Atlantis and V

squeemu

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Hello, I don't know much about the story of Atlantis (aside from what is sung on V) so I'm not sure how much is made up by Symphony X and how much is from the myth of Atlantis that already exists. I'm just curious to know if there is one defined story of Atlantis and if so how closely V follows this story. Or is Symphony X's take on the story fairly different? Thanks for any info.
 
The main myth of Atlantis comes to us from the ancient Greek philosopher Homer. Atlantis was the most prosperous nation in the world at its time. Atlantians were said to be great explorers, traders, and thinkers. Then a catastrophe occured in which the island continent sunk into the sea, hence the Atlantic Ocean. Most scientists believe the story by Homer to be a work of fiction, however new archeological evidence has shown that "Atlantis" may have actually been the lost civilization on the island of Minos in the Mediterrainian, an island devasted by volcanic activity. Other theories believe Atlantis was actually an ancient Aztec or new world kingdom that so excelled in sailing that they reached Greece and Egypt.

Please forgive any flagrant spelling or grammatical errors. Finals week is a bitch.
 
buy the V cd, there is a description of what made Romeo come up with the concept of the album, not just the Atlantis legend.
acutally Atlantis was from Plato, one of the theories saying that atlantis was fiction indicates that Homer and Plato were having a little "rivalry" and Plato came up with Atlantis to compete with Homer's Oddysey.
 
I actually just wrote a research paper on Atlantis, so i've read a lot on it. Atlantis was thought of as a powerful, utopian society with magnificent structures, beautiful treasures and intelligence that far exceeds any known human today. The source of the legend of Atlantis comes from the Greek philosopher Plato, who gave detailed accounts of this land in his two works, the Timaeus and the Critias. No one really knows exactly where Atlantis is now located, some scholars believe Atlantis to be Crete, which was presumably destroyed by a volcanic eruption of nearby Thera. Many think Atlantic rests at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, but the name ‘Atlantis’ is not derived from Atlantic,which means one should not assume that the names are at all linked, and according to Plato, Atlantis was as big as Libya and Asia combined, and detailed mapping of the Atlantic floor and the theory of plate tectonics made it clear that no such land masses resembling Atlantis ever existed in the Atlantic.
 
Aeresius said:
The main myth of Atlantis comes to us from the ancient Greek philosopher Homer. Atlantis was the most prosperous nation in the world at its time. Atlantians were said to be great explorers, traders, and thinkers. Then a catastrophe occured in which the island continent sunk into the sea, hence the Atlantic Ocean. Most scientists believe the story by Homer to be a work of fiction, however new archeological evidence has shown that "Atlantis" may have actually been the lost civilization on the island of Minos in the Mediterrainian, an island devasted by volcanic activity. Other theories believe Atlantis was actually an ancient Aztec or new world kingdom that so excelled in sailing that they reached Greece and Egypt.

Please forgive any flagrant spelling or grammatical errors. Finals week is a bitch.

Dude, no offense, but spelling ain't the problem here... ;)

Homer wasn't a philosopher, he was a poet, and he didn't write about Atlantis either.

Minos wasn't an island, he was the mythological King of Crete and the namesake of the Minoan civilization on that island. The island you're referring to is nearby and was called Thera at the time, now called Santorini. You're right about the fact that it was obliterated by a volcanic eruption. And you're also right about the fact that some theorize that it may have been the origin of the Atlantis legend.

The story first appeared in Plato's writing, one of his characters brought the story back from Egypt. 2 other theories stem from this. One is that Plato himself made it up just to use for the purposes of his story. But the one that I find even more interesting is that the Greek traveller Plato wrote about might have been real, but some theorize that the Egyptians, who felt superior to the Greeks, might have made up the story as a practical joke and told it to their Greek visitor knowing he would be amazed and spread the story. I don't really think that's true, there are enough clues to suggest that the legend really did exist in Egyptian culture before being transmitted to the Greeks, but it is an interesting thought.

As to the original question, and someone else already pointed this out, the story in 'V' is quite different. Romeo et al simply used parts of the legend as a starting point, and then crafted their own story.

(p.s. Aeresius, I hope I don't sound like I'm picking on you...you're more or less on the right track, just some of the details were off.)

-Paul
 
theodyssey said:
The atlantians were also sad to have helped the egyptians build the pyramids, werent' they?

Plato did not invent this story from his own imagination. Plato got the tradition from an ancestor, Solon. Solon first heard the story of Atlantis from the Egyptian priests. Egyptian records and their history goes back farther than the Greeks and according to them the Atlantians did exist and even attempted to conquer Egypt, so I assume in theory the Atlantians could have been part of Egyptian construction.
 
SirenSong said:
Plato did not invent this story from his own imagination. Plato got the tradition from an ancestor, Solon. Solon first heard the story of Atlantis from the Egyptian priests. Egyptian records and their history goes back farther than the Greeks and according to them the Atlantians did exist and even attempted to conquer Egypt, so I assume in theory the Atlantians could have been part of Egyptian construction.

Ah yes, Solon. Thanks, that was the name that was escaping me. We are virtually talking about the same thing. All I was saying is that there are some who believe that Solon, and the story of Atlantis, was simply a character that Plato invented to get his point across. At this time I also forget what that point was, but that was a common writing technique back then. Philosophers would write a narrative or "dialogue" with characters and make their points in story form, rather than just stating their arguments plainly. In the work that the Solon story appears in, the Atlantis part was more of a sidebar. It just happened to become a popular legend thereafter, so now it's origin is, of course, noteworthy.

Like I said, I don't believe that theory, but it's interesting. My feeling is that Solon was a real person who did go to Egypt and did bring back to Greece some of their legends and traditions, including the Atlantis legend.

-Paul
 
Sorry, but I still have to disagree with you. Crete has often been referred to as the Island of King Minos, or perhaps even "The Island of Minos, " but it's still Crete, even if you want to get more specific the city was called Knossos. And the nearby volcanic island that blew up and possibly led to the original Atlantis legend was called Thera and the main city on that island was called Akrotiri. None of them were called Minos. So even if there IS some island called Minos, I highly doubt that it would have anything to do with this conversation. And honestly, not just saying this to sound like an ass, but I mean it sincerely, if there is info out there that proves me wrong, I'd like to see it. I wrote my senior thesis in college on this subject and I'd like to think I at least KINDA know what I'm talking about :lol

-Paul
 
^^ you said it! That album is kick ass

I personally am very interested in the Atlantis story mainly because there are so
many different ways to look at it, I don't think anyone is right or wrong, it's just what you believe. We will never be able to prove it, which is why it's so fascinating. The whole topic really gets you thinking....and there are so many theories out there.

Paul- I also think Solon was a real person who originally got the
story. Plato found the story useful for his purpose, and
decided to write the story down and share it with the world.
 
Paul Adrian Villarreal said:
(p.s. Aeresius, I hope I don't sound like I'm picking on you...you're more or less on the right track, just some of the details were off.)
-Paul

Hahaha, no prob dude. I wasn't really in a "sober" state of mind when I wrote that. I don't even remember writing it actually. Wow...

Edit: This wasn't me!
Aeresius was using my computer and didn't realize I was signed on. Fuckin' stoners.