Atlantis: The Andes solution
Source: ThothWeb
Added: Oct. 18, 2006
Jim Allens Bolivian Atlantis - The Andes solution
When we think of South America, we think of either Machu Picchu or the Maya, a mysterious civilisation capable of impressive feats of engineering and creators of complex interrelated calendar systems that ranged from days in length to millions of years in duration.
Most scholars would agree that South America has a rich archaeological history that we are only just beginning to discover. Is it possible that the continent we know as South America is something even more amazing, could it be the lost continent of Atlantis? One man, author Jim Allen, certainly believes so and has built up an impressive dossier of evidence to support his theory.
Probably the biggest doubt to South America being Atlantis is that Plato said that the continent was lost beneath the sea in the space of a single day. Is it possible that only key areas were lost beneath the waters, ones that the very infrastructure of the continent depended upon such as its capital city?
If we expand on Jim’s research a little, further east from its key port, what we now know as Cuba might also have been a casualty, because Cuba was once a physical part of the continent until a massive earthquake made it an island.
Jim Allen’s research has interesting comparisons that make South America (in particular Bolivia and the Andes) a very plausible candidate for Atlantis. Jim says of the sinking of Atlantis;
“The continent of Atlantis is still there opposite the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar) only now it has been re-named South America. The part which sank was a small volcanic island which sank into a large inland sea in the centre of the continent.”
He also comments, “People sometimes say; ‘How can Atlantis be in the Andes when it is supposed to have sunk into the sea?’ We must remember that Atlantis according to Plato was on a level plain "high above the level of the sea and surrounded by mountains". In fact the entire plain has been periodically submerged beneath the sea i.e. it became a giant inland sea at various dates going back thousands of years succeeded by dry periods.
Plato described Atlantis as being a vast island continent the size of Libya and Asia combined. When you consider this description in terms of landmass, South America becomes an intriguing possibility; the size of South America makes Plato’s description of ten kingdoms within the island continent a possibility.
According to Plato, the Atlanteans asserted themselves over the geography of their land, flattening and trimming a large plain on the central island into a long, perfect rectangle of impossible dimensions. There is a place in Bolivia that contains such a rectangle, the Altiplano. The Altiplano is high above sea level in the Andes. The area also contains a wealth of minerals including the mysterious Orichalcum, an alloy of gold and copper that is only found in the Andes. There is also evidence of manmade canals, which were used for irrigation purposes as Plato described.
According to Jim, “Plato’s description exactly fits South America because he describes a level rectangular-shaped plain which he said lay in the centre of the continent, next to the sea and midway along the longest side of the continent. He also described the capital city of Atlantis, which was built on a small volcanic island and also called Atlantis. The city lay on the level rectangular plain, five miles from the sea and according to Plato the whole region was high above the level of the Ocean sea, rising sheer out of the ocean sea to a great height on that side of the continent. Thus, we have both a lost city of Atlantis as well as a lost continent of Atlantis.”
 The Altiplano is the largest drainage basin in South America and spans 800 km from north to south and around 120 km. from east to west. It is home to the largest body of water in the South American highlands, Lake Titicaca. The lake formed where the two mountain chains of the Andes are furthest apart and its water levels are known to have fluctuated by as much as 50 metres in the past. Underwater archaeologists surveyed Lake Titicaca in 2004 exploring the ruins of long forgotten city that is certainly pre-Incan in origin, but which is now hidden below its waters.
The site seems to fit every description that Plato mentioned; firstly, it is in the centre of the level rectangular plain at a distance of 50 stades from the sea. It has the required red, black and white stone and it also has underground hot and cold springs. Most remarkable of all, both geology and local legend confirm that the site has been sunk by earthquakes.
A Bolivian legend called the legend of the Desaguadero details how the gods decided to punish a city on the edge of a lake by submerging it in a day of earthquakes and floods. The principal god, Tunapa then sinks into the waters of Lake Poopo at Pampa Aullagas, which even today, during times of heavy flooding, becomes an island. It seems highly likely that the legend of Atlantis is based on the Bolivian legend of Desaguardero.
