken by these people two or three centuries BC. I believe that the fact Menzies is a very experienced seaman gives a depth to his knowledge and writing that is really convincing. Great book and one that not only historians will enjoy but anyone with a keen sense of curiosity.
October 10, 2018
The narrator did a great job. Five stars for him.
This book would have been easily five stars if it had been cut in half. It was too long for the content. While being an amateur historian myself and knowing that the journey is half the fun, I can see why he wanted to present the information the way he did. However, it became repetitive and anti-climatic as you knew that every finding he talked about would lead back to the Minoans.
This was one of those fun books that is both fact and theory (clearly separated). I enjoyed it.
This book would have been easily five stars if it had been cut in half. It was too long for the content. While being an amateur historian myself and knowing that the journey is half the fun, I can see why he wanted to present the information the way he did. However, it became repetitive and anti-climatic as you knew that every finding he talked about would lead back to the Minoans.
This was one of those fun books that is both fact and theory (clearly separated). I enjoyed it.
December 11, 2025
In this book Mr. Menzies shares his research into the Minoan civilization and how their world and culture was most likely the basis for the legend of Atlantis. It was amazing how much the Minoans accomplished and how their sea voyages lead them to places few would have thought possible in the time period. Menzies conjectures that their smelting processes, which used lots of trees to create the heat needed was a major source of deforestation in many areas. He also states that the detriment of deforestation is even mentioned in The Epic of Gilgamesh. This was a fascinating look at history that was not how it was perceived in the past.
February 14, 2024
Opened an appreciation for ancient civ that was always there, but rarely fed. Definitely leaves you wondering how far off we are about these lost and ‘rediscovered’ sites.
September 16, 2020
Super fun! I’m convinced
June 6, 2021
This author is a retired submarine captain from England's Royal Navy who applies his knowledge of seamanship and his love of history to bring together evidence from many disciplines into another controversial theory. This time he posits that the ancient Minoans, a Mediterranean civilization pre-dating the rise of Greece, ruled over a global copper age mining empire that was what we refer to today as Atlantis. Based on the island of Crete, the Minoans used superior sailing and navigation to trade throughout the Mediterranean and much farther, actually entering the Atlantic Ocean between the Pillars of Hercules. He says they sailed northward, around Portugal, Spain and France to the British Isles and to Germany. He REALLY stuns the world when he claims they sailed to North America and mined copper in the Great Lakes region on the US / Canadian border. An AMAZING book...oh yeah, and then there's the GINORMOUS volcanic explosion that wiped out Crete with a tidal wave hitting with thousands of times the force of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. I think the quotes below will lay out his argument pretty well. It's a FANTASTIC read that exposes many corridors to pursuit.
"There are authors whose view of history differs from that of established historians -- I thank.......for their work on the ancient copper mines of Lake Superior and the missing millions of pounds of copper from those mines, which apparently vanished into thin air. ... My story is about the Minoan fleets that travelled the oceans of the world before the ghastly explosion on Thera in 1450 BC, which wiped out the Minoan civilization."
"The Minoans lived a harmonious life in lush, civilized surroundings, they say, calmly governed in a democratic way. They didn't need city walls. Their kingdoms resembled peaceful heavens on earth. ... Yet as I moved through the closeted dark of the exhibition rooms, I came upon case after case of weapons recovered from the wreck, Bronze weapons, manufactured in large quantities. ... arrowheads, double-headed axes, spears, swords and daggers as well as the adzes, saw screws and razors that had more peaceable uses."
"detailed results, including a table for the composition of each ingot, showing the staggering purity of the copper, are contained on our website. ... There is only one type of copper with that level of purity, the copper that comes from Lake Superior on the Canadian - American border. ... How could ten of the bun-shaped copper ingots found in the Uluburun wreck be made up of Lake Superior copper? But then, how could a tiny American tobacco beetle have turned up in a ruined merchant's house on Thera, in the middle of the Mediterranean?"
"Professor Cherian's work is corroborated by Emeritus Professor John Sorenson and Emeritus Professor Carl Johannessen's painstaking putting -together of the evidence for extensive maritime activity between India and Egypt, India and America (trading cotton) and America and India (trading corn) dating back four millennia. Their research shows that sea trade - pioneered by the Minoans and later adopted by the Phoenicians and Romans - between America and India was commonplace a full 3,000 years before Columbus."
