Atlantis

Critias by Plato [360 B.C]
This is the fragmentary dialog of Plato which contains the only known ancient account of Atlantis. If you have only read out-of-context excerpts, you should read this short document in its entirety and make up your own mind whether Plato meant the tale literally or as part of an allegory about an ideal society (as Critias implies early on in the dialog, refer to: "All that is said by any of us can only be imitation and representation.").

These books, which appeared in a very short span of time during the 19th century, are the core texts of the modern Atlantis mythos.

Vril, the Power of the Coming Race by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton [1871]
Read the Victorian science fiction novel that occultists wanted to be true. By the author who actually wrote the words 'It was a dark and stormy night..." (no, it wasn't Snoopy).

Atlantis, the Antediluvian World by Ignatius Donnelly [1882]
This is the complete text of the 19th Century bestseller that started the modern Atlantis craze. Required reading for anyone interested in Atlantis, in spite of much dated and incorrect information. It is well-written and entertaining, and is the only Atlantis text here which doesn't depend on 'channeled' information. This etext was scanned at sacred-texts and appears here in its entirety for the first time on the Internet. This text is also available through the Project Gutenburg (thanks to Norman Wolcott, for working on the text version of this file). The illustrations, proofing and formatting of this etext were revised as of July 2003.

Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel by Ignatius Donnelly [1883]
This followup to Atlantis, the Antediluvian World, is a sensational description of how a cometary impact could have destroyed an unknown prehistoric civilization. Donnelly ties this into Atlantis, but it goes far beyond the existence of a sunken continent to the lost origins of our own civilization. The thesis presented in this book has actually gained plausibility in recent years because of recent discoveries.

The Book of Dzyan by H.P. Blatavsky [1888] 22,276 bytes
This excerpt from Helena Blatavskys' "The Secret Doctrine" is supposed to be an actual book from Lemuria summarizing occult knowledge about the evolution of the universe. In reality it was 'channeled'. The Theosophists greatly elaborated the Atlantis story, adding numerous additional lost continents such as Hyperborea, Lemuria, Daitya, Ruta, Poseidonis; and peopled them with an entire succession of pre-human species. (See the Scott-Elliot text, below).

The Story of Atlantis by W. Scott-Elliot [1896]
In this work, W. Scott-Elliot rehashes some of the Donnelly material, then 'channels' an imaginative Theosophic history of the Earth, including details of the Theosophic concept of human evolution and everyday life in old Atlantis.

A Dweller on Two Planets by Frederick S. Oliver [1905]
This is a very influential speculative novel of Atlantis and points beyond, purportedly composed via automatic writing by a teenager in the shadow of Mount Shasta.

How I Found the Lost Atlantis, The Source of All Civilization, by Dr. Paul Schliemann [1912]
This is a famous and often cited Atlantis hoax, republished at sacred-texts for the first time in over ninety years.

The Sacred Symbols of Mu by James Churchward [1933, copyright not renewed]
Mu, the other lost continent...