Cuba – lost Atlantean Port?
In July 2000, just off the western tip of Cuba two ocean engineers made an amazing discovery, what they found appeared to be the remains of another sunken city. The question people began to ask was, had the survey ship found the remnants of the lost continent of Atlantis?
One theory that has been discussed is that Cuba acted as a staging post for some of the survivors of Atlantis as they searched for new lands to colonise. Another possibility is that Cuba was already part of Atlantis, possibly serving as a port and that most of its inhabitants perished in the cataclysm. Many geologists who have studied the area agree that Cuba was once connected to the mainland by a ninety mile-long land bridge that connected present-day Cuba to Mesoamerica's Yucatan Peninsula. They speculate that catastrophic events possibly a series of volcanic eruptions or earthquakes could have caused the land to sink.
Survivors of the Cataclysm
As early as the sixteenth century, at least one Spanish priest suggested that the Maya and their counterparts originated from Atlantis, survivors from the highly advanced civilisation that disappeared in a great earthquake and volcanic eruption many thousands of years ago. If the Maya are indeed direct descendents of the Atlantean people, this could account for their highly advanced understanding of astronomy, engineering and maths.
It is also possible that the catastrophic event that led to the destruction of Atlantis caused the dispossessed survivors to find new civilisations either elsewhere in their own kingdom, or further afield in places such as Egypt.
It’s interesting to consider for example that in Critias, Plato describes a ceremonial capture of bulls already in captivity in Poseidon’s royal quarters. In Ancient Egypt, bull cults appeared in ancient texts as far back as the First Dynasty. The most well known of the Egyptian Bull cults worshipped the Apis Bull to such an extent that bulls’ remains were buried in an underground chamber; known as the Serapeum. The Apis bull was of course linked to Ptah and Osiris, gods of creation, death and rebirth. The theoretical timeline between the destruction of Atlantis and the creation of Egypt is also very close.
Although there is a huge amount of work to be done to fully document the site, through Jim Allen’s painstaking research and expeditions to Bolivia, it seems that the area is slowly revealing its secrets. It remains to be seen if those secrets will lead us to conclusive proof as to the location of Atlantis but just as Troy was once considered nothing but a myth, the possibility remains that Atlantis, long considered little more than a philosophical metaphor, might just turn out to be a physical reality that has been under our noses all along.
50 pointers to the location of Altantis
By Jim Allen
Below follows a comparison of the main points of Plato's geographic description of Atlantis in relation to the Altiplano in Bolivia next to Lake Poopo.
In some paragraphs, the three different translations by Benjamin Jowett, R.G.Bury (1929) and Sir Desmond Lee (1971) are given in order to try and amplify the original text.
The above 50 points show that the basis for Plato's tale of Atlantis comes from a people and region in South America. These points match in remarkable detail the Altiplano in Bolivia including such rare features as the plain being "midway along the longest side of the continent", the metal, orichalcum, considered by Sir Desmond Lee to be imaginery but which in fact exists there as a natural alloy and other factors such as the first inhabitants being born in pairs.
The story can be proven to be true up to a point, i.e. the level rectangular plain with the island capital which was originally a low mountain where the god of the sea married one of the locals, then broke it off to make it impregnable to man, creating rings of land and sea etc and it's subsequent destruction by earthquakes and floods.
The metals used to plate the walls of the city, gold, silver, copper, tin and orichalcum all exist here in plentiful supply as not found elsewhere in the world.