"In India, I'd discovered that beautiful rock art carvings and paintings of American bison have been found on the borders of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, near the point where the Periyar River rises. They were dated to the 2nd millennium BC. I had to ask myself how Keralan artists of 4,000 years ago had any knowledge of American bison. ... The answer seemed to be that the connecting tissue between all these strong, growth- and wealth-hungry cultures was the enterprising and dauntless Minoans."
"...the La Mancha bronze age had ended abruptly...the Morra, Motilla and Castillejo settlements of La Mancha were suddenly abandoned...I would later find out that Bronze Age mining ceased equally suddenly in Britain, Ireland and America at around the same time: 1500 BC."
"In short, if Brophy is correct, the Eqyptians must have worked out the long-term precessional 26,000-year pattern caused by the wobble in the earth's axis by 4800 BC. This change is what makes the night skies look different over time - and is the reason why we don't see the exact same patterns in the stars as the ancients saw. (It is also why all astrology, which fails to take account of precession, is bunk.)
"The intriguing fact about haplogroup X2 (DNA) is that it has been found not just in the Orkneys and not just where the Minoans originated but in the Americas of the Great Lakes. Nowhere else is this haplogroup so prevalent and so highly marked in local populations of today."
"A famous skeleton has been found on Lake Superior in the United States, which is approximately the same age (c.2300 BC) as the 'King' of Stonehenge. The 'Rock Lake' skeleton was buried with a copper axe similar to those found at Stonehenge ... we are hoping to have..DNA compared..to see if both are those of Mionoans with the rare haplogroup X2. A number of locally found skeletons - now in Milwaukee Public Museum - have peculiar bone deformities to their feet."
"A native American elder had told Professor James Scherz that a mystical series of stone circles lay submerged in the northern reaches of Lake Michigan. The elder told Scherz that these stone structyures were all linked by what he called 'Thunderbird Lines'. They all led to a large stone circle on Beaver Island. ... In the 1950's Scherz made a study of the ring...He concluded that it was built for astrological purposes. ... As my time in Canada drew to an end, evidence of a Minoan presence here was pouring in. North of L'Snase, on the Pequaming Peninsula in Keweenaw Bay, we'd found raised stone cairns that were probably used as beacon markers to guide in the ships. Archeologists have found the remains of prehistoric cemeteries, created for the mine workers of old, near Green Bay opposite Beaver Island. Sea shells from the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic lie beside the fragments of bone - in some cases alongside copper jewelry..
.identical in style to those found in the Uluburun wreck. ... Near Copper Harbor, above what would have been a beach 3,000 years ago after the retreat of the last glacial ice age, a petroglyph (rock engraving) of an ancient sailing ship. The design, roughly drawn, shows a ship that looks just like the graceful Minoan ships of Thera. .. Here, at the heart of America, there appears to be a Minoan star observatory, a mini-Stonehenge. Far from leaving without trace, the ancient mariners had left behind something infinitely more precious: a mass of copper tools and artefacts. I felt closer than ever to these fearless seafarers, the sailors who had tamed the Atlantic Ocean to become the men of Atlantis."
"On the return journey they again found a fre3e ride on the Gulf Stream. Warmed by the sun in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, water rushes east through its only point of excape, the narrow Straits of Florida. Thirty-nine million cubic metres per second of water drain out of the Florida Straits, pumping our Minoan ships north. ... It's difficult fully to grasp the immensity of this great ocean river. To carry just the sea salt that flies through the Straits of Florida every hour would take more ships than exist in the entire world today. A billion cubic feet of water streams past Miami every second of the day."
"The implications are that the X2 populations in North AMerica could have been caused by Y-DNA mutation from European X2 ancestors (c.1800 BC) or from a much earlier migration by Europeans to North America 9,420 years ago. ... The people with one of the highest incidences of X2, the Ojibwa, live mainly around Lake Superior in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota North Dakota and Ontario..i.e. near the copper mines described in chapters 33-37.) ... DNA X2 has thus been found on both sides of the Atlantic and throughout the Minoan trading empire. Taking al of the evidence in the round, it appears the Minoans could well have been the carriers of X2: it has been found where the Minoans originated, where they settled and where they traded. Other unknown European travellers appear to have reached America 6,000 years before them in substantial numbers."
"Linear A evidence had convinced him that the Minoans had founded further colonies, in Sicily, Syria, The Bosphorus, Bavaria and Baltic Sea, Greenland, Nordisland, India, and the Arabian Gulf."
"One of Dr Tsikritsis' more electrifying ideas...he is convinced that almost every single Minoan ceremonial object of building conforms to the 'golden mean' of Phi. One of the most talked about, disputed and revered aspects of practiacl mathematics used in the arts and architecture, Phi is also known as 'The Golden Section' or 'The Golden Ratio."
