Atlantis and the Silver City

by Peter Daughtrey

History's most intriguing detective story may have been solved—recently unearthed evidence points towards the real location of the ancient, lost city of Atlantis.

More than 2,000 years ago Plato laid down around a hundred cryptic clues about the location of the lost world of Atlantis. Since then countless experts have tried to crack Plato’s code. Some claim Atlantis lies under the volcanic rocks of Santorini. Others place it in the Bermuda Triangle, off the coast of Africa or say it is lost forever beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

But what if Atlantis is far closer than we think? What if we can walk its cobble-stoned streets today?

After a forensic, twenty-year examination of Plato’s writings Peter Daughtrey says we can do just that. Having matched an unprecedented number of Plato’s clues Daughtrey outlines the full reach of the ancient empire—and pinpoints the exact location of its once glittering capital city.

His quest for the truth about Atlantis runs from the dusty stone quarries of Portugal and the hieroglyphs of Egyptian temples to the newly refurbished museums of Baghdad. It includes the discovery of long-forgotten, vitally significant artifacts, sensational evidence of a lost alphabet and a revealing analysis that identifies today’s descendants of this most ancient civilization. Detailed, accurate and told with enthusiasm and verve, Atlantis and the Silver City even reveals the location of another city from the ancient empire of Atlantis.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

Peter Daughtrey is a British writer based on the Algarve in Portugal. Formerly a publisher and advertising manager, he has been researching the legends of Atlantis for more than twenty years. Atlantis and the Silver City is his first book.

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atlantis has enchanted and mystified many for ages. This is the first book I have read on the subject. Will most likely be the last until concrete proof of its existence and location is confirmed. That is not to say that this book should not be read. My background won't let me read any more suppositional books on Atlantis. The author uses Plato's 'Timaeus', a Socratic dialogue in which Socrates asks Timaeus, Critias and Hermon to relate stories of Athens' interactions with other states as one source for his own theory as to the location of Atlantis. In these accounts it is mentioned that the Egyptians knew of the story of Atlantis. Plato's curiosity was piqued.

Another more concrete source the author utilizes as proof of the location of the fabled civilization are the geographic characteristics of the region near his residence. He presents an intriguing case in which he compares the land formations he can actually see and stand on with the information Plato provides.

I found how the author determined the supposed location of Atlantis interesting and plausible but his ideas of Altantian society seemed to be a bit much.

I have purposefully omitted the author's conclusions. Why spoil it? Another reason I enjoyed the majority of the text was we have visited the area and it is one of our favorite places to visit. (Wish I had read the book before our visit.) The local people are welcoming and generous. A trait handed down from Atlantis? #resist

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first full length book I've read discussing Atlantis and it's possible location, so I'm not an expert on the subject. I do plan to read Plato's work on the subject one day. If you are relatively new to the subject then this is a very good place to start. Peter Daughtrey discusses Plato at length, he also looks into the previously suggested locations as he proves beyond doubt just how wrong those locations are...again because I am new to the subject I had to take his word that they were wrong....it does seem mad that some of the suggested locations only met 5 or 6 of Plato's many descriptions of Atlantis.

Peter's location though meets 60 of Plato's descriptions, which is impressive, but at times he does seem to be inventive when fitting in his location. He does have quite a good imagination, his many years experience help him to see how it fits in, unfortunately in the book it's not as convincing. Until somebody finds some hard evidence then it's only just a theory, the upside is that his location for Atlantis means exploration in the future is possible, so I'll be keeping my eye out for news of any discoveries.

My issue with this book is the last few chapters, after he has put his case forward for where Atlantis was he then continues the book describing Atlantis, their language, what they looked like and their technology. Maybe they had mastered electricity, genetics and atomic weapons, if just feels like the book slips away from reality for a while and never comes back.

Still it was an interesting read and I found how he found new clues from Plato fascinating...it's gotta be frustrating when one word Plato used could mean "Island" or "Peninsula" same word but completely changes how you look at Atlantis.