Even elephants belong to South America in the form of mastodons, remains of which, along with remains of trees have recently been found on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
More out of place is the description supposedly in the centre of the larger ring of land of the "racecourse laid out for horses" since riding horses were unknown in the Americas prior to the Conquest. Similarly "and round about it, on this side and on that, were barracks for the greater part of the spearmen; but the guard-house of the more trusty of them was posted in the smaller circle, which was nearer the acropolis; while those who were the most trustworthy of all had dwellings granted to them within the acropolis round about the persons of the kings." here we have a hint of Plato's political doctrine possibly creeping in while let us consider further his description of the occupants of the plain;
"each leader should provide for war the sixth part of a war-chariot's equipment, so as to make up 10,000 chariots in all, together with two horses and mounted men; also a pair of horses without a car, and attached thereto a combattant with a small shield and for charioteer the rider who springs from horse to horse; and two hoplites; and archers and slingers, two of each; and light-armed slingers and javelin-men, three of each; and four sailors towards the manning of twelve hundred ships."
As mentioned earlier, riding horses were previously unknown in the Americas, as were chariots, but since land armies also attacked Egypt at the time of the Sea Peoples, could this be a description of these land armies? On the other hand, the number of ships involved, 1200, is the same number that sailed against Troy suggesting that the war described which Plato called "a very great exploit, worthy indeed to be accounted the most notable of all exploits, which was performed by this city (Athens)" was perhaps the Trojan War, particularly since he says "9,000 is the sum of years since the war occurred" which if substituting months for years would give us a date of 1260BC - the actual date of the Trojan war.
It seems probable that Plato took an original legend from a people who lived on the Altiplano and it's geographic description and added a few embellishments drawn from other legends, polishing it up in the process to make it worthy of his political dialogues for which he became famous.
| from the Timaeus: |
Interpretation and comments |
Then listen, Socrates, to a tale which, though strange, is certainly true.
And what is this ancient famous action of the Athenians, which Critias declared, on the authority of Solon, to be not a mere legend, but an actual fact?
And what other, Critias, can we find that will be better than this, which is natural and suitable to the festival of the goddess, and has the very great advantage of being a fact and not a fiction? |
Plato says three times that the Atlantis story is a true story. He says that they are going to use this story as the basis of a story which they will use and build upon at the festival of Athena.
|
You must not be surprised if you should perhaps hear Hellenic names given to foreigners Solon, who was intending to use the tale for his poem, enquired into the meaning of the names, and found that the early Egyptians in writing them down had translated them into their own language,
and he recovered the meaning of the several names and when copying them out again translated them into our language. |
Poseidon was the Greek god of the sea, known as Neptune in Rome and Tunapa in Bolivia. Other words such as Trireme is the familiar Greek name for a ship or warship |
| She founded your city a thousand years before ours, and afterwards she founded ours, of which the constitution is recorded in our sacred registers to be eight thousand years old. |
According to the tale, Egypt was founded around 8,500BC and Athens in 9,500BC. |
| As touching your citizens of nine thousand years ago. |
There is no record of civilisations in Egypt or Greece in 9,600BC, but Plato uses the same date for the destruction of Atlantis as he does for the founding of Greece and the wars between Atlantis, Greece and Egypt. |
1 For these histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, Jowett.
For it is related in our records how once upon a time your state stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, Bury.
Our records tell how your city checked a great power which arrogantly advanced from its base in the Atlantic ocean Lee. |
Atlantis was located in the Atlantic Ocean. It is pointless to try and relocate Atlantis to within the Straits or move the Straits to inside the Mediterranean, because the text clearly says Atlantis was a continent in the Atlantic Ocean. |
2 there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; Jowett.
in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, "the pillars of Heracles" Bury.
There was an island opposite the strait which you call (so you say) the Pillars of Heracles, Lee. |
The island of Atlantis was located in front of or opposite the Straits of Gibraltar (Pillars of Hercules). South America is the "island" opposite the Strait of Gibraltar. |
| 3 the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, |
Atlantis was a continent as large as Libya (North Africa) and Asia combined.