"Quite suddenly, between 1225 and 1175 BC, the Bronze Age ended in the eastern Mediterranean. So did voyages to northern Europe and the Americas. The Keweenaw and Isle Royale mines on and around Lake Superior stopped production at least as early as 1200 BC. English tin mining stopped at the same time, as did work at the Great Orme copper mine. Bronze Age settlements in La Mancha, southeast Spain, were all abandoned too. ... many reasons have been advanced for the sudden collapse of the Bronze Age - a crisis in civilization that some have put down to comets, climate change, earthquakes, sunspots, or plagues. A great disaster had befallen the sophisticated world of the eastern Mediterranean. Some scholars call it simply 'the Catastrophe'.
"There are authors whose view of history differs from that of established historians -- I thank.......for their work on the ancient copper mines of Lake Superior and the missing millions of pounds of copper from those mines, which apparently vanished into thin air. ... My story is about the Minoan fleets that travelled the oceans of the world before the ghastly explosion on Thera in 1450 BC, which wiped out the Minoan civilization."
"The Minoans lived a harmonious life in lush, civilized surroundings, they say, calmly governed in a democratic way. They didn't need city walls. Their kingdoms resembled peaceful heavens on earth. ... Yet as I moved through the closeted dark of the exhibition rooms, I came upon case after case of weapons recovered from the wreck, Bronze weapons, manufactured in large quantities. ... arrowheads, double-headed axes, spears, swords and daggers as well as the adzes, saw screws and razors that had more peaceable uses."
"detailed results, including a table for the composition of each ingot, showing the staggering purity of the copper, are contained on our website. ... There is only one type of copper with that level of purity, the copper that comes from Lake Superior on the Canadian - American border. ... How could ten of the bun-shaped copper ingots found in the Uluburun wreck be made up of Lake Superior copper? But then, how could a tiny American tobacco beetle have turned up in a ruined merchant's house on Thera, in the middle of the Mediterranean?"
"Professor Cherian's work is corroborated by Emeritus Professor John Sorenson and Emeritus Professor Carl Johannessen's painstaking putting -together of the evidence for extensive maritime activity between India and Egypt, India and America (trading cotton) and America and India (trading corn) dating back four millennia. Their research shows that sea trade - pioneered by the Minoans and later adopted by the Phoenicians and Romans - between America and India was commonplace a full 3,000 years before Columbus."
"In India, I'd discovered that beautiful rock art carvings and paintings of American bison have been found on the borders of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, near the point where the Periyar River rises. They were dated to the 2nd millennium BC. I had to ask myself how Keralan artists of 4,000 years ago had any knowledge of American bison. ... The answer seemed to be that the connecting tissue between all these strong, growth- and wealth-hungry cultures was the enterprising and dauntless Minoans."
"...the La Mancha bronze age had ended abruptly...the Morra, Motilla and Castillejo settlements of La Mancha were suddenly abandoned...I would later find out that Bronze Age mining ceased equally suddenly in Britain, Ireland and America at around the same time: 1500 BC."
"In short, if Brophy is correct, the Eqyptians must have worked out the long-term precessional 26,000-year pattern caused by the wobble in the earth's axis by 4800 BC. This change is what makes the night skies look different over time - and is the reason why we don't see the exact same patterns in the stars as the ancients saw. (It is also why all astrology, which fails to take account of precession, is bunk.)
"The intriguing fact about haplogroup X2 (DNA) is that it has been found not just in the Orkneys and not just where the Minoans originated but in the Americas of the Great Lakes. Nowhere else is this haplogroup so prevalent and so highly marked in local populations of today."
"A famous skeleton has been found on Lake Superior in the United States, which is approximately the same age (c.2300 BC) as the 'King' of Stonehenge. The 'Rock Lake' skeleton was buried with a copper axe similar to those found at Stonehenge ... we are hoping to have..DNA compared..to see if both are those of Mionoans with the rare haplogroup X2. A number of locally found skeletons - now in Milwaukee Public Museum - have peculiar bone deformities to their feet."
"A native American elder had told Professor James Scherz that a mystical series of stone circles lay submerged in the northern reaches of Lake Michigan. The elder told Scherz that these stone structyures were all linked by what he called 'Thunderbird Lines'. They all led to a large stone circle on Beaver Island. ... In the 1950's Scherz made a study of the ring...He concluded that it was built for astrological purposes. ... As my time in Canada drew to an end, evidence of a Minoan presence here was pouring in. North of L'Snase, on the Pequaming Peninsula in Keweenaw Bay, we'd found raised stone cairns that were probably used as beacon markers to guide in the ships. Archeologists have found the remains of prehistoric cemeteries, created for the mine workers of old, near Green Bay opposite Beaver Island. Sea shells from the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic lie beside the fragments of bone - in some cases alongside copper jewelry..