[David Beers · Rating 4 out of 5]

The information in this book is wonderful, even if the conclusions and level of certainty go to far. When challenging the conventional historical record, it pays to be conservative in the conclusion drawing department, so as not to draw attention away from the hard evidence. The author fails in this respect, but the book is well written, and presents a lot of interesting information. There's not anything that can be specifically debunked or proven false, so don't think this is a wing nut book - the author would simply benefit from qualifiers on his statements such as "it appears that..." or "it may be that..." I particulars there's a fantastic analysis of everything Plato said about Atlantis, in much greater depth than anyone else I've read on this subject. Even some of the more far-fetched stuff, like the information about haplogroup X (the tall, red- bearded, pale skinned ancient peoples who left their genetic and cultural evidence almost everywhere on the globe) is actually quite factual - I recommend googling "haplogroup X" to see for yourself. This is in some ways a modern update to Ignatious Loyola Donnelley's classic "Atlantis and the Antediluvian World," in that it compares genetics, language, and culture to show that there is good evidence for a common ancestral lineage between the American continents and Europe. All in all I would recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient man, Atlantis, etc etc, with the previously mentioned disclaimer regarding certainty and conclusion-drawing.

[Jordan Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

At the beginning of this book, the author tells us that he believes he has found Atlantis ("I've found it," he states clearly). I was dubious - if Atlantis really had been discovered, wouldn't I have heard something about it? And yet, considering the fact that the general population today is more concerned with Kim Kardashian's twitter and hasn't heard of Tolstoy, maybe not. And when do I ever watch / read the news? So, I went into the book hoping that by the end, Atlantis really would be found. Well, by the middle, I had completely thrown out this possibility.

Daughtery's research and theories are mainly based on the writings of Plato, whom he himself admits was known for embellishing facts and dramatizing history for the benefits of a good story.

If there was one impression I took away from this book, it was that it seems Daughtrey didn't really have that much material to go on, and was trying to do some major padding here.

We go back over Plato's exact words a dozen times, and things are constantly brought back up. For example, early in the book, Daughtrey discusses the possibility of Cadiz being the location of Atlantis, but moves on, stating it unlikely. Later, we go back to the Cadiz possibility, where he gives irrefutable evidence that it cannot, based on Plato's writings, be the site. Still, it's brought up again, and more than once. It was confusing, giving me the suspicion that the author didn't trust his own research or sources if he has to keep going back over things that he just told us he had ironed out.

Another thing that I disliked was how dry things were. The topic of Atlantis is fascinating, yes, just not here. Reading about such an interesting subject shouldn't be a chore, but in this book, it was.
And the way that Daughtrey came across sometimes was grating, stating things about "finding" Atlantis when he clearly hadn't, or saying he "can't wait to see the faces" of people who have doubted Atlantis' existence.
Further into the book, he also starts including little fictional vignettes of imagined characters of Atlantis in each chapter. When I came across the first one, I was thinking "What is this?!" His writing slides from dryly detached to melodramatically sensational, describing priestesses and earthquakes and death, and he ends each with a "This may have happened," or, "Something like this likely occurred when..." Um, what??

Daughtrey spends pages and pages on a list of potential sites, with long dialogues on why each one may or may not be the site of Atlantis. And at the end of all that, he says this: "So, had I exhausted all the possibilities? All the obvious ones, yes - but incredibly, there is another Algarve site that matches so many of the exacting clues left by Plato that it is quite impossible to be mere coincidence."
Okay, so why wasn't that on your drawn out list in the first place? And if it's so perfect, then why isn't it obvious?
He then says "Prepare to be amazed..."

(About time, I grumbled.)

Well, it turns out, the location that he finishes with does indeed sound like a likely guess for Atlantis, based on Plato's writings.
In the next chapter, he says "I was exhilarated to have finally nailed Atlantis..."