South America is the continent which is opposite the Straits and in the correct location. |
| 4 and was the way to other islands |
Beyond South America there are islands in the Pacific. |
| 5 and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean. |
which lead to "the opposite continent" i.e to Asia, the true ocean being the Atlantic and Pacific combined and which surrounds all of the Earth. |
| Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits. |
This sounds like a description of the war by the "Sea Peoples" against Egypt which took place around 1226BC and 1186BC. The "Sea Peoples" also advanced by land, entering Egypt from Palestine and Libya. |
6 afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. Jowett.
At a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished Bury.
At a later time there were earthquakes and floods of extraordinary violence, and in one single dreadful day and night the island of Atlantis was swallowed up by the sea and vanished; Lee. |
Atlantis was destroyed by earthquakes and floods. The Altiplano has periodically been subject to climatic change in the form of alternating inland seas (lakes Minchin, Tauca, Coipasa) and dry periods. It is also prone to earthquakes, evidence of which can be seen at Pampa Aullagas where the volcano and the surrounding plain has been sunk by earthquakes. It was only the capital island city of Atlantis which sank into the sea, not the whole continent. |
7 For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island. Jowett
wherefore also the ocean at that spot has now become impassable and unsearcheable, being blocked up by the shoal mud which the island threw up as it settled down Bury
this is why the sea in that area is to this day impassable to navigation, which is hindered by mud just below the surface, the remains of the sunken island. Lee |
The inland sea of Lake Poopo formerly called Lake Aullagas is sometimes entirely impassable to boats when it dries up in the dry season. Plato implied that the island of Atlantis was swallowed up by the sea and disappeared beneath the earth, but Sir Francis Bacon said Plato got it wrong and the sea rose to cover the city. |
| from Critias: |
| that nine thousand was the sum of years which had elapsed since the war. |
Nine thousand years previously was given as the date for the founding of Athens but is also given as the date for the war and end of Atlantis. Clearly there is an error here, but if the 9,000 years were taken as lunar months then it would be 1260BC which is the date of the Trojan war and more or less the date of the founding of Athens (1400BC) by Theseus. It is unlikely that Atlantis could have existed on the Altiplano in 9,600BC since at that time it had already been under the waters of Lake Tauca for some time. When Lake Tauca dried up, there were periods of alternating droughts and floods and Atlantis could have begun in any of these periods continuing perhaps up to the date of around 1260BC (substituting months for years) which Plato gave for the war and Atlantis' subsequent destruction. |
8 Looking towards the sea, but in the centre of the whole island, there was a plain Jowett
Bordering on the sea and extending through the centre of the whole island there was a plain Bury
At the centre of the island (ie midway along its greatest length,) near the sea, was a plain Lee |
This plain is the Altiplano, which not only is on the centre of the whole continent, but as Lee says, it is midway along its longest side. |
9 Near the plain again, and also in the centre of the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side. Jowett
and, moreover, near the plain, over against its centre, at a distance of about fifty stades, there stood a mountain that was low on all sides. Bury
and near the middle of this plain about fifty stades inland a hill of no great size. Lee |
At this location we find the volcanic mountain of Pampa Aullagas, a central cone on top of a low plateau fifty stades or five miles from the inland sea of Lake Poopo. |
| 10 Theron dwelt one of the natives originally sprung from the earth… and Poseidon, being smitten with desire for her, wedded her. Bury |
This corresponds to the tale of Tunapa, God of the lakes and rivers who married Azanques, god of a hill opposite Pampa Aullagas. |
11 Poseidon ...breaking the ground, enclosed the hill all round, making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another; so that no man could get to the island, for ships and voyages were not as yet Jowett
Poseidon...to make the hill impregnable he broke it off all round about; and he made circular belts of sea and land enclosing one another alternately, some greater, some smaller, , so as to be impassable for man; for at that time neither ships nor sailing were yet in existence. Bury
Poseidon...fortified the hill by enclosing it with concentric rings of sea and land, making the place impassable for man (for there were still no ships or sailing in those days) Lee |
In the Bolivian story, Tunapa ran away from Azanaques and laid down in Pampa Aullagas, thus creating the ringed formation there, described as zones, belts or rings. Pampa Aullagas has remains of these zones of land and formerly sea when the lake level was higher. |
