WHAT IF: Atlantis really existed?
What would it have been like to live there? What would it have been like to survive its destruction? Much has been written on the subject of Atlantis. Much of it is shaky in its logic. Some works have posed interesting arguments, if not compelling ones.

Too often, writers and scientists have attempted to alter Plato's meaning to make it fit known facts. The circa 1300 BCE eruption of Thera Island in the Aegean has been claimed as the Atlantis incident. Yet Plato had said Atlantis lay beyond the Pillars of Heracles (today's Strait of Gibraltar). The Thera argument was based on the idea that Plato's work had been mistranslated or misinterpreted on several points. However, this theory ignores another passage in Plato's work that could hardly have been mistranslated. Plato said that Atlantis was also near the region known as Gadira or Gadirus — Southwestern Spain. In fact, the modern city of Cádiz derives its name from that ancient Phoenician territory, and from Gadir, the oldest city on the Atlantic coast (Roman "Gades," and Moorish "Qādis"). The mention of Gadira could hardly be a mistranslation of something that also points to Thera, or anywhere else in the world. Locations in South America, Antarctica, Indonesia, and the Aegean may have been remarkable in their own way, but they were not Plato's Atlantis, simply because Plato places that fabled land in the Atlantic nestled very near a certain city in Southern Spain. But should we believe Plato? Below is a discussion of that ancient Greek philosopher and his controversial tale.

The challenge in writing a compelling story of Atlantis is in building its plausibility. If Atlantis existed, what forces created the landmass? And what forces destroyed it? During the researching of this novel, many theories were entertained. Many forces were investigated — differences in landmass density, delayed collapse in the rifting of Pangaea, and tectonic subduction and reversal. A more compelling possibility is discussed below.

WHAT IF: Dragons really existed?
Dragon myths abound the world over — Central America, England, Greece, India, China, and more. The Viking ships had serpent prows, and many of the dragon myths of the Eastern Mediterranean included the flight of golden dragons. From the ancient Egyptian tale of a shipwrecked merchant prince being saved by a dragon, to the stories of Cadmus and Medea, dragons have remained a powerful image in our culture. Certainly, the widespread existence of dragon symbols could simply be a natural fascination with the omnipresent snake. But what if Atlantis built flying ships, plated in gold to keep them from rusting? What if the Western colonies of Atlantis migrated with their dragon ships to Central America only after the rising oceans overtook their homes in what is today the Caribbean? And what if the ancestors of Atlantean refugees migrated to Central Asia, visiting the fertile river plains of China in their dragon ships?

An Egyptian prince (in some versions a merchant) was shipwrecked in a storm. All but he were lost, and he was rescued by a golden dragon. For many days, he recuperated on an island, in a cave. The myth describes how the dragon would talk to the invalid, sometimes as a dragon, and sometimes as a man. Shape shifter? A more plausible answer might be that the merchant prince conversed with a pilot who talked to the man from inside his dragonship, and sometimes from outside it.

Cadmus was a Phoenician credited with bringing writing to the Greeks. Myth tells us that Cadmus's sister had been kidnapped by Zeus, and Cadmus had been ordered by his father to rescue his sister. After wandering for some time on his search, he came to consult the Oracle at Delphi to aid in his quest. He did not get what he wanted from the Oracle. Instead, he was told that his sister was alive and happy where she was, and not to pursue her. The Oracle told Cadmus that his destiny was instead to build a great city.

After following the Oracle's instructions, Cadmus had found his location, and sent some of his men to fetch water for a sacrifice to sanctify the site. When they did not return, he sent the rest of his men to find out what happened to the others. When they did not return, Cadmus went to investigate. He found that his men had been slaughtered by a dragon, and the beast was still there amongst their bodies. He struck the dragon several times, killing it. Athena instructed him to sow the dragon's teeth. And when he did, up sprang a host of soldiers who began to fight amongst themselves. When only a few were left, the dragon silently lifted into the air and drifted away. The remaining soldiers agreed to help Cadmus build his city, and it became what is now known as Thebes.

