The Flood from Heaven: Deciphering the Atlantis Legend

Eberhard Zangger gives us a nifty little puzzle, with all we need to solve it. Well and clearly written, The Flood From Heaven deals with the "black hole" of Atlantis studies: there is no Egyptian version of Atlantis. Whether his conclusion is correct or not, the trip is worth it for the insights and the information. My only concern is that Zangger concludes that "Atlantis" was the Egyptian version of the Trojan War, in part. But it is known that only Greeks knew of Atlantis. They simply attributed it to Egypt. Far easier to note, perhaps, that there are TWO Greek versions of Troy, and that time and confusion allowed us to miss the point for 25 centuries. Zangger's chief contribution is making us rethink an ancient legend and discover how much life there is in it even now.

Zangger successfully embeds the search for Atlantis within a rigorously scientific archeological framework. The result is a startling conclusion: that the myth of Atlantis actually came from an ancient Egyptian interpretation of the Trojan War.Most accounts of Atlantis were, and continue to be, written by amateur archeologists with a mystical bent; the result, of course, is speculation that is as much theology as science. A good example of the "mystic" orientation in most accounts of Atlantis is very well-known account of Atlantis was written by the "mystic" Edgar Cayce. Cayce predicted Atlantis would arise from the foam of the ocean sometime in the 1970s...alas, such is the condition of practically all written work concerning Atlantis.Zangger's methodology is rooted in making inferences based on existing evidence--that is, he does not posit the existence of superconducting crystals which fired lasers into space! Rather, he approaches the topic as a scientific researcher who is deeply versed in the archeology of the region. His work is original in that he draws new connections between previously discrete phenomena. For example, he uses his specialist's knowledge of the Trojan Plain's ancient appearance to construct a comparison between what the ancient Trojan Plain probably looked like and how the Egyptians described Atlantis (with many very intriguing parallels!). He makes many more connections between the specifics detailed in Plato's text and the condition of the Trojan Plain at the time of the Trojan War. The overall effect is powerful: I believe Zangger effectively answered the question of the location of Atlantis without resorting to mysticism.