12 there were two of land and three of water, which he turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference equidistant every way from the centre, Jowett
two being of land and three of sea, which he carved as it were out of the midst of the island; and these belts were at even distances on all sides Bury
There were two rings of land and three of sea, like cartwheels, with the island at their centre and equidistant from each other, Lee |
At Pampa Aullagas there is an outer zone of land, an inner gully or depression representing a former zone of sea, another zone of land and within that another gully depression then the central hill five stades wide. |
| 13 beginning from the sea they bored a canal of three hundred feet in width and one hundred feet in depth and fifty stadia in length, which they carried through to the outermost zone, making a passage from the sea up to this, which became a harbour, and leaving an opening sufficient to enable the largest vessels to find ingress. |
At Pampa Aullagas there is to this day a canal or river which leads from the sea to the outer ring at the site and continues on to the level plain. |
14 Moreover, they divided the zones of land which parted the zones of sea, leaving room for a single trireme to pass out of one zone into another
they covered over the channels so as to leave a way underneath for the ships; for the banks were raised considerably above the water. |
The outer ring at Pampa Aullagas has a gap where ships could have sailed through. |
| 15 Now the largest of the zones into which a passage was cut from the sea was three stadia in breadth, and the zone of land which came next of equal breadth; but the next two zones, the one of water, the other of land, were two stadia, and the one which surrounded the central island was a stadium only in width. |
The outer ring of water at Pampa Aullagas has disappeared as has the southern section of the site. A part ring of land remains with a depression on the inside where there are stones covered in deposits from the lake showing it was at one time under water. On the inside of that there is another steep ring of land and on the inside of that another gully or depression with the central island beyond that. |
| 16 The island in which the palace was situated had a diameter of five stadia |
The central island or cone at Pampa Aullagas is five stades wide. |
| 17 The island and the circles they encompassed with a wall of stone. Bury |
The site at Pampa Aullagas including the outer ring is encompassed in a wall of stone. |
| 18 some being white, some black and some red. |
Black, red and white stones are found at Pampa Aullagas. |
| 19 Some of their buildings were simple, but in others they put together different stones, varying the colour to please the eye, and to be a natural source of delight. |
At nearby Quillacas, the local church is built of red, black and white stones varied to give a pleasing appearance. |
20 In the first place they dug out of the earth whatever was to be found there, mineral as well as metal, and that which is only a name and was something more than a name then, orichalc, was dug out of the earth in many parts of the island, and except gold was the most precious of metals Jowett
Metals to begin with, both the hard kind and the fusible kind, which are extracted by mining, and also that kind which is now known only by name but was more then a name then, there being mines of it in many parts of the island, - I mean "orichalcum" which was the most precious of the metals then known, except gold.
i.e. "mountain copper", a "sparkling" metal hard to identify. Bury
It had mineral resources from which were mined both solid materials and metals, including one metal which survives today only in name, but was then mined in quantities in a number of locations in the island, orichalc, in those days the most valuable metal except gold. Lee
"a completely unknown and imaginery metal" Lee |
Orichalcum is considered by Sir Desmond Lee to be a
"a completely unknown and imaginery metal" but such a natural alloy exists only in the Andes where it is called Tumbaga. It can be polished and the copper surface dissolved out to resemble pure gold. |
21 The entire circuit of the wall, which went round the outermost zone, they covered with a coating of brass, and the circuit of the next wall they coated with tin, and the third, which encompassed the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum. Jowett
And they covered with brass, as though with a plaster, all the circumference of the wall which surrounded the outermost circle; and that of the inner one they coated with tin; and that which encompassed the acropolis itself with orichalcum which sparkled like fire Bury
And they covered the whole circuit of the outermost wall with a veneer of bronze, they fused tin over the inner wall and orichalc gleaming like fire over the wall of the acropolis itself Lee |
Brass, tin and orichalcum according to Jowett and Bury.