Using a certain technique to see the other side of myth, the real story might have gone something like this: Cadmus swung his sword, stoving in the dragonship's teeth, and damaging its sensitive laser-like circuitry (the "fire" of the dragon). Some of the troops within the dragonship mutinied, and burst forth from the dragonship hatch. To the primitive Phoenician, it would appear they had sprung from the ground, for he would surely have heard them coming if they had come from a great distance. After the mutiny had run its course, the dragonship pilot had finally performed his repairs, and took off, removing the sensitive equipment from harm's reach.

Plausible? Only if such technology is possible, and only if the Atlanteans had such metal creatures. One clairvoyant spoke of lasers in Atlantis, invented in modern times a dozen years after the seer's death. So the fire of the dragon is possible. The other key technology is uncertain — anti-gravity, or warp drive. Some scientists say that such things are impossible. But scientists once told Edison that his incandescent light was an impossibility. And another scientist of the 1890's said that everything of significance had now already been invented; leaving out the airplane, television, computers, rocketships, lasers, and much more. Scientists are humans with human fallibility. A great deal may yet be possible, limited only by imagination and the as yet imperfectly understood laws of the universe.

Medea fell in love with a Greek named Jason. The Greek and his Argonauts had come to steal the Golden Fleece from the people of Colchis (in modern times, the Kolkhida Valley of Georgia, the former Soviet republic). After Medea helped her new lover steal the prize from the watchful gaze of a golden dragon, they fled to Greece. Living together in harmony did not last long. Jason sought other women, and jealous Medea killed their children and fled to Athens. There she became the wife of the king. Later, when the king's illegitimate son, Theseus came to claim his birthright, jealous Medea attempted to have him poisoned. The king discovered her treachery in time, and Medea escaped by flying away on a golden dragon.

Was this the same dragon that had protected the Golden Fleece? Did Medea drug its initial pilot, putting him to sleep, only to pilot the dragonship to follow Jason home? It is far too likely that we will never know the true meaning of Medea's dragon. Yet the subject of dragons could easily be resolved by the accidental discovery of a dragonship. Where? Perhaps buried in an undisturbed cave. And the cave could be anyplace between Matagalpa and Ulan Bataar.

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WHAT IF: Other myths were based on fact?
Many of the ancient myths sound too incredible to be true. What if they were based on fact, but filtered through the limited understanding and vocabulary of primitive hunter-gatherers? More on this fascinating approach to understanding myth can be found in The Other Side of Myth.

In some stories, the simple concept of a given name could have been off by an order of magnitude — an individual character could symbolically have represented a group. Even Biblical stories occasionally talked of individuals also as groups or tribes, for example, "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." (Genesis 5:2) So "they" were Adam. And there are other clues that suggest all of Genesis's "old men" were really patriarchal lineages, in addition to the individuals for which they were named. Those clues also suggest that their several-hundred-year lives were instead the lives of the lineage or tribe. The Methuselah tribe lived for nearly a thousand "years."

Could the god, Poseidon, for instance, have been an empire across the sea? Could it have had great navies? Could that empire have vanished into the sea? Ancient Greek myth tells us that Poseidon was not only god of the sea, but also the god of earthquakes and horses.

What an odd combination. Could the "Poseidon Empire" have had great cavalries? If so, why don't we have evidence of horse domestication at an earlier age? Maybe there is evidence along the old coastlines of prehistoric Europe, now under water. Perhaps any remaining evidence was rare enough that archaeologists simply have not yet discovered it. Yet myth also tells us of creatures that were half horse and half man. Traditionally, the myth of the centaur was thought to have been the result of primitive observation of man riding horseback. With the rider wearing dark leggings and boots, the primitive might not have seen the complete form of a man, but the combined form of horse and man.

The myth of the birth of Athena is even more outrageous. An entire section is dedicated to that goddess, below. Other examples are found in the ancient Egyptian conflict between Asett and Sett (Isis and Seth). At one point in their story, Asett shows leniency toward Sett. This enrages her son, Heru (Horus), whereupon he cuts off his mother's head and hides it from her in the mountains. With the help of Ra (the sun god), Asett reclaims her head. Such a story appears bizarre, and perhaps even supernatural, on the surface, but a plausible explanation is easy if Asett is a group, and the head of that group is kidnapped by the Heru group.