.identical in style to those found in the Uluburun wreck. ... Near Copper Harbor, above what would have been a beach 3,000 years ago after the retreat of the last glacial ice age, a petroglyph (rock engraving) of an ancient sailing ship. The design, roughly drawn, shows a ship that looks just like the graceful Minoan ships of Thera. .. Here, at the heart of America, there appears to be a Minoan star observatory, a mini-Stonehenge. Far from leaving without trace, the ancient mariners had left behind something infinitely more precious: a mass of copper tools and artefacts. I felt closer than ever to these fearless seafarers, the sailors who had tamed the Atlantic Ocean to become the men of Atlantis."
"On the return journey they again found a fre3e ride on the Gulf Stream. Warmed by the sun in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, water rushes east through its only point of excape, the narrow Straits of Florida. Thirty-nine million cubic metres per second of water drain out of the Florida Straits, pumping our Minoan ships north. ... It's difficult fully to grasp the immensity of this great ocean river. To carry just the sea salt that flies through the Straits of Florida every hour would take more ships than exist in the entire world today. A billion cubic feet of water streams past Miami every second of the day."
"The implications are that the X2 populations in North AMerica could have been caused by Y-DNA mutation from European X2 ancestors (c.1800 BC) or from a much earlier migration by Europeans to North America 9,420 years ago. ... The people with one of the highest incidences of X2, the Ojibwa, live mainly around Lake Superior in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota North Dakota and Ontario..i.e. near the copper mines described in chapters 33-37.) ... DNA X2 has thus been found on both sides of the Atlantic and throughout the Minoan trading empire. Taking al of the evidence in the round, it appears the Minoans could well have been the carriers of X2: it has been found where the Minoans originated, where they settled and where they traded. Other unknown European travellers appear to have reached America 6,000 years before them in substantial numbers."
"Linear A evidence had convinced him that the Minoans had founded further colonies, in Sicily, Syria, The Bosphorus, Bavaria and Baltic Sea, Greenland, Nordisland, India, and the Arabian Gulf."
"One of Dr Tsikritsis' more electrifying ideas...he is convinced that almost every single Minoan ceremonial object of building conforms to the 'golden mean' of Phi. One of the most talked about, disputed and revered aspects of practiacl mathematics used in the arts and architecture, Phi is also known as 'The Golden Section' or 'The Golden Ratio."
"Quite suddenly, between 1225 and 1175 BC, the Bronze Age ended in the eastern Mediterranean. So did voyages to northern Europe and the Americas. The Keweenaw and Isle Royale mines on and around Lake Superior stopped production at least as early as 1200 BC. English tin mining stopped at the same time, as did work at the Great Orme copper mine. Bronze Age settlements in La Mancha, southeast Spain, were all abandoned too. ... many reasons have been advanced for the sudden collapse of the Bronze Age - a crisis in civilization that some have put down to comets, climate change, earthquakes, sunspots, or plagues. A great disaster had befallen the sophisticated world of the eastern Mediterranean. Some scholars call it simply 'the Catastrophe'.
October 3, 2018
Interesting theory
Quite enjoyed this. An angle I've not read about before for Atlantis. If you want a level headed theory on Atlantis this is worth a read
Quite enjoyed this. An angle I've not read about before for Atlantis. If you want a level headed theory on Atlantis this is worth a read
January 13, 2016
Reading this reminded me of a comment I saw on Twitter recently: "Archaeology isn't really about 'facts'. It's about interpretation". Menzies certainly does a lot of interpreting in this book.
To be fair, mainstream archeology has often underestimated just how sophisticated ancient civilisations were, looking back on people in the past with an unwarranted sense of superiority. It has also, with similar lack of justification, sneered at the ability of amateurs to make a genuine contribution to our understanding of the past. Menzies may well have uncovered previously hidden influences of the Minoans on cultures once considered beyond their reach, such as in Northern Europe. But I can't help feeling he gets carried away when he interprets any possible vague similarity with Minoan civilisation found anywhere in Bronze Age Europe as meaning that there was not just some cultural crossover, but that the Minoans themselves must have been there in person. That said, some mysteries, like the origins of the Orkney vole, do require a lot of explaining.