Bronze, tin and orichalcum according to Lee.
Brass is an alloy of coper and zinc.
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.
Orichalcum is an alloy of gold and copper.
All these metals and alloys are plentiful in the region around Lake Poopo, Bolivia including a mountain of tin next to a mountain of silver at Potosi |
| 22 All the outside of the temple, with the exception of the pinnacles, they covered with silver. |
nearby Potosi was a mountain of solid silver. |
| 23 and the pinnacles with gold |
gold was abundant in pre-Inca times |
In the interior of the temple the roof was of ivory, curiously wrought everywhere with gold and silver and orichalcum Jowett
(ivory in appearance, variegated with gold and silver and orichalcum Bury) |
all these metals exist all around the plain and Lake Poopo |
| and all the other parts, the walls and pillars and floor, they coated with orichalcum. |
the naturally occurring alloy of gold and copper. |
| 24 In the temple they placed statues of gold: And around the temple on the outside were placed statues of gold of all the descendants of the ten kings and of their wives |
The custom of having golden statues of their ancestors continued into the time of the Incas. |
| 25 they had such an amount of wealth as was never before possessed by kings and potentates, and is not likely ever to be again |
The nearby mountain of Potosi was the source of silver which provided the finance for the Spanish Empire. The land is also rich in gold which motivated the Spanish to it's conquest. |
| 26 He himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the centre island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold. |
Hot and cold springs exist on the Altiplano and can be seen at Pazna. Underground pools also exist at Pampa Aullagas. |
| 27 and they were wonderfully adapted for use by reason of the pleasantness and excellence of their waters. |
On the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca can be seen Inca springs with different types of water according to their properties. |
| 28 also they made cisterns, some open to the heavens, others roofed over, to be used in winter as warm baths. |
At Pazna on the other side of Lake Poopo can be seen thermal baths and a large stone bath open to the elements. |
| 29 The entire area was densely crowded with habitations; and the canal and the largest of the harbours were full of vessels and merchants coming from all parts, who, from their numbers, kept up a multitudinous sound of human voices, and din and clatter of all sorts night and day. |
From Pampa Aullagas, one could travel by boat to the far north-west corner of the plain or even as far away as to the northern end of Lake Titicaca, a distance of some 300 miles. The Uru culture was very much a water borne culture thriving along the aquatic axis of the Altiplano. |
| Because of their headship, they had a large supply of imports from abroad. |
It is a very large continent and "imports from abroad" could simply mean from other parts of the continent. However, in the museum at Oruro may be seen an amphora similar to those form the Eastern Mediterranean and the Fuente Magna dish found near Lake Titicaca with cuneiform writing also suggests a contact with ancient Sumeria. |
| I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature and by the labours of many generations of kings through long ages. |
|
30 The whole country was said by him to be 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 towards the sea; Jowett
The whole region rose sheer out of the sea to a great height, but the part about the city was all a smooth plain, enclosing it round about, and being itself encircled by mountains which stretched as far as to the sea; Bury
To begin with the region as a whole was said to be high above the level of the sea, from which it rose precipitously; the city was surrounded by a uniformly flat plain, which was in turn enclosed by mountains which came right down to the sea. Lee |
Note Jowett's translation…"precipitious on the side of the sea" The Altiplano is enclosed by mountains which just like the description, rise sheer out of the sea to a great height on the Western side of the plain i.e. on the side of the Pacific Ocean. The whole region, as Plato says, is high above the level of the (Ocean) sea and the mountains enclose it round about. |
31 the plain was smooth and even Jowett
and this plain had a level surface Bury
a uniformly flat plain Lee |
The Altiplano is smooth and level, the largest level plain in the world. |
32 and of an oblong shape, It was for the most part rectangular and oblong, Jowett
and was as a whole rectangular in shape, This plain was rectangular in shape, It was originally a quadrangle, rectilinear for the most part, and elongated; Bury
