Atlantis

"But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea."

- Critias.

Identified as either an island or a small continent, the landmass known as Atlantis was home to an extraordinary civilization, unparalleled in their societal and military achievements, until it fell victim to a cataclysm and sank to the bottom of the sea circa 9600 BC, according to the account of Solon (as retold by Critias), who learned it from Egyptian priests. At the time of its demise, Atlantis was at war against Athens.

Since then, numerous distinct underwater remnants have been found, some of them still alive and thriving with Atlantean descendants either living in air-filled environments  or having adapted to a fully or partially-aquatic existence.

According to Solon, the name "Atlantis" is derived from its first king, Atlas, son of Poseidon. However, according to different accounts, the island was once known as Númenor, and was given the name Atalantë ("the Downfallen" in Eldarin) after its sinking. The name "Atlantis" was recognized by chief Manda and other Atlanteans met by Prof. Maracot's expedition in 1926, indicating that it was already in use before the cataclysm.

Although the name is commonly used to refer to the ill-fated island itself, the Atlantean civilization was much larger, encompassing several other islands as well as continental territories.

Physical aspects
Solon described Atlantis as an island larger than Libya and "Asia" (i.e. Anatolia) combined. It was located beyond the Pillars of Heracles (i.e. the Strait of Gibraltar): an area subsequently rendered innavigable due to the shoal of mud resultant from the sunken kingdom's remains.

The Atlantean royal lineage descended directly from Poseidon, who fell in love with a mortal woman named Cleito. Surrounding the hill where she lived at the center of the island, Poseidon created three concentric moats (which the Atlanteans later built bridges over) separated by circles of land. At the center of the mainland he created two springs, one of warm water and one of cold.

The mysterious metal known as orichalcum was mined in Atlantis, and second only to gold in value. This metal was, as far as it's known, unique to Atlantis, and after the cataclysm could no longer be found anywhere else.

The Atlantean civilization lasted for thousands of years and was not restricted to one island only. Before they turned their arms against Athens, the Atlanteans had already conquered northern Africa, going as far as Egypt, and Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.

They also had contact with and influenced other cultures, including in North America. Atlantean relics have been found in such distant locations as Tikal, Iceland and North Africa, and they might have even been present in the Pacific. Other ruins are located near Bermuda.

Surviving islands speculated to have been part of the Atlantean continent include the Canaries and the Azores.

Ecology
Thanks to Poseidon's blessing, Atlantis produced vegetation in both abundance and variety. A large population of elephants existed on the island, which provided a plentiful supply of plants to feed even the largest of animals.

Atlantis was also inhabited by centaurs, tigers , apes and ape-men , including the simian Gyaa-Hua, who were intelligent enough to be used as factory slaves at the time of General Bothon. Lemmings migrated there annually by swimming from the mainland and back. Mammoths were used as mounts and were a common sight on Atlantean streets, while the forests were home to 30-meters-long lizards.

The extraordinary creatures called Perytons, which have the head and legs of a deer and the body of a large bird, were originally native to Atlantis.

Culture
Poseidon and Cleito had ten sons (five pairs of twins) and divided the kingdom into ten portions. The eldest son was named Atlas, after which Atlantis was named. Each of the ten kings had absolute control over their lands and could rule however they wished, although a hierarchy existed among them, with Atlas as the most powerful, and all abode to a set of laws handed by Poseidon himself. The ten kings met every fifth and sixth years alternately on which occasion they hunted a bull with nothing but staves and nooses, and sacrificed it to the ocean god in his temple.

According to Milo Thatch's research in 1914, the ancient Atlanteans had access to electricity, advanced medicine and even flying vehicles, all invented before the Egyptians built their pyramids. Much of their technology consisted of strange crystals which could store large quantities of energy and had mystical properties. They also had access to atomic power.

The Atlanteans practiced mummification.

They built mechanical creatures to guard important locations, using sea life as inspiration for their designs.

It's been claimed that the dialect spoken by the Atlanteans was the progenitor of several other languages, including English.