Where his speculation really starts to stretch credulity is when he claims that the Minoans sourced considerable amounts of copper from North America, regularly crossing the Atlantic to do so. He takes the claims even further assuming that the presence of the 'Tobacco Beetle' in the tombs of some Pharos, along with the apparent detection of nicotine in their mummies, shows copper was not the only import from the New World, although no trace of plant species from the Americas has actually been uncovered yet. Unlikely though this seems, I don't know enough about ancient naval technology or, come to that, archeology, to dismiss his claims outright. However, extraordinary claims do require extraordinary evidence, and that evidence remains to be uncovered.
All that said, this is thought provoking book, in which there's much to be learnt about the most ancient of European civilisations. Menzies style of writing makes it an easy read too, even if he is a bit 'me, me, me' all the way through.
To be fair, mainstream archeology has often underestimated just how sophisticated ancient civilisations were, looking back on people in the past with an unwarranted sense of superiority. It has also, with similar lack of justification, sneered at the ability of amateurs to make a genuine contribution to our understanding of the past. Menzies may well have uncovered previously hidden influences of the Minoans on cultures once considered beyond their reach, such as in Northern Europe. But I can't help feeling he gets carried away when he interprets any possible vague similarity with Minoan civilisation found anywhere in Bronze Age Europe as meaning that there was not just some cultural crossover, but that the Minoans themselves must have been there in person. That said, some mysteries, like the origins of the Orkney vole, do require a lot of explaining.
Where his speculation really starts to stretch credulity is when he claims that the Minoans sourced considerable amounts of copper from North America, regularly crossing the Atlantic to do so. He takes the claims even further assuming that the presence of the 'Tobacco Beetle' in the tombs of some Pharos, along with the apparent detection of nicotine in their mummies, shows copper was not the only import from the New World, although no trace of plant species from the Americas has actually been uncovered yet. Unlikely though this seems, I don't know enough about ancient naval technology or, come to that, archeology, to dismiss his claims outright. However, extraordinary claims do require extraordinary evidence, and that evidence remains to be uncovered.
All that said, this is thought provoking book, in which there's much to be learnt about the most ancient of European civilisations. Menzies style of writing makes it an easy read too, even if he is a bit 'me, me, me' all the way through.
December 9, 2011
Gavin's book, The Lost Empire of Atlantis, is handicapped by the writing style, as many have noted. But, it's worth plowing through some of the dry prose to hear his story. First off, hats of to this guy. He has organized a research team and pursued years systematic research of the ancient world because he loves it. How many of us every pursue our passions like that?
But beyond that, and I'm talking to you skeptics, where there is smoke, there's fire. The Minoans and Druids and Egyptians aren't some yokels. Gavin isn't trying to piece together events that occurred a month or a year ago - events where we may expect ample hard evidence. These are events and people from 5000 years ago. We will never have the kind of evidence we may want for some of his claims - either to refute or deny them. Gavin is simply showing that the past's possibilities far outstrip our meager, modern interpretation and expectations.
And his evidence is good. His approach is robust. His story and passion is delightful.
Again, it's a shame about the prose. But, it's not worth dismissing the work for that alone. I can tell you this, I'll certainly be reading 1421.
But beyond that, and I'm talking to you skeptics, where there is smoke, there's fire. The Minoans and Druids and Egyptians aren't some yokels. Gavin isn't trying to piece together events that occurred a month or a year ago - events where we may expect ample hard evidence. These are events and people from 5000 years ago. We will never have the kind of evidence we may want for some of his claims - either to refute or deny them. Gavin is simply showing that the past's possibilities far outstrip our meager, modern interpretation and expectations.
And his evidence is good. His approach is robust. His story and passion is delightful.
Again, it's a shame about the prose. But, it's not worth dismissing the work for that alone. I can tell you this, I'll certainly be reading 1421.
December 31, 2011
not off to a very exciting start - his 1421 was so full of holes and speculation I was curious about this one - we shall see
not getting any better - doubt I will finish - all about how the Minoans on Crete were the real Atlantic - full of dropped names and places with no real story linie - at least not yet 1/2 way through
Finished it but must say, it is far fetched and not very well written - Menzies is a crock
not getting any better - doubt I will finish - all about how the Minoans on Crete were the real Atlantic - full of dropped names and places with no real story linie - at least not yet 1/2 way through
Finished it but must say, it is far fetched and not very well written - Menzies is a crock
December 21, 2011
The author's voice really bothered me...I wanted less of him and more of the archaeology/science behind this growing theory.
December 19, 2011
Interesting idea, but I question the author's credentials and grasp of science.