Wait, when was this? He found a location that seemed a strong possibility, yes, (going off of measurements and geographical attributes such as availability of water or building materials) but it was hardly conclusive. Did he find any buried cities, or even buried coins or pottery? Nothing of the sort.
Or maybe he did, and is just saving the best, most irrefutable evidence for last?
No, that's where he ends the book. Does he really expect to have convinced us with this?

Daughtrey is good at brushing aside or ignoring the many, many flaws in his theories (such as that when Plato, an admitted embellisher of facts, wrote about Atlantis, it was already approximately 10,000 years in the past, as another reviewer mentioned), and he even briefly discusses and dismisses other books on Atlantis.
Meanwhile, he thrusts his own opinions at us, assuring us that they are undeniably sound, when in fact they are shaky at best.

I'd love for Atlantis to end up being a real part of history. I'd love for someone to discover it.

But, spoiler, Daughtrey didn't.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was probably in Junior High when I found a new paperback in the local Waldenbooks - "Atlantis Rising" by Brad Steiger. If I recall correctly, and I might not, this book discussed the possible locations of Atlantis, but then went down the "Chariots of the Gods?" path into ancient astronauts and advanced technology. I was pleased to see this new Atlantis release, "Atlantis and the Silver City" seemed to be aimed more at the archaeological question of where Atlantis was, and based mostly on an extensive description from Plato. The author comes up with a number of "clues" from Plato that he can interpret into locales in and near the southwestern Iberian peninsula, including, surprisingly enough, his new hometown. You can feel the author's breathless excitement as he describes his discoveries. As can be expected, this isn't scholarship, or research, as much as conjecture, but he tells a good story. He does slip in the last third of the book into wild conjecture concerning numerous ancient redhead leaders (!), the common name Dan (!), pyramids around the world, and a battery the size of a city. He even conjectures that a design of circles with a line through it imply the ancients knew the double helix of DNA, when it looks like a nice Celtic design that could be a pearl necklace. I hadn't read this kind of stuff in more than 30 years, yet it seemed quite repetitive, outside of the newer DNA research he mentions. One surpising bit, the author said he had done most of his research and then checked the internet and found a website that pretty much duplicated his results. Word to the wise, check the internet first!

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Atlantis and the Silver City, Peter Daughtrey posits that Atlantis was actually the Portuguese city of Silva on the Iberian coast. He basis his hypothesis on the writings of Plato that describe Atlantis and its location. He uses dozens of points from Plato to "proof" that Atlantis once existed in Iberia. His research and claims are extensive and his proof seems pretty plausible. However, there isn't a whole lot of evidence other than his conjecture to prove his hypothesis. The book is a lot of conjecture and hopeful thinking. Everything he says seems plausible and intriguing. Atlantis could have existed in Spain/Portugal. I have no reason to believe it didn't just as I have no proof that it did. Daughtrey's arguments on the location are pretty extensive and interesting. They do make you think and seem entirely possible. Towards the end of the book he brings up a bunch of other things that I think seem less plausible. He tries to tie instances of red-heads, pyramids and the DNA symbol around the world to the migration of the Atlantian people. More intriguing is his argument about Phoenician not being the first written alphabet/language. This book is full of interesting ideas about the beginnings of mankind. It would be really interesting if they were true. Maybe one day archaeological evidence will support Daughtrey's claims.

I receive a copy of this book from the publishers on Netgalley.

[Roger Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it knocks on the head most of the theories on the location of Atlantis and proposes a solution that, once explained, is actually really obvious. Amazing that academia has struggled for centuries to locate the lost civilisation. The sad part is that we may never recover enough to confirm the hypothesis or otherwise but let's live in hope. It's out there somewhere.

This book is well-written with an easy, narrative style and it has been carefully researched over years. It does not purport to be a scholarly treatise (although the extensive references show how much care and background research has been done) and I am sure that academics will have fun nit-picking but they'd be missing the point and that point is this: it is a book of ideas, and they are good ideas, original and mostly quite convincing. However, like all good mysteries, it raises as many questions as it answers. I hope that some popular archaeologist in snorkel and wetsuit takes up the challenge to delve deeper into Peter's ideas because I'm sure there's a career in it!

