Embedded Files
Map of storm winds shows how the North Sea funnels storm surges into a narrow channel which amplifies the height of that surge. (Image from: https://www.air-worldwide.com/Publications/AIR-Currents/2019/Managing-Storm-Surge-Risk-in-Great-Britain--A-Look-Back-at-the-North-Sea-Flood-of-1953-and-Xaver-in-2013/)
One of the earliest storms in modern history which washed away a whole city (Durwich) was the storm called the Grote Mandrenke (Great Drowning) or Saint Marcellus's flood of 1362 CE. It was an intense extratropical cyclone coinciding with a new moon which swept across the British Isles, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark (including Schleswig/Southern Jutland).The city of Durwich sat along the coast of southern England. It was built on a coastal sandbar. Around sunrise on January 15, 1362 Durwich was beset by hurricane force westerly winds in excess of one hundred milers per hour. Many were killed as the city was washed out to sea.
Across the north sea in Frisa another town by the name of Rungholt was also submerged during the same 1362 Great Drowning storm. In this image archaeologists are excavating the remains of its church. Picture from: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5yygw/archaeologists-discover-remnant-of-lost-village-buried-under-the-ocean-for-600-years
The Rhine/Danube river trade route was the center of Europe. The White Cliffs of Dover (Pillars of Hercules) are at the narrowest part of the English Channel. The Thames is the river just north of that peninsula and that is where Atlantis must have been.
Atlantis Was Once a Kingdom On The North Sea Coast Which Was Destroyed Around 380 BCE by a Storm
Atlantis Was Once a Kingdom On The North Sea Coast Which Was Destroyed Around 380 BCE by a Storm
(June 5, 2023, Updated December 26, 2025) Our source for this legend is a book called the Timaeus by Plato written around 360 BCE.
North of the Celtic lands were the Germanic lands centered on trading around the North/Baltic sea and Elbe rivers. Consequently, they built cities on the sandbars of the north sea which over history tended to be washed away in great storms. One of these disasters seems to have been the source for the legend of Atlantis.
Atlantis (and Atlantic) comes from the Druid Akkadian phrase A.TL.NT meaning "Those.Mound.Manifested-from-Nature" which translates as "Those of the mounds manifested from nature." This word is also seen in the Latin atlanticus and Greek atlantikos which gave the name to the ocean. In Plato's Timaeus (360 BCE) it is spelled as Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος or "Atlantis Nesos" or "Atlantis the distant" where "nesu" is an Akkadian word meaning "distant."
This is what Plato says about Atlantis in the Timaeus, Section 24e to 25d :
[24e] both for magnitude and for nobleness. For it is related in our records how once upon a time your State (Athens) stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot. For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, 'the pillars of Heracles,' there lay an island which was larger than Libya and Asia together; and it was possible for the travelers of that time to cross from it to the other islands, and from the islands to the whole of the continent [25a] over against them which encompasses that veritable ocean. For all that we have here, lying within the mouth of which we speak, is evidently a haven having a narrow entrance; but that yonder is a real ocean, and the land surrounding it may most rightly be called, in the fullest and truest sense, a continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent; and, moreover, [25b] of the lands from here within the Straits they ruled over Libya as far as Egypt, and over Europe (coastline) as far as Tuscany (Etruria). So this host, being all gathered together, made an attempt one time to enslave by one single onslaught both your country and ours and the whole of the territory within the Straits. And then it was, Solon, that the manhood of your State showed itself conspicuous for valor and might in the sight of all the world. For it stood pre-eminent above all [25c] in gallantry and all warlike arts, and acting partly as leader of the Greeks, and partly standing alone by itself when deserted by all others, after encountering the deadliest perils, it defeated the invaders and reared a trophy; whereby it saved from slavery such as were not as yet enslaved, and all the rest of us who dwell within the bounds of Heracles it ungrudgingly set free. But at a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, [25d] and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished; wherefore also the ocean at that spot has now become impassable and unsearchable, being blocked up by the shoal mud which the island created as it settled down.”You have now heard, Socrates, in brief outline, the account given by the elder Critias of what he heard from Solon;The Rhine and Danube rivers formed the main trade network through Europe in ancient times. The Rhine river flows into the North Sea near the city of Rotterdam, forming a large delta with the Meuse and Scheldt rivers before entering into the southern part of the North Sea. The trade route then turns south passing through the narrowest part of The English channel represented by the White Cliffs of Dover. These cliffs were the Pillars of Hercules mentioned in Plato.
The island continent mentioned in Plato was Britain. The words translated as "Libya" and "Europe" reference regions different than today's land based classification scheme. Ancient regional classifications were based upon trade and people migration connections. "Europe" in the translation was northern Europe reached along the Rhine river trade route. "Libya" was coastal Europe reached along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines. "Asia" was the Levant and Mesopotamia (fertile crescent).
The island of Atlantis seems to have been at the entrance to the Thames just like Durwich in the video. It seems to have been part of a Celtic or Germanic alliance which raided into Greece and Italy around 387 BCE when the Gauls under Brennus sacked the city of Rome.
References
Plato as found in: Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925. Online at: http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg031.perseus-eng1:24eReferences
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse