The whole study is divided into 10 parts.
Herewith in this site, reference is made to three of them.
1) Methodology of Mythology (MοM). Part 1.
New connatatively accurate translations of Plato’s books TIMAEUS and CRITIAS, reveal another dimention in Plato’s way of thinking.
2) Methodology of Mythology (ΜοΜ). Part 2.
Plato’s Logic as mythographer; Light is shed on Plato’s methodology in his mythological reports.
3) ATLANTIS – “The Apocalypse* of a Myth” . Book-2008. Deciphering the most famous myth.
OUTLINE of 1 and 2.
New connotatively accurate translations were made of two of Plato’s important works, namely, the books of Timaeus and Critias in which Plato unfolds his story of Atlantis. These retranslations, made after thousands of hours of exacting and taxing intellectual labour, are of a very high degree of accuracy and divulge practically to the full all that was meant by him. To achieve said accuracy, one by one, all principally relevant words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs were processed and reviewed. To this end, fourteen (14) dictionaries and lexicons were referred to, being those the most preferable to the writer and widely recognised by the scientific community as to their authoritativeness and credibility. Besides the overall reconsideration, certain words under particular question were re-examined in the context of all Pre-Platonic texts in which they were found, while the sentences or phrases in which they were, were retranslated and subsequently reinterpreted. It should be noted that in a few but important cases, new meanings were derived which were not given in most of the dictionaries but in just a few of them.
One may well ask “how is it, that other translations are inaccurate?” or, “how much of an issue can it be, should one translation be found to differ slightly from another?”
The answer, in relation to these works by Plato, is emphatically explicit. (See page: The importance of accurate translations).Accuracy in translation is of the essence, when the intention of the researcher of a literary work is to explore and identify the logic of the author and/or the writings. Quite simply, mistranslation = misdirection, so it cannot be stressed enough how absolutely essential it is to have connotatively accurate translations!
The initial phase of research had to do with detecting the Logic by which Plato fashioned his mythical narrative. Immediately afterwards, it had to do with detecting the logic pervading the myth. However, in order to proceed in investigation of either, as emphasized, an accurate translation is a must. Because all translations available on the international market are quite dissimilar, some being particularly so, it signifies that each translator had either made a faulty rendition or the original Ancient Greek codices were transcribed differently. If this was not the case, then all translations based on them would be relatively the same. The second case i.e. that of erroneous transcriptions was easily discounted because even those translations which exhibited differences as to the original ancient text, were not on points and issues which significantly altered the meanings in the various renditions by the various translators. Therefore, it was obvious that in order to proceed in research, a connotatively accurate translation was necessary. It should be noted that this insistence on accuracy in translation, concerns the study of the logic of myths and mythographers and not of any other writings or writers.
Thus, the most appropriate myth and mythographer were required for research. The Orphic Poets were excluded because of the plethora of inaccuracies and discontinuities in many of the ancient writings. On the other hand, Homer’s epics were much too long and the incumbent view that Homer is a fabulist or raconteur would have made this task not only too time-consuming but also less convincing in its end result.
Ultimately, Plato proved to be the ideal choice with his myth of Atlantis as the most suitable for research, for the following reasons:
1) Not even the most prejudiced cynic and obstinate sceptic can maintain that Plato is a non-rationalist without being derided. Accordingly, the very fact that an arch rationalist would engage in seemingly farfetched fiction, is in itself a motivational challenge to research. One would not reasonably expect such a person, especially in advanced age, as was Plato when he wrote about Atlantis, to commit flights of fancy in writing; unless they were grounded in fact.
2) The myth of Atlantis has been transcribed with noteworthy precision while the integrity of the author is beyond dispute.
3) The story of Atlantis is adequately long so as to allow research, since it’s neither too drawn out nor too short.
4) Precisely because it is the most talked about myth, giving rise to so many believable or unbelievable expositions, from the past to the present, to explore its logic was manifoldly challenging.
As a result of the laborious but meticulous translation of Plato’s two literary works in which he unfolds the myth of Atlantis, much hitherto unknown information was revealed, some being highly significant.
To begin with, there appears to have been an extraordinary method by which myths were structured. So, the myth is neither a tall tale with a few truths nor a factual recount with some fictional anecdotes. It is a completely unknown to date treatise, whose purpose is the scientific, intellectual and social edification of whoever requires part or whole of the instruction it has to offer, while being suitable for each intellectual age group. In other words, it is a generic work of literature, addressed to children, adolescents, mature grownups and even philosophers. This is true especially of the Homeric myths. Plato, on the other hand, focuses the educational nature of myths only to the intellectually mature and to advanced thinkers, such as are philosophers. Ingeniously, in the texts of myths, there is a confidential level that holds the knowledge of their time!