In this novel, several elements of folklore and myth were included. The hope was to portray them as they might have happened in reality, but later plausibly misinterpreted when seen through primitive eyes. For instance, we have the story of witches and their familiars. And, of course, we have the iconic flying broomstick.

Imagine, if you will, a female officer of the Atlani military, speaking through her communications device (perhaps similar to the microphone strapped to a policeman's shoulder in modern times). As seen through the eyes of a primitive spy, the device would be dark and mysterious. It might have glowing lights (eyes?), and might speak the officer's language. She could hold it close to her mouth, reminding our spy of the manner any of his own elite might consult with an advisor.

Later, the officer might wave a flag to attract the attention of a serpent ship (manmade dragon). To our primitive spy who had never seen a flag, the long pole and bit of cloth might have resembled a broom. The flag's use in hailing a ride might then have forever linked the broomstick with flight. All of this is, of course, the wildest of speculation. Yet ferreting out the possible realities is sometimes its own reward. The aim has been to find the plausible and internally consistent images of what may have happened.

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WHAT IF: A reluctant heroine saved humanity 12,000 years ago?
Merla Volsinii had a special kind of humility. She cared enough about others to disregard concerns for her own safety or for the viability of her own career. Her concerns were both pragmatic and deeply religious. Killing was a horrible act, in her view. Yet she would readily kill another to save many, especially if the one was the source of their jeopardy. Merla felt no need to place herself above others, and merely wanted to contribute in the best way she knew how. Below, you will learn more about how Merla came to be known as a goddess.

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Sciences
A great deal of prehistory depends on a scant amount of evidence. But what if the evidence of Atlantis is five or six magnitudes more rare? A decade ago, evidence found in Southern Russia suggested that the Amazons of Greek myth may really have existed. Women were buried with wealth and weapons, while men were buried with the children. Not conclusive, certainly, but highly suggestive. This is especially compelling because of the location — where Herodotus, the Greek historian, said the Amazons had migrated.

The "softer" sciences, like anthropology and archaeology depend heavily on interpretation, and the serendipity of accidental discovery. (The term "soft" is not meant pejoratively. This author has a great respect for the work done in these fields. The term merely means that the conclusions are less clear-cut, and open to multiple interpretations.) With a "harder" science, such as physics or mathematics, the predictability derived from a hypothesis is frequently more easily tested. With archaeology, proof of a hypothesis may depend on the next accidental find.

From the end of the last Ice Age to the earliest edge of our own history, was a period of great warming, and rising oceans. We know from several sources (or "event proxies") that a geologically brief cooling period, called the "Younger Dryas," left humanity's hopes in limbo for thirteen hundred years. As abruptly as it started, this mini-Ice Age suddenly stopped and temperatures resumed their steady rise toward our modern range of values.

At one point, sea levels were rising as much as 7 feet a century. During that era, the shoreline you may have walked as a child would drown you as a senior citizen. If ports existed during that long warming period, likely they were temporary and easily moved, or were set high on shoreline cliffs. Because of the changing sea level, I chose to include canal locks at the entrance to Atlan's capital city, and a sea wall along its most sensitive coast — the coast protecting their prized agricultural valley.

We know from science, that Ice Age conditions tend to make most everything cooler. And cooler, makes rainfall less frequent (less evaporation). Less rain makes for more desert conditions. Humanity and the animals of the wilderness would have crowded into far more rare zones of livability.

After the Ice Age ended, North Africa experienced two periods of major wetness, the first centered near 7000 BCE, and the second near 4200 BCE. During this second period, Lake Chad in the South Central Sahara exceeded 60 feet in depth and covered an area comparable to that of North America's Great Lakes.

England became an island about 6500 BCE, the Black Sea was flooded with spillover from the Mediterranean about 5600 BCE, and the great Sumerian civilization started around 3800 BCE, in what is now modern Iraq. By about 3000 BCE, the Sahara was well on its way to drying out, forcing nomads to the coasts, and to the rich Egyptian Nile Valley.

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Legend of Odysseus and Land of the Etruscans
Why haven't we found artifacts or cities from these Atlanteans, especially around the Mediterranean where their colonies were supposed to have existed? And yet, we have the travels of Odysseus to suggest that some powerful, albeit reclusive, groups of people once existed around the Tyrrhenian Sea. This is right where Plato said the Atlanteans had some of their colonies, and right where their refugees migrated.

