Antediluvian world - страница 12

The religious horse-feasts of the pagan Scandinavians were a survival of this Poseidon-worship, which once prevailed along all the coasts of Europe; they continued until the conversion of the people to Christianity, and were then suppressed by the Church with great difficulty.

We find in Plato’s narrative the names of some of the Phoenician deities among the kings of Atlantis. Where did the Greek, Plato, get these names if the story is a fable?

Does Plato, in speaking of “the fruits having a hard rind, affording drinks and meats and ointments,” refer to the cocoa nut?

Again: Plato tells us that Atlantis abounded in both cold and hot springs. How did he come to hit upon the hot springs if he was drawing a picture from his imagination? It is a singular confirmation of his story that hot springs abound in the Azores, which are the surviving fragments of Atlantis; and an experience wider than that possessed by Plato has taught scientific men that hot springs are a common feature of regions subject to volcanic convulsions.

Plato tells us, “The whole country was very lofty and precipitous on the side of the sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which descended toward the sea.” One has but to look at the profile of the “Dolphin’s Ridge,” as revealed by the deep-sea soundings of the Challenger, given as the frontispiece to this volume, to see that this is a faithful description of that precipitous elevation. “The surrounding mountains,”

which sheltered the plain from the north, are represented in the present towering peaks of the Azores.

Plato tells us that the destruction of Atlantis filled the sea with mud, and interfered with navigation. For thousands of years the ancients believed the Atlantic Ocean to be “a muddy, shallow, dark, and misty sea, Mare tenebrosum.” (“Cosmos,” vol. ii., p. 151.) The three-pronged sceptre or trident of Poseidon reappears constantly in ancient history. We find it in the hands of Hindoo gods, and at the base of all the religious beliefs of antiquity.

“Among the numerals the sacred three has ever been considered the mark of perfection, and was therefore exclusively ascribed to the Supreme Deity, or to its earthly representative—a king, emperor, or any sovereign. For this reason triple emblems of various shapes are found on the belts, neckties, or any encircling fixture, as can be seen on the works of ancient art in Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, Mexico, etc., whenever the object has reference to divine supremacy.” (Dr. Arthur Schott, “Smith. Rep.,” 1869, p. 391.)

We are reminded of the, “tiara,” and the “triple round of sovereignty.”

In the same manner the ten kingdoms of Atlantis are perpetuated in all the ancient traditions.

“In the number given by the Bible for the Antediluvian patriarchs we have the first instance of a striking agreement with the traditions of various nations. Ten are mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Other nations, to whatever epoch they carry back their ancestors, whether before or after the Deluge, whether the mythical or historical character prevail, they are constant to this sacred number ten, which some have vainly attempted to connect with the speculations of later religious philosophers on the mystical value of numbers. In Chaldea, Berosus enumerates ten Antediluvian kings whose fabulous reign extended to thousands of years. The legends of the Iranian race commence with the.

reign of ten Peisdadien (Poseidon?) kings, ‘men of the ancient law, who lived on pure Homa (water of life)’ (nectar?), ‘and who preserved their sanctity.’ In India we meet with the nine Brahmadikas, who, with Brahma, their founder, make ten, and who are called the Ten Petris, or Fathers.

The Chinese count ten emperors, partakers of the divine nature, before the dawn of historical times. The Germans believed in the ten ancestors of Odin, and the Arabs in the ten mythical kings of the Adites.”

(Lenormant and Chevallier, “Anc. Hist. of the East,” vol. i., p. 13.) The story of Plato finds confirmation from other sources.