Does any ancient source put Atlantis in North Africa or the Sahara?
Three answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.
Where it stands
Three answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Three are still possible.
Why it matters
The Richat claim reads Plato's island as a place on the African mainland. Herodotus's Atlantes, Diodorus's Atlantians and Lake Tritonis are the ancient texts that tie Atlantis-like names to Libya; whether any ancient writer actually put Plato's Atlantis there decides how much support the claim has in antiquity.
Answers 3
What would settle it
- Read in full the works cited here only through reviews or Atlantipedia: Nesselrath 2002, Vidal-Naquet 2005, Borchardt's 1927 articles and Herrmann's books; and find Butavand's publication and its date.
History
- Proclus: those in antiquity who took the story as history also looked for it in the outer seaFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Pliny the Elder: every later ancient writer reviewed here who repeats Plato puts Atlantis at sea, in the AtlanticFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Tertullian: every later ancient writer reviewed here who repeats Plato puts Atlantis at sea, in the AtlanticFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Arnobius: every later ancient writer reviewed here who repeats Plato puts Atlantis at sea, in the AtlanticFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Herodotus: herodotus's Atlantes are a Libyan people named after Mount Atlas, with no island and no floodFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Plato: plato places Atlantis in the Atlantic beyond the Pillars of Heracles, ruling Libya as far as EgyptFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Plato: herodotus's Atlantes are a Libyan people named after Mount Atlas, with no island and no floodFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Diodorus Siculus: diodorus took the Atlantians from a mythical romance written two centuries after Plato, and does not link them to…Against: Yes: Diodorus's Atlantians of western Libya, by the ocean and Lake Tritonis, are a North African Atlantis
- Diodorus Siculus: diodorus's Atlantians were a civilised people of western Libya by the ocean, near a marsh lost in an earthquakeFor: Yes: Diodorus's Atlantians of western Libya, by the ocean and Lake Tritonis, are a North African Atlantis
- Ammianus Marcellinus: every later ancient writer reviewed here who repeats Plato puts Atlantis at sea, in the AtlanticFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Cameron: those in antiquity who took the story as history also looked for it in the outer seaFor: No: every ancient writer reviewed here who places Plato's Atlantis puts it in the Atlantic
- Peyras & Trousset: the ancients disagreed where Lake Tritonis was, and most put it in Tunisia or Libya, far from MauritaniaAgainst: Yes: Diodorus's Atlantians of western Libya, by the ocean and Lake Tritonis, are a North African Atlantis
- Session 1: found one result bearing on its answers
- Session 2: raised the question, proposed three answers and found six results bearing on its answers