[Emily]

The book was fine, but I got the point pretty quickly and there just seemed like a lot that didn't need to be in there. I like this subject, and it's clear the author does as well, but after reading about half of it, I just didn't have the energy to keep going through the same material. Ended up not finishing it, but if you're very into the details of Plato and want to keep going through those details as to why the author's preferred location is correct, by all means read this book.

[Lyle Blosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating reading...I wonder what the future holds re: continued archaeological study into this study of our more distant past. The author brings many areas of knowledge (and, yes, speculation) into focus to tell a clearer story of what Atlantis was, where it was, and who the Atlanteans might have been.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This presents an interesting theory of the location of Atlantis. However, toward the end of the book he goes off on many tangents and just starts speculating wildly.

[Ionia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any fan of Plato will more than likely enjoy reading this book. The majority of the content is heavily based on the Plato texts regarding the City of Atlantis. I enjoyed reading the authors thoughts and conclusions on the geographic location of the "lost city." Although, I am not sure I, nor everyone else who reads this book will necessarily agree wholeheartedly with his ultimate conclusions. This is definitely a book that is more opinion that actual fact.

I do understand and appreciate the amount of research the author did while penning this book and for all of those who are very interested in a possible location for the historical city, this book would make a good addition to your library.

Over the years, there have been many books written and many different theories brought to light over the location of Atlantis. This book is another theory. The information is easy to read and organized well and overall was both intriguing and compelling enough to keep me turning pages. The author, Peter Daughtery, does put up a persuasive argument for his possible location site and he has certainly considered his topic carefully before taking to writing this book.

While I can't say that I am startled by the revelations in this book, it was a good book and also had some fascinating photos at the end. This book may not be as long as it first seems, as there is an extensive index at the back of book.

If you are searching for something to read to satisfy your desire to travel back in time and want to read an interesting theory, this is the work to choose.

This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher.

[Joshua Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read that makes a plausible argument that Atlantis was not an island but instead of a very large empire extending from the Mediterrannean to the Americas, with it's capital region centered in the Algarve region on the Iberian Peninsula. Daughtrey makes a convincing case that many of Plato's "clues" surrounding the location of Atlantis point in this direction, but he has a rather annoying habit of discounting clues that don't seem to fit by saying Plato was either exaggerating or mistaken. This wouldn't be an issue if the basis of his argument for why he is correct in his hypothesis wasn't the fact that his version of events accords most closely with Plato's discussion.

My biggest problem with the book, however, was the pseudo-mystic New Age BS that infiltrated so much of it. The Atlanteans knew about DNA! The Egyptians were using lightbulbs in the pyramids! Ancient Indian civilizations were involved in nuclear war! Critics of these theories (otherwise known as people who aren't crazy) are simply dismissed. I guess this is to be expected in a book about Atlantis, but I could have done without it.

Worth a read, but be prepared for healthy portions of mumbo jumbo with the interesting bits.

[Ian Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Atlantis found?
An interesting, well-researched and thought-provoking addition to the many, many books that claim to show where the fabled land of Atlantis was located. Daughtrey has done a very thorough job of analysing the clues and he presents a persuasive case. Is he correct? Who knows? But it’s an engaging read.

[Beth Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and surprising investigation into the possible origins of Atlantis, which proposes that the original site is not buried underwater after all, but can in fact be walked upon today, in the Algarve and southern coast of Spain. Daughtrey's research is extremely thorough and persuasive, taking Plato's account as his starting point.

[Mike Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Read

Great evidence as to the actual location of Atlantis. I too think us humans need to start rethinking our own history.

[Sandrus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book but I don't think it proves anything really. Is Silves - Algarve - Portugal, ancient Atlantis? This book says it is.