We know about Atlantis, Shangri-La, El Dorado and some other legendary places from myths, legends and works of ancient authors. We have compiled a rating that includes 4 mysterious places from myths. Where to look for them, archaeologists know - or think they know.
Atlantis
Information about a large island, which before the Flood was located in the Atlantic Ocean, the civilized world drew from two dialogues of the ancient Greek thinker Plato. It is believed that this island belonged to the Atlanteans - the descendants of the first son of Poseidon. There lived rich, happy people who mined orichalcum metal unknown to science and could create amazing artifacts.
When the Atlanteans, corrupted by their knowledge and strength, lost their decency, Zeus destroyed their island, sending an earthquake and a flood on it. Since then, Atlantis has never been seen again.
There is an opinion that Plato's story about Atlantis is a fiction, an allegory, which serves to confirm the thesis that in any situation one must behave decently, honor the gods and not sink to a bestial state. Historians who adhere to this opinion confirm their words by the fact that no other ancient author mentioned Atlantis, except for Plato.
However, many researchers believe that Atlantis actually existed. And it's worth finding it. Various assumptions have been made about the location of the mysterious island. The Canary Islands and even Scandinavia were considered fragments of Atlantis.
In recent years, the theory has been very popular that the Minoans could be called Atlanteans, who had good roads and were the first among the ancient peoples to use writing. They disappeared around 1600 BC. BC, and their island of Thira (it exists now and is better known as Santorini), was covered with a multi-meter layer of ash from an erupting volcano.
Shangri-La
The country of Shangri-La, lost in the Kunlun Mountains, was first learned by Europeans in 1933 from the novel "The Lost Horizon" by the English writer James Hilton. According to the author, Shangri-La was a heaven on earth.
Many readers believed that Shangri-La was a fictional country, others were sure that the legendary Shambhala was hiding under this name.
Those who believed in the authenticity of Shangri-La began to seek her. To begin with, they became interested in Tibetan myths and found out that there are mentioned several cities hidden from prying eyes and certainly unknown to newcomers from Europe.
In 1998, an expedition in search of the mysterious Shangri-La discovered a green valley. The discoverers called it the Tsangpo Hidden Waterfall. As it became known, people from the West have never come here yet, and the valley itself is not visible even on satellite images. Researchers believe that this is where the city from the "Lost Horizon" may be.
El Dorado
Eldorado, which translates from Spanish as "Golden Country", according to the myths of American aborigines, is located in South America. The conquistadors, having heard the stories of the Indians, in which it was a question of a city or a whole kingdom made of pure gold, equipped expeditions to different parts of the continent.
Eldorado was searched for 250 years. During this time, researchers in search of the legendary city managed to visit:
- in Guiana - on a site that is sandwiched by two rivers - the Amazon and the Orinoco;
- in Colombia, along the Meta River;
- at the origins of the Orinoco.
Each leader of such expeditions wrote reports, fantasized about the tribes he saw, invented non-existent lakes, on the shores of which there were large settlements comparable to El Dorado. All this only added confusion to the plans of other adventurers, who recklessly began their own searches.
The advantage of such expeditions was the active exploration of a new continent.
Nowadays, El Dorado is considered to be a fantasy of Indian tribes.
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as 3 more settlements, whose names are unknown to us, are biblical cities, destroyed, according to legend, by God for worshiping pagan idols and depraved behavior.
Only Lot and his family, warned by the angel, managed to escape from Sodom. His wife, who turned to look at the destruction of the city, turned into a pillar of salt.
Pentapolis - prosperous cities, which included Sodom and Gomorrah, were located in the place where the Dead Sea is now located. Scientists believe that these villages were victims of volcanic eruptions, or rather, the ignition of gases and other combustible substances that came out here on the Earth's surface. Even in our time, sulfur springs gush near the Dead Sea, and pieces of resin sometimes rise from the bottom of the reservoir.
The catastrophe that destroyed 5 cities with all their inhabitants occurred around 1900 BC. NS. Since then, no remnants of cities have been found under water. The Israelis, however, show tourists on the shores of the Dead Sea a pillar of salt, vaguely resembling a human figure, and assure that this is Lot's wife.