The city of Opar, in the African jungles, was founded by Atlantean survivors and its inhabitants are descended from them. As was the African kingdom of Tartessos, destroyed in 1876. The ancient Cimmerians were also descended from the Atlanteans, and the Middle-earth kingdom of Gondor descends from Númenor.

History
The conflicting accounts about the destruction of Atlantis are as numerous as those who claim to have discovered its ruins.

Although Solon's Atlantis was eradicated in a single day and night, other islands seem to have sunk gradually over long periods, even though their inhabitants were powerless to stop it. Yet other accounts claim that, at the pinnacle of its development, having mastered even space travel, the Atlantean civilization might have been nevertheless destroyed by a global atomic war or by a small moon colliding with the Earth, and that the annihilation was so complete that even those who did survive it were reduced to stone-age savages.

Roughly speaking, it is possible to divide the accounts of Atlantis into three different groups. The first concerns a continent that existed between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago in the Atlantic ocean. The second refers to a much more recent civilization, circa 1,600 BC, which existed in the Mediterranean Sea, including the island of Thera. Finally, a third group of accounts refers to a worldwide civilization, even older than the one described by Solon, and which even had access to space travel.

The Theran Atlantis was destroyed by the Chronovore Kronos, released by the Master. Other entities that might have been directly or indirectly responsible for the destruction of Atlantis include the Dæmons, Merlock , the Gyaos , the Ethereal , the Old Ones and Dojo Kanojo Cho.

The cataclysm has also been linked to divine punishment for a once peaceful civilization having turned itself to war and conquest , a development which has been greatly influenced by the evil immortal sorcerer Baal-seepa, a.k.a. the Lord of the Dark Face.

Atlantic civilization
Prior to its sinking, Atlantis was a prosperous civilization with a rich and colorful past. Early in its history, it was inhabited by barbarian tribes, from which the celebrated warrior and future Valusian king Kull was exiled. It was home to the immortal Ōgon Bat and the ancestors of Arthur Curry.

The continent of Atlantis was located in the ocean between the western Pictish Islands and the main continent of Thuria in the Pre-Cataclysmic Age. The Atlanteans also conquered territories in the Thurian mainland and founded a kingdom there. This continental kingdom of Atlantis survived even after Atlantis itself sank beneath the sea, although constant clashes with neighboring nations eventually fragmented it and it degenerated into loosely knit clans of barbarians. After another millennium, even these had further degenerated into little more than savages, without speech, and ignorant of tool-making and fire, although in the following millennia they re-evolved and originated the Cimmerian nation.

According to the history told by the Atlantean Prince Icarus to Captain Francis Blake and Prof. Philip Mortimer in 1955, the Atlantean capital was destroyed in the 11th millennium BC, by a small satellite that used to orbit the Earth and fell into the ocean during the passage of a comet which altered its orbit. A group of survivors sought shelter in the underground and built an advanced civilization there, from which they have been monitoring mankind's development ever since, using saucer-shaped atmospheric probes.

About 12,000 years ago, the Atlanteans were responsible for the creation of the monstrous Gyaos, and later Gamera, who was created to defeat the Gyaos.

According to Critias' account, the war between Atlantis and Athens and subsequent sinking of the insular kingdom happened nine thousand years before the time of Solon. Atlantis, which Solon describes as an island larger than Libya and Anatolia put together, was reduced to "an impassable barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean". The disaster itself is identified as a monstrous earthquake which destroyed the island over the course of a single day and night, and the divine punishment for the Atlanteans' hubris and avarice.

In 1905, the siblings Cyril, Anthea, Robert and Jane traveled back in time to Atlantis at the very day of its sinking, along with an archaeologist named Jimmy and the Psammead, using a magical amulet that could take them anywhere in time and space where the amulet itself had been at some point. The Atlantis they visited was the same country described by Solon, down to the very details, such as being governed by ten kings who gathered every fifth and sixth year alternately. Inside their main temple there was a great statue of Poseidon, standing in a chariot drawn by six horses, and surrounded by a hundred mermaids riding dolphins.