"Tyrrhenian" was the Greek name given to the people who overwhelmed the region with their culture, their construction, and their military. The Romans called them "Etruscan," and the region of Italy is now called "Tuscany," but they called themselves, "Rasna," or "Rasenna." In this story, the Atlanteans called that part of the Mediterranean, the "Rossen" Sea.

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The Bible and Clairvoyants
Shakespeare once said, "There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene V). Perhaps this quote has been overly used to bolster arguments poorly supported by science. Yet there may be some things that remain far superior to science. That was perhaps Shakespeare's point. Simply because science cannot prove or disprove something does not mean that thing does not exist, or did not at some time in the past exist. Atlantis could very well have been a reality. A growing body of circumstantial evidence seems to support the possibility of Atlantis. For any scientist to dismiss that possibility out of hand is unscientific and a touch arrogant. It is sad that some scientists resort to such behavior, making outsiders of those with which they disagree. Again, inability to prove or disprove does not bar the possibility of anything.

The existence of so-called "clairvoyants" has long been the target of ridicule, some deservedly so. Still, to this author, the possibility of some greater force at work behind the scenes holds a certain attraction. One clairvoyant made a great deal of his career on the subject of Atlantis. His name was Edgar Cayce (1877–1945). His controversial readings have been ridiculed by both scientists and Christians. Yet, as a devout Christian, he persisted in tapping into some Jungian super-consciousness — what he called, "the akashic record." If reports can be believed, some of his successes were nothing short of astounding, while some of his failures were incredibly embarrassing.

Cayce talked frequently of reincarnation — the perpetual re-embodiment of souls. At first, he wrestled with this subject, uncertain if he should continue his participation, because the Bible did not contain any references to such activity. Further readings, though, pointed out numerous Biblical references to reincarnation. Any careful reader can find such passages. "Sins of the fathers" (Exodus, 20:5), and healing the man "born blind" (St. John, 9:2) are but two.

Cayce gave us a cursory history of Atlantis, highlighted by three periods of upheaval. The first was said to have occurred around 50,000 BCE. The second was said to have coincided with Noah's flood, around 28,000 BCE, and the third started around 10,600 BCE, about 1,000 years before Plato's 9600 BCE reference.

The 28,000 BCE date for Noah's flood caught my eye. Elsewhere in Cayce's readings, he mentioned a meeting of early man approximately ten and a half million years ago. Ouch! It seems ironic that Creationists argue so fervently that the universe was created 6,000 years ago (Bishop Ussher's calculation from Genesis). Yet I was stunned by the pendulum swinging so far the other way. Most anthropologists, if not all, would be hard pressed to accept Homo sapiens existing any earlier than two hundred thousand years ago (did I hear a groan?).

It is remarkable though that a little careful research in Genesis and other Jewish traditions would reveal a hitherto unreported code — a code that would lead to the dates Cayce gave for the Flood and for early man or Adam. For the skeptic this may be meaningless, especially if the Bible has little or no value to them. For the faithful, it might open a door to greater understanding. It is far from proof of anything, but one might ask, "how much evidence has been missed because a skeptical scientist turned a blind eye to new possibilities?" Science needs proof. That should never change. Intentional blindness, however, is a different matter.

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Plato on Atlantis
Without Plato's Timaeus and Critias dialogues we may never have heard the story of Atlantis. A great deal has been written since Plato's work, but his is the only true source that mentions that land by name. The idea of a powerful, rich, and perhaps technologically advanced civilization forgotten in the mists of time has captured the imaginations of millions. Golly! Even one of America's space shuttles is named after the place. But how much of what Plato wrote on the subject can be trusted? How much must be interpreted as tainted by some hidden agenda, or modified out of prejudice?

The names of the Atlanteans are clearly Greek names. Plato explains this in Critias as Solon's translation of Egyptian names into their Greek equivalent, and that the original Atlantean names were lost. The name, "Atlantis," with its silibant ending might also be Greek in origin. It is at least possible it had been modified to fit the Greek "ear." Certainly, Plato had an agenda — lessons of Greek wisdom to impart. Many of his other writings attest to that purpose.

There are other details that stretch the believability of the story. One