September 5, 2020
Starting with 1421 [1] and then 1431, Menzies is an author who was on the path of squandering considerable promise as a popular (if unconventional) historian with an increasing focus on China and speculation about it. Although, as a result, the author does not have the most credibility when it comes to solving historical mysteries, this book does a good job at showing the author's love of exploring strange stories and seeking evidence to support unconventional theories by taking on the Atlantis myth. This could have been a disastrous exercise in speculation that would have further reduced the author's credibility to speak about history rather than imagination, but surprisingly enough, the author manages to discover evidence of the global trade of the Bronze age through Minoan exploration of important sources for copper and tin and of the spread of the X2 haplogroup into the Hebrides, southern Spain, coastal India, and Great Lakes regions of North America and Finland, close to the amber sources also traded by the Minoans, all of which raises this book considerably above the normal standard for unconventional historical explorations, making this a worthwhile read for the student of ancient history.
This book is more than 300 pages long and is divided into 41 short chapters of less than 10 pages apiece. The book is also divided into six sections that discuss the author's journeys as well as his reconstruction of the lost Minoan empire and its extent. The book begins with acknowledgements, a list of illustrations and diagrams, as well as a list of plates and maps. After that the author discusses Minoan civilization (I), including his search of Crete and Santorini, the text of ancient scholars, and the DNA trail of the Minoans through the X2 haplogroup. The author looks at the Near East in exploring the connections between Crete and India as well as Assyria and the ship in the desert (II). The author then looks at the possibility of the Minoan exploration of North America, especially in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River areas (III). The presence of henges around Europe and Africa allow the author to discuss the relationship between the various stone circles and their locations and Minoan trade efforts (IV). The author explores the reaches of empire and the proof he has for his ideas (V), and finally the book ends with a discussion of the legacy of the Minoan trade empire (VI), after which there is a timeline, an epilogue about Plato, as well as a bibliography and index.
How is it that one goes about trying to draw connections between the behavior of people? This is by no means as straightforward a task as one would think, because the Minoan language (best shown by Linear A) is not a language that is widely understood nor easy to read. What kind of similarities or connections are sufficient to make a connection between the Mionans and various parts of the world where the ores for copper and tin could be found to make the bronze that was their main trading chip when it came to establishing dominance over the coastal regions of the Mediterranean and other areas. The author manages to control the tendency to wildly speculate within reasonable means by showing how a fondness for following ocean currents in the Atlantic and Indian oceans and establishing coastal and riverine bases with the use of stone circles to provide knowledge of when to go out to sea, and some intriguing evidence regarding the presence of North American tobacco beetles and Baltic amber and high-grade Great Lakes copper and European voles where they would not be unless someone brought them as evidence for the extent of the Minoan empire in the period before the Thera explosion and the fall of Crete to the Sea Peoples in the Bronze age collapse. The result is a worthy history that ties in well to other explorations of the Bronze Age to demonstrate that global trade is by no means only a recent phenomenon.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
December 2, 2020
Taken in the right spirit (and with a couple shots of Ouzo) this one can be fun, maybe even a little intellectually stimulating. Author Gavin Menzies starts from the intriguing premise that Atlantis, the ancient mythical seafaring civilization, was not just a rhetorical contrivance created by Plato, but a real place, or an empire rather. He uses this to begin his search, which leads him around the world, to locales as far-flung as the island of Santorini and the Great Lakes. He somehow discovers (or decides) that the Minoans are the most likely fit for the real world Atlanteans. He becomes convinced of this after viewing Francisco Goya's "Bullfight in a Divided Ring" at the Prado, believing that this proves the ritual of "bull jumping" had been spread around the world by the Minoans... Which apparently further proves that they were the world's first great seafaring people, or something.
This isn't quite Däniken level bunk, since we're honestly always only one excavation away from potentially having our concept of the ancient world upended, but it's ultimately much more a case of free associating on the author's part rather than responsibly tracking down a set of clues.
That said, Menzies is a spirited raconteur and he comes across not just as engaging, but as a well-lived old salt with a genuine love for the sea and all things thalassocratic. The boatload (no pun intended) of photos and illustrations also might make this a keeper for some. But for me it was like watching a marathon on the History Channel when it's at it's at its softest and most speculative.
This isn't quite Däniken level bunk, since we're honestly always only one excavation away from potentially having our concept of the ancient world upended, but it's ultimately much more a case of free associating on the author's part rather than responsibly tracking down a set of clues.