It was naturally a long, regular rectangle; Lee |
The Altiplano near Lake Poopo is indeed rectangular in shape and elongated, or as Lee says, a long, narrow rectangle. |
33 extending in one direction three thousand stadia, but across the centre inland it was two thousand stadia Jowett
being 3000 stades long on either side and 2000 stades wide at its centre, reckoning upwards from the sea. Bury
measuring three thousand stades in length and at its mid-point two thousand stades in breadth from the coast. Lee |
The Altiplano near lake Poopo is in the proportion of 3,000 long by 2,000 wide, the unit here being half a stade i.e. 300ft instead of the Greek 600ft stade. |
| 34 and what it lacked of this shape they made right by means of a trench dug round about it. Now, as regards the depth of this trench and its breadth and length, it seems incredible that it should be so large as the account states, considering that it was made by hand, and in addition to all the other operations, but nonetheless we must report what we heard.: It was dug out to the depth of a plethrum and to a uniform breadth of a stade, and since it was dug round the whole plain its consequent length was 10,000 stades. |
In the desert north-west of Lake Poopo there is a feature resembling a giant canal of the dimensions Plato has given. It joins pools of natural underground springs and is used by the locals to pasture their flocks. The elevations of the rectangular Altiplano are such that a canal could be dug around it's perimeter in the fashion Plato described. |
The plain was for the most part rectangular and oblong,
and where falling out of the straight line followed the circular ditch. Jowett
It (the canal) made a complete circuit of the plain, running round to the city from both directions, and there discharging into the sea Lee
and (the canal) winding round the plain Donnelly |
It is the plain which is rectangular and measures 3,000 x 2,000 "stades", sometimes the canal system is shown in a chequerboard pattern but other translations say it "wound its way around the plain" implying it followed natural contours and avoided obstacles such as volcanic outcrops. |
| 35 The depth, and width, and length of this ditch were incredible, and gave the impression that a work of such extent, in addition to so many others, could never have been artificial. Nevertheless I must say what I was told. It was excavated to the depth of a hundred, feet, and to a uniform breadth of a stade. |
The section visited on site was over one stade or 600ft wide and the archaeologists had the impression it could not have been artificial, however a local geologist studying air photos of the feature asserted it was indeed artificial. |
| 36 It received the streams which came down from the mountains and after circling round the plain, and coming towards the city on this side and on that, it discharged them thereabouts into the sea. |
There are streams which come down from the mountains surrounding the plain and a perimeter canal could discharge them into Lake Poopo. |
| 37 And on the inland side of the city channels were cut in straight lines, of about 100 feet in width, across the plain, and these discharged themselves into the trench on the seaward side, the distance between each being 100 stades. |
Transverse canals in straight lines exist today in the vicinity of the Chipaya village in the middle of the Salar de Coipasa and are still in use by the people there. |
| 38 It was in this way that they conveyed to the city the timber from the mountains and transported also on boats the seasons' products, by cutting transverse passages from one channel to the next and also to the city. |
there were formerly trees around the Altiplano, much of the original vegetation was destroyed by the Spaniards and the animals they brought with them. The Uru peoples still use reed boats for transportation today. |
| 39 The surrounding mountains were celebrated for their number and size and beauty, far beyond any which still exist, having in them also many wealthy villages of country folk, and rivers, and lakes, and meadows supplying food enough for every animal, wild or tame, and much wood of various sorts, abundant for each and every kind of work. |
The surrounding mountains are high volcanic peaks such as Sajama 21,464ft, Ilampu 21067ft, Illimani 21005ft and there are indeed many villages, meadows, rivers, lakes etc. |
| 40 Twice in the year they gathered the fruits of the earth - in winter having the benefit of the rains of heaven, and in summer the water which the land supplied by introducing streams from the canals |