Ultimately, there is revealed an impressive structuring to when forming a myth that is governed by laws and axioms that characterize its architecture. That is to say, that every mythographer works within a framework of conventions whose boundaries are scientifically and rationally defined. So, while at first read a myth gives the impression of an easy to be assimilated document (in contrast to but a few relatively challenging ones), nobody, to date, had fully appreciated how valuable was its role in educating and ‘evolving’ the populace. With these conventions, every genuine myth can literally be “decoded”.
3) ATLANTIS – “The Apocalypse of a Myth” . Book-2008. Decoding the most famous myth.
(New version – Uploaded on July 20, 2011).
By applying the MoM to Plato’s myth of Atlantis, an end is given to the long quest for Atlantis and a cap put on Atlanto-mania. It solves a mystery whose creation was prompted mostly through inaccuracies and subsequently blown out of proportion by hyperbole.
OUTLINE of 3
On completion of the connotatively accurate translations of Timaeus and Critias, began the task of analysing the two books as a whole. Right away and for the first time in history, many surprises emerged such as three different islands, none of which sank. Specifically, Plato describes a continent-island, a large island which was temporarily inundated and a very small isle which became permanently flooded. He also portrays two canals instead of one and two lands named Gadeiriki. These were the first major of many surprises. Next in line was the identification –through analysing Plato’s reports- of the approximate position of the Pillars of Heracles and the front edge of the continent of Atlantis. This location for the Pillars had first been suggested (modern times in 2005) by U. Hoffmann. In a later study (2008), G. Sarantitis, basing his theory on a number of relevant historical pieces of evidence, made an analytical presentation where he showed that the actual site of the Pillars of Heracles mentioned by Plato, was at the Gulf of Gabes. For first time Mr. Sarantitis has present analytically that it is Plato himself and also none other than Aristotle, who put the final seal of confirmation as to this location. Any researcher who propounds another point of view must first of all contest historically these analyses which contain information supplied by Plato and his pupil, Aristotle. Even as it is, from antiquity until today, nobody had a historically documented substantiation of the Pillars being in Spain and in Africa or at Gibraltar. This is the first time that so much and so very compelling data has been revealed and presented.
The newly retranslated texts offered up new schemata.
For example, the shape of the continent-island of Atlantis is defined as being semicircular with its length given at over 5.100 as an arc or 4.300 km in straight lines (addition in the new book’s version, 2013).
Also given, was the location of the island of Atlas as being “in the middle” of the continent. This island was rhombic, with 1:4 ratio sides and 300 km long.
Plato also describes a concentric system of alternate wheels of land and sea situated “inside” this island (which is “inside” the continent). Plato describes these wheels of land, giving the specific dimensions of every wheel, each with a unique natural or “constructed” geological feature.
In short, Plato describes in writing, an incredibly symmetrical geometrical design that begins with the continent and concludes with the hub of the wheels. According to the law of probability, it would be statistically impossible for such a land feature to exist, not only on Earth but anywhere in our Galaxy, on any of the millions or billions of planets orbiting the hundreds of millions of stars that constitute it.
AND YET, ALL THESE IMPROBABILITIES EXIST, AS DESCRIBED AND WITH THOSE SHAPES AND DIMENSIONS!
The continent-island was (and may occasionally revert to being) all of Western Africa. The island, which is not so today due to aridness, is the ADRAR plateau in Mauritania, while the wheel system is the cyclical landform of Guelb et Richat, aka “the Eye of Africa”, as dubbed by the astronauts in orbit who first saw it in 1964! The hub of the wheels is the small isle which too is now exposed due to aridness.
Consequently, by scientific methodology and multifaceted research, the historical conundrum of Atlantis is deemed resolved. There remain to be conducted archaeological excavations as to the level of whatever civilization.
There can be no doubt that there are traces along the entire length of Western Africa, findings from the age of Atlantis. Indications of a very olden, practically common civilization that is much older than those of Egypt and Greece, as Plato reports them. Once identified, it remains for these findings to be evaluated. This will certainly open up a new intriguing chapter in the book of humankind’s historical legacy. Once exploratory activities are set in motion, developments will be both numerous and impressive.
G. Sarantitis