That said, Menzies is a spirited raconteur and he comes across not just as engaging, but as a well-lived old salt with a genuine love for the sea and all things thalassocratic. The boatload (no pun intended) of photos and illustrations also might make this a keeper for some. But for me it was like watching a marathon on the History Channel when it's at it's at its softest and most speculative.
December 29, 2019
A fascinating exploration of the possibility that Atlantis was actually the home of the Minoan civilisation prior to the volcanic eruption of Thera. While Gavin Menzies is not the first to put forward this theory, he has taken a far more in depth look at many aspects of this premise than has been previously available to a wide audience. Menzies is often criticised and his ideas not even looked at by mainstream archeaologists because he is an amateur and unfortunately the archaeological field is possibly the most hidebound, ego driven discipline in the world. If someone other than a bona fide 'expert' (with a degree and all!) posits an idea, it tends to be totally ignored and frequently rubbished outright, without examination. Even 'genuine' archaeologists are shunned if they come up with a theory that is considered too out there, even if it has real merit and is at least worth looking at. They all seem to forget the likes of Schliemann et al!
The book is a captivating and exciting read and I learned a great deal more about the Minoan civilisation than I knew. If even a fraction of the suppositions in the book are right, then it is quite probable that this theory is correct. In any case the Minoans were obviously far more brilliant and adventurous than has previously been thought and I look forward to keeping abreast of future discoveries.
The book is a captivating and exciting read and I learned a great deal more about the Minoan civilisation than I knew. If even a fraction of the suppositions in the book are right, then it is quite probable that this theory is correct. In any case the Minoans were obviously far more brilliant and adventurous than has previously been thought and I look forward to keeping abreast of future discoveries.
April 6, 2024
The most frustrating book I've ever read.
Menzies' theories are very interesting and controversial, but with each theory he proposes, the evidence given is mostly reliant upon vibes. I agree that the Minoans were likely far more advanced than we currently give them credit for, but to surmise that they had created a worldwide trading network based upon very loose strands of evidence is silly.
In one chapter titled 'So, the proof', Menzies discusses bringing his evidence to a Professor who discounts his ideas as impossible to prove, which Menzies responds to by basically saying 'nuh-uh,' in a chapter literally about proving his theories.
Some of the ideas in this book could hold real weight, and I wish more time had been spent digging deeper into the evidence he had found rather than trying to mash together half-baked theories to prove an imagined point.
I also hate the idea the author constantly states of traditional historians hating on his theories because they hate being challenged when I'd say the real reason they hate on these theories is that you cannot base an entire theory off vibes. This book was worth reading, but apart from a few theories (mainly around Minoan trade in Europe and the Levant), the rest has about as much concrete evidence as aliens building the pyramids.
Menzies' theories are very interesting and controversial, but with each theory he proposes, the evidence given is mostly reliant upon vibes. I agree that the Minoans were likely far more advanced than we currently give them credit for, but to surmise that they had created a worldwide trading network based upon very loose strands of evidence is silly.
In one chapter titled 'So, the proof', Menzies discusses bringing his evidence to a Professor who discounts his ideas as impossible to prove, which Menzies responds to by basically saying 'nuh-uh,' in a chapter literally about proving his theories.
Some of the ideas in this book could hold real weight, and I wish more time had been spent digging deeper into the evidence he had found rather than trying to mash together half-baked theories to prove an imagined point.
I also hate the idea the author constantly states of traditional historians hating on his theories because they hate being challenged when I'd say the real reason they hate on these theories is that you cannot base an entire theory off vibes. This book was worth reading, but apart from a few theories (mainly around Minoan trade in Europe and the Levant), the rest has about as much concrete evidence as aliens building the pyramids.
September 17, 2017
I have read several books on Atlantis,( it is a subject that has always fascinated me) so I was per-disposed to like this one. Although I enjoy any books about Atlantis, I prefer theories based on actual archeological evidence, which favor the ancient Minoan civilization based on the Mediterranean islands of Crete and Thera as the most likely basis for legends of Atlantis.
Some of the conjecture about the location, size and technological capabilities of "Atlantis" can get pretty far out there with tales of alien visitations, dimensional-beings, time-travel, etc., and give serious studies of an historical-basis for these stories a disreputable air.
