The Lost City of Atlantis

When I was growing up, my father's major obsessions was lost civilizations, and glories of the past. A considerable amount of his pin money - money left over after running the household - would go on stuff like Erich von Daniken, Charles Berlitz, Immanuel Velikovsky - men who have alternatively been called charlatans as well as visionaries. There was a huge readers digest book on the world's lost mysteries. And for hours on a weekend I saw my dad pour through them. His major fascination was with Atlantis. Who were they, where did they go? Did they really exist or was it a figment of Plato's imagination. So I grew up with a natural interest in science fiction and fantasy - though my father would insist that it was probably science and history. But, then it is all a point of view. This morning, i got up - groggy. filled up my cup with some great filter coffee and moved into catch up with news. And bingo - there was an article on finding the lost city of Atlantis.

Satellite photos of southern Spain reveal features on the ground appearing to match descriptions made by Greek scholar Plato of the fabled utopia.Dr Rainer Kuehne thinks the "island" of Atlantis simply referred to a region of the southern Spanish coast destroyed by a flood between 800 BC and 500 BC.

"Plato wrote of an island of five stades (925m) diameter that was surrounded by several circular structures - concentric rings - some consisting of Earth and the others of water. We have in the photos concentric rings just as Plato described," Dr Kuehne told BBC News Online

I called dad to the comp. He sat and as he read the headline his smile grew - and he was transported back almost 30 years ago. When he was my age and this was his hobby. "it is science you know and history - not science fiction and fantasy" he said having the last line.

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