Shortly before the cataclysm, the Atlanteans noticed odd noises coming from the sea and heard "the god inside the big mountain speaking with his thunder-voice". The migrating lemmings failed to show up that year, providing another clue that something was wrong. Even the sacrifice of a bull by the ten kings in the temple of Poseidon failed to placate the gods and avoid the disaster. While colossal waves destroyed the coast, the citizens running towards the higher grounds fell victim to an erupting volcano.

Not all Atlanteans were killed in the cataclysm. Led by wise scholar and political reformer Warda, a group of citizens who opposed the wars instigated by Baal-seepa had built a monumental building, equipped with machinery to produce breathable air and even complex molecules such as to simulate the taste of familiar foods and luxuries (coffee, honey, milk, etc.). Secure inside this structure, about sixty Atlanteans and Greek slaves survived the disaster and continued to thrive for the next millennia, forming a prosperous undersea community, with access to electricity, advanced chemistry and even atomic power.

The history of what has been referred to as the world's Second Age tells of the great island of Númenor, which was located in the ocean between the continents of Middle-earth and Aman, substantially distant from both, but closer to the latter. It was a peaceful and prosperous civilization that lasted for over two thousand years, until its inhabitants started to resent the prohibition imposed by the Valar to travel west to Aman. They envied the immortality of both the Valar and the Elves, and their obsession with their own mortality led to decadence, while they grew richer by raiding the Middle-earth nations. By influence of Sauron, who was brought to Númenor as a political prisoner but quickly became a trusted adviser to the king, the Númenorians committed the ultimate heresy by launching an invasion against Aman. By divine power, the whole world was reshaped in response, a fissure was opened at the bottom of the ocean, dragging the entire Númenor and its fleet to a watery grave. Sauron's body was destroyed then, although his spirit survived to return to Mordor. Meanwhile, continents and oceans were altered, old lands destroyed and new ones created, and the land of the Valar was removed from the physical world and transported to a realm beyond the reach of mortals.

It's believed that the sinking of Númenor happened in the 8th millennium BC. While the Númenorians, as far as it's known, have never called themselves Atlanteans, it's interesting to note that Númenor, after its sinking, became known as Atalantë (an Eldarin word meaning "downfallen").

A priest of Atlantis' middle kingdom once had his body temporarily inhabited by a Yithian. This might have been the Atlantean high-priest Klarkash-Ton, whose writings preserved the Commoriom myth-cycle and mention, among other things, the myth of Tsathoggua.

At some point, Atlantis was ruled by a triumvirate consisting of Natla, Qualopec and Tihocan, until Natla betrayed the other two and tried to accelerate human evolution by creating monstrous aberrations. As a punishment, she was deposed and placed in cryogenic stasis in the region that would become Los Alamos, New Mexico. There she would be awakened by atomic tests in 1945. Meanwhile, after the destruction of the continent, Tihocan became a ruler in Egypt, regarded as a wise and benevolent king, but died without heirs. He was buried under St. Francis' Folly in Greece, while Qualopec was entombed in Peru.

The Atlantis governed by Kashekim Nedakh sank circa 6070 BC.

By the time only the isle of Poseidonis remained of the former continent of Atlantis, a pair of Atlantean scientists actually managed to build a functional spaceship to Venus and thus escape its destruction (only to fall prey to peculiar specimens of Venusian flora upon their arrival).

According to Master Fung, the destruction of Atlantis was a result of Dojo escaping from his box during one of his "evil" unstoppable phases that happen every 1500 years and last for 24 hours.

Mediterranean civilization
By the time of the 16th century BC, the kingdom of Atlantis was located in the island of Thera (a.k.a. Santorini) in the Aegean Sea, and was part of the Minoan civilization. It was still ruled by ten kings and its inhabitants worshiped Poseidon. At some point, the priests of this Atlantis came in possession of the Crystal of Kronos, which contained the mightiest of the Chronovores. It's been speculated that the Atlanteans derived the legend of the Titan Cronus (Poseidon's father) from this entity. The use of the crystal was forbidden by King Dalios, who feared its destructive powers and placed a Minotaur to guard it. Kronos' release from the crystal by the hands of the Master resulted in the destruction of the Minoan Atlantis.

Another Atlantean king from that same period was Nur-Ab-Sal, whose spirit was contained in a necklace that would later be worn by Sophia Hapgood. In 1939, Hapgood and Indiana Jones found the remains of Atlantis in the Mediterranean, between the islands of Thera and Crete, and the spirit of Nur-Ab-Sal briefly possessed Hapgood, until the necklace was destroyed by Jones. Similarly, American journalist April O'Neil was once possessed by the spirit of an Atlantean queen contained inside a necklace, who tried to raise an Atlantean city from the sea close to the coast of Greece.

In the island of Thera, the Atlanteans used the volcano as a source of geothermal power and created geothermal-based technology.

The Dæmon Azal mentioned Atlantis to the Master as an example of how the Dæmons destroy their failed experiments, suggesting that they had something to do with it, although the nature and extent of their involvement is not known. According to the Doctor, the horned humanoid motif common to many human cultures is due to the prehistoric influence of the Dæmons. Horns are a common motif in Atlantean idols and statues, and archaeologist Bjorn Heimdall believed that the Atlanteans had been in contact with aliens. The Atlantean Colossus machine could also be used to mutate humans into horned creatures, among other monstrosities, which might be linked to the mythical Minotaur.

Spacefaring civilization
At least some Atlanteans descended from aliens who colonized Earth 2.4 million years ago, coming from the M78 Nebula. They uplifted the intellect of cetaceans and primates, hoping to create servant races. Generations later, the alien Atlanteans started interbreeding with humans. These Atlanteans created settlements on multiple oceans and continents, including Antarctica.

Over the last 180,000 years there have been six major nuclear holocausts in which over 90% of humanity died out. These have been identified as Lur, Candra, Thragan, Kah, Mu and Atlantis. Before each of these cyclic "blow-ups", mankind had advanced to the point of colonizing the whole world and even other planets and star systems (sometimes even other galaxies), but after each one of them, mankind was reduced to stone-age savages and civilization had to begin anew.

At some point in the distant past, a group of Atlanteans hailing from "the world-city of Atlantis" reached the Isop Galaxy and attempted to conquer Vortis. These space-faring Atlanteans, unlike their earthly ancestors, grew to be fully 8 ft tall giants with chalk-white skin and red hair, and called themselves Sons of the Sun. The reference to the "world-city of Atlantis", suggests that the Earth might have been at this point an ecumenopolis, although it's also possible that "Atlantis" in this case might have referred to a different planet of which the Earth was just one colony.

According to another account, alien Atlanteans came to Earth to escape their dying planet, possibly identified as Mars.

In the 1970s, a sea tremor caused an Atlantean city to emerge from the ocean, to the surprise of the Calico crew, who found that the city was equipped with still-functioning technology such as tractor beams, history disks to record knowledge in film, suspended animation chambers, and even a time machine. The giant robot Colossus was created to be a guardian of Atlantis, but was damaged during the cataclysm and turned evil. After Colossus was defeated by Godzilla, the Atlanteans placed a dome around their city and launched off to space, proclaiming that it was time for them to return "home".

Remnants
Although most of Atlantis sank, a few islands remained in the Atlantic Ocean, close to the coast of Africa. It's been suggested that these might be the Canary Islands. One of these islands was still inhabited by Atlanteans circa 50 BC, when it was visited by Asterix, Obelix, Getafix and a multicultural crew of former slaves. They found that the island was inhabited solely by children, both humans and centaurs, with the exception of one priest who explained that long ago the Atlanteans had mastered the secret of rejuvenation. Other peculiarities included flying cows and giant fruits.

Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo and Shaggy Rogers also met a centaur when they were sucked by a whirlpool and ended up in the ruins of Atlantis. Lara Croft faced skinless centaurs along with other vicious beasts created by Natla in an Atlantean pyramid located on a lost island in 1996.

The mysterious 19th century individual known as Captain Nemo, commander of the submarine Nautilus, knew the location of the sunken ruins of Atlantis, 150 fathoms deep in the Atlantic Ocean at the foot of a still-active submerged volcano. In 1867, he showed this place to Prof. Pierre Aronnax, who was held captive in the Nautilus at the time. In 1889, the Atlantean princess Nadia (at the time unaware of her heritage), was rescued from a shipwreck by Nemo.

The 1914 expedition financed by Preston B. Whitmore discovered that the island ruled by Kashekim Nedakh had been protected by a force field generated by the crystalline Heart of Atlantis, which also kept its inhabitants alive for the next eight millennia.

In 1917, a possibly delusional Karl Heinrich, at this point the only remaining crewmember of the submarine U-29, found the sunken ruins of a city that he believed to be Atlantis at the estimated coordinates N. Latitude 20°, W. Longitude 35°. After the submarine ran out of energy at the bottom of the ocean, Heinrich saw the Atlantean temple glowing with inexplicable light, heard music and macabre laughter coming from it through the soundproof hull of the submarine, and felt an irrepressible psychological urge to go outside and investigate, while plagued both in dreams and waking hours by images of the god carved in the temple: the same one present in an ivory idol which had been brought aboard and coincided with the crew's developing sickness, restlessness and eventual madness. Heinrich himself refused to attribute supernatural causes to any of this, and believed himself to be suffering from hallucinations, even as he was ultimately unable to resist the urge to leave the submarine, presumably to his death.

In 1926, Prof. Maracot, Cyrus Headley and Bill Scanlan found a still-living undersea Atlantis at the depths of the Maracot Deep: an ocean trench in the Atlantic, south-west to the Canaries. They found that these were the descendants of Warda's followers: now a community of thousands, including descendants of the Atlanteans themselves as well as Greek slaves captured during the war against Athens. To house this population, the original waterproof building had been expanded over many generations into an underground city. The Atlanteans created a phenomenally strong transparent material called vitrine, with which they made helmets that could resist the water pressure even five miles below the surface. Other technological marvels include a thought-machine that can convert thoughts to images on a television screen, and a gas nine times lighter than hydrogen, which Maracot named "levigen". One technology that they didn't possess, however, was the radio.

At some point in the early 20th century, Prof. Zaroff found a still-living Atlantean city west of Gibraltar and south of the Azores, close to the Atlantic ridge. The city he found was inhabited by Atlantean descendants who worshiped the goddess Amdo. Zaroff used his scientific skills to help the Atlanteans by introducing them to new food cultivation techniques and medical knowledge, leading to the creation of surgically-altered humans called Fish People, to tend to the plankton-based underwater crops. Unfortunately, Zaroff's plans to raise Atlantis from the sea floor were flawed, and the insane professor was well aware that the operation would result in the ocean being drained into the Earth's mantle, leading to the destruction of the entire world, just as he intended. While Zaroff was defeated by the Doctor's fortunate intervention, the Atlantean city was flooded, forcing the survivors to flee to the surface, where they vowed to one day build a new Atlantis, this time without superstitious cults and without Fish People.

Meanwhile, a different subterranean kingdom called New Atlantis, founded by Atlantean refugees under the Azores, was discovered in the 1950s by Captain Francis Blake and Prof. Philip Mortimer. After a failed military coup resulted in the destruction of the walls that separated the kingdom from the ocean, the Atlanteans opted to use their fleet of spaceships to leave the Earth behind in search of a new home in another star system.

Parts of the sunken continent of Atlantis, complete with archaeological ruins, ended up reemerging as an island in the southern parts of the Atlantic Ocean, close to Antarctica. The island contained the tomb of Ōgon Bat, and sank again shortly after the immortal hero was reanimated.

In the 1980s, the nuclear submarine S.S.R.N. Seaview was charged by the State Department to transport crates containing wax statues supposedly from the lost continent of Atlantis. It's not known whether the statues were genuine, as they never got to the submarine in the first place, and were replaced with supernaturally-animated wax-made doppelgängers of the crew by a criminal mastermind.

American journalist April O'Neil was once believed to be the reincarnation of an ancient Atlantean queen. While the Ninja Turtles were vacationing in Greece, a group of Atlantean descendants arranged for O'Neil to get a magic medallion that belonged to their ancient queen, so that O'Neil's body would be taken over by the queen's spirit. According to the plan, she would then be enabled to use her medallion to command the sunken city to rise again and take over the world as they once did. The plan succeeded briefly, but when the Turtles shattered the medallion, the city returned to the ocean depths and O'Neil was restored to normal.

A secret Atlantean temple, complete with a geothermal mechanism and several chests full of scrolls of knowledge, was found in the island of Thera by Prof. Atticus, Angus MacGyver, Kelly Carson and Cyril Cleeve.

The location of Atlantis is one of the secrets known to the Stonecutters, who boast that they're the ones keeping Atlantis "off the maps".

Abandoned ruins from Atlantis were discovered deep beneath the surface by the Xiaolin monks, and served as a lair to a race of ravenous giant spiders.

Others
Atlantis was once a very popular resort in antiquity, until Merlock failed to get reservations and had it sunk by the Genie of the Lamp, who was forced to grant the wish. Its abandoned ruins ended up in the abyssal depths of the Marinara Trench, where they were used as a landfill by Fish Folk and guarded by the monstrous Glubzilla. Despite the superficial similarities between the Fish Folk and the Water People, this isn't the same Atlantis inhabited by the latter, which was also visited by Scrooge McDuck and his nephews. Instead, the Water People's Atlantis is a thriving city, illuminated by bioluminescent fish and provided with electricity harnessed from electric eels. Its inhabitants are descended from humans who adapted themselves to an aquatic existence by evolution and became more fish-like as a result. They raise whales for milk and their popular entertainment includes gladiatorial wrestling fights between giant squids. In yet another account of Scrooge McDuck's life, the Atlantean city that he and his nephews visited was upside-down as a result of poor foundations that led to its sinking.

Circa 8015 BC, Atlantis was the name of the Antarean outpost on Earth, which ended up sinking.

The alien time traveler known as the Doctor has visited three different versions of Atlantis. While it is known that he has visited the Atlantic civilization and the Mediterranean one, what the third one refers to is not known.

An amnesic man found on a beach after a sea storm and given the name Mark Harris was speculated by Dr. Elizabeth Merrill to be a citizen of the lost Atlantis. Despite appearing superficially human, Harris also has webbed hands and the ability to breathe underwater and survive in the great depths of the ocean without trouble. He is in fact so adapted to an aquatic existence that he can't withstand much longer than twelve hours on land before dehydrating.

The kingdom of Atlantis ruled by Alim Coelacanth is a domed undersea city. Its inhabitants are all human, save for Coelacanth himself, who belongs to an unknown species of ichthyoid humanoids related to the prehistoric fish that shares his name. Coelacanth has searched for others of his kind for two hundred years, with no success, and was crowned king upon his return after defeating impostor king Bebop and wielding the trident of power that could only be used by the rightful king of Atlantis.

Atlantis was also the center of an underwater empire ruled by the demon sorceress Bai Tza, but was left in ruins at some point after she was banished to the Netherworld.

A floating city named Atlantis was once the crown jewel of the alien Zangarian Empire on Earth, but was abandoned by them after a technological mishap caused it to sink. By the end of the 20th century, the sunken ruins of the Zangarian Atlantis were regarded as a popular tourist attraction for aquatic aliens on Earth, the existence of which is concealed by the Men in Black.

Another species of aquatic aliens also called themselves Atlanteans and built an underwater civilization rich in treasures, scientific and artistic achievements.

According to Sabrina Spellman, her witch ancestors built Atlantis. Salem Saberhagen was the architect, and to this day is sensitive about the fact that it ended up sinking. Its ruins are apparently located in the Netherworld.

In 2076, Atlantis was the name of a domed undersea kingdom inhabited by fish-like humanoids and ruled by Queen Atlanta.

In 2385, the androids Fi and Fum, along with 20th century children Alice and Jerry, discovered another domed underwater city called Atlantis, whose inhabitants had fled to the ocean to escape air pollution.

Atlantis, named after the legendary kingdom, is also the name of a nation of intelligent Tapa newts who developed their culture by incorporating human influences. They went on to wage a bitter war against another Tapa nation called Lemuria, which retained traditional Tapa culture.