Thankfully this book avoids all of that hokum and falls solidly in the archeologically-based, this-could-have-actually-happened category. I found the author's main theories intriguing if not compelling. He supposes that the ancient Minoans had an extensive trade empire that included Asia , Africa and parts of North America, and that this far-flung enterprise represents the actual "Empire of Atlantis", rather than a single location. The best things he had to add to the story of the Minoans, was the supreme importance of bronze as a material, which literally fueled the technological advances of the Bronze age, and may have driven the Minoans (expert sailors), as far as the Great Lakes region of North America in search of the raw materials (copper, tin, wood) to make it. He painted a picture of a commodity, not unlike oil today, that drove the development of the world's first intercontinental empire. He theorizes that the "continent" of Atlantis, (described by Plato as being bigger than Asia and Libya combined), was not a sunken continent in the middle of the Atlantic, but was in fact North America. The idea fits, North America laying beyond the "Pillars of Hercules" and across the wide western sea. He also cites DNA evidence of a very early
co-mingling of Native American and European DNA. As compelling as I found these theories to be, I felt that he was less effective at making his case. His science is a bit less rigorous than I would have liked, and he made several huge leaps of logic/ assumptions that required more rigorous proof than he was able to provide. Also his writing style seemed too anecdotal, and did not build steadily to a compelling conclusion.
So: I really enjoyed the subject and the theories, but not the writing style. For a book in a similar vein that is much better written, see "Unearthing Atlantis : An Archaeological Odyssey" by Charles Pellegrino. That book is my gold standard for archeologically-based books on Minoan civilization/ Atlantis. It covers a lot of the same territory, but in a much more compelling way.
Some of the conjecture about the location, size and technological capabilities of "Atlantis" can get pretty far out there with tales of alien visitations, dimensional-beings, time-travel, etc., and give serious studies of an historical-basis for these stories a disreputable air.
Thankfully this book avoids all of that hokum and falls solidly in the archeologically-based, this-could-have-actually-happened category. I found the author's main theories intriguing if not compelling. He supposes that the ancient Minoans had an extensive trade empire that included Asia , Africa and parts of North America, and that this far-flung enterprise represents the actual "Empire of Atlantis", rather than a single location. The best things he had to add to the story of the Minoans, was the supreme importance of bronze as a material, which literally fueled the technological advances of the Bronze age, and may have driven the Minoans (expert sailors), as far as the Great Lakes region of North America in search of the raw materials (copper, tin, wood) to make it. He painted a picture of a commodity, not unlike oil today, that drove the development of the world's first intercontinental empire. He theorizes that the "continent" of Atlantis, (described by Plato as being bigger than Asia and Libya combined), was not a sunken continent in the middle of the Atlantic, but was in fact North America. The idea fits, North America laying beyond the "Pillars of Hercules" and across the wide western sea. He also cites DNA evidence of a very early
co-mingling of Native American and European DNA. As compelling as I found these theories to be, I felt that he was less effective at making his case. His science is a bit less rigorous than I would have liked, and he made several huge leaps of logic/ assumptions that required more rigorous proof than he was able to provide. Also his writing style seemed too anecdotal, and did not build steadily to a compelling conclusion.
So: I really enjoyed the subject and the theories, but not the writing style. For a book in a similar vein that is much better written, see "Unearthing Atlantis : An Archaeological Odyssey" by Charles Pellegrino. That book is my gold standard for archeologically-based books on Minoan civilization/ Atlantis. It covers a lot of the same territory, but in a much more compelling way.
December 28, 2019
I've read the author's other books. To me this is better researched than the others and perhaps the most amazing. The tie-in to Atlantis is based on references from Plato that describes the people and the size of two islands and a continent that aligns with this book's discoveries. What makes this book worth reading is the following:
1. Learning about the history of early Crete/Santorini including the Minoan skills in bronze, mining, sea navigation, and mathematics, long before other peoples.
2. The Bull culture, probably link to Labyrinths (mining) and Minotaur
3. The extent of trade and communication with Minoans, including Kerala India
4. The development of early mining in Europe and America
5. The tie-in of Stonehenge, Nabta Playa and other stone circles, their function and location, and how they are linked via DNA to the same peoples.
The story put forth is perhaps more interesting than fiction. The time period all matches, but there still are many things that are left incomplete. I look forward to further research.
1. Learning about the history of early Crete/Santorini including the Minoan skills in bronze, mining, sea navigation, and mathematics, long before other peoples.
2. The Bull culture, probably link to Labyrinths (mining) and Minotaur
3. The extent of trade and communication with Minoans, including Kerala India
4. The development of early mining in Europe and America
5. The tie-in of Stonehenge, Nabta Playa and other stone circles, their function and location, and how they are linked via DNA to the same peoples.
The story put forth is perhaps more interesting than fiction. The time period all matches, but there still are many things that are left incomplete. I look forward to further research.
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