Where raised fields have been restored near Lake Titicaca they have been able to harvest two crops per year and would have been able to sustain a vastly greater population than today. The water table was a delicately balanced system and in some periods would flow from Lake Titicaca to the south whereas at other times it could flow northwards. |
| 41 This part of the island looked towards the south, and was sheltered from the north. |
This part of the island faces towards the South Seas. In earlier times the winds from the north were colder, which led to more precipitation. |
| 42 He also begat and brought up five pairs of twin male children. |
The whole country was divided into ten kingdoms, they were therefore twin kingdoms. The Aymara kingdoms around Lake Poopo were similarly divided into twin kingdoms and according to Huaman Poma, the first inhabitants were also born in pairs. |
| 43 Moreover, there were a great number of elephants in the island. |
Skeletons of Mastodons may be seen in the museum in Tarija to the south of the plain. |
| 44 there was provision for all other sorts of animals, both for those which live in lakes and marshes and rivers, and also for those which live in mountains and on plains. |
The country is full of lakes, marshes and rivers. |
| 45 Also whatever fragrant things there now are in the earth, whether roots, or herbage, or woods, or essences which distil from fruit and flower, grew and thrived in that land. |
it also grows every conceivable product in abundance. |
| 46 And of the inhabitants of the mountains and of the rest of the country there was also a vast multitude. |
Huaman Poma recorded that there was a vast population before the time of the Incas and that the watercourses, reservoirs etc could not easily be repeated. |
47 For many generations, as long as the divine nature lasted in them, they were obedient to the laws, for they possessed true and in every way great spirits, uniting gentleness with wisdom in the various chances of life, and in their intercourse with one another.
They despised everything but virtue, caring little for their present state of life, and thinking lightly of the possession of gold and other property, which seemed only a burden to them;
neither were they intoxicated by luxury; nor did wealth deprive them of their self-control;
but they were sober, and saw clearly that all these goods are increased by virtue and friendship with one another,
whereas by too great regard and respect for them, they are lost and friendship with them.
but when the divine portion began to fade away, and became diluted too often and too much with the mortal admixture, and the human nature got the upper hand, they then, being unable to bear their fortune, behaved unseemly, and to him who had an eye to see grew visibly debased, for they were losing the fairest of their precious gifts;
but to those who had no eye to see the true happiness, they appeared glorious and blessed at the very time when they were full of avarice and unrighteous power.
Zeus, the god of gods, who rules according to law, and is able to see into such things, perceiving that an honourable race was in a woeful plight, and wanting to inflict punishment on them, that they might be chastened and improve, collected all the gods into their most holy habitation, which, being placed in the centre of the world, beholds all created things. And when he had called them together, he spake as follows... |
According to the Bolivian legend, the god Tunapa walked amongst the people and tried to persuade them from their bad habits but was cast adrift in a boat and eventually drowned in the waters of Pampa Aullagas when the city was also destroyed by earthquakes and floods sent as a punishment by the gods. |
| 48 Pampa Aullagas |
Pampa means "level plain" in Quechua
Aullagas in Aymara means the same as "Desaguadero" or drain but another interpretation is that it meant "ullada" or "hoyada" meaning "sunk pampa" or again the combination of "auga" and "-illa" meaning "no more." |
49 "Atl" means "water" in Aztec Nahuatl.
In the wet season large parts of Amazonia are under water. |
"Uma" is the Aymara word for water and Umasuyo the Aymara name for the eastern half of the Andes - the kingdom of water.
The Altiplano itself was also a water kingdom with it's inland seas of Lakes Titicaca and Poopo connected by the River Desaguadero. |
50 the name "Atlantis"
"Antis" means "copper" in Quechua of the Incas. It is also the origin of the "Andes" mountains making Atlantis the perfect name for the continent we today call South America. |
Inca name for one quarter of their empire was "Antisuyo" - kingdom of the Antis Indians. |
Further reading
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