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Atlantis is arguably the greatest and most famous lost civilization. The oldest source we know of is the Greek philosopher Plato, author of The Republic. Plato existed almost 2,400 years ago and Atlantis was considered ancient even to him. Plato said it was a great city, full of riches and technology. Founded by King Atlas, the city was a center of commerce, surrounded by rings of land and sea. The Atlanteans eventually became so greedy and powerful that the gods wiped them off the map with a terrible calamity. Many places have been credited as the inspiration for Atlantis, such as the Minoans of Crete or the Richat Structure of Mauritania. IridivmTrvth.com will not make a definitive statement as to where Atlantis is, as there is evidence for many sites around the world. Of course, Plato’s account is somewhat hyperbolic, stating that Atlantis’s landmass is greater than that of Asia or attributing magical properties to orichalcum, an alloy of copper. The Atlanteans may not have been a 20,000 year old people with space-age technology, but they were certainly a powerful empire in their time. Atlantis was a wealthy city, covered in temples and palaces adorned with precious metals. They would’ve also had writing and mathematics to keep track of the high volume of trade. And Atlantis is even said to have an advanced waterworks system, from plumbing to hot spring bath houses to irrigation. The Atlanteans were said to keep exotic animals and collect artifacts from foreign cultures, evidence of their vast trade empire. However, their hubris was punished by the gods, whether by earthquake, flood, or volcanic eruption. Perhaps they put the pursuit of wealth above their patron deity, Poseidon, and felt the wrath of the sea as a result. The city at the heart of Atlantis was destroyed, sinking into the sea. The upper class who lived in the city, such as kings, administrators, lawyers, priests, and engineers, would’ve all died. The lower class, like farmers, artisans, traders, and builders, would’ve fled. The great technology and economy of Atlantis was lost, with only small elements of the culture and folklore passed on by these refugees. It is said that many cultures such as the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Israelites can trace their ancestry back to the Atlanteans. Maybe the Great Flood is a retelling of the destruction of Atlantis. The Hebrew Bible states the people of Earth were so wicked and corrupt that God needed to destroy them all. Perhaps should be taken as a warning to the people of the West, to not put pursuit of riches above concepts like spirituality and religion. For if a great civilization such as Atlantis can be destroyed overnight, what hope do we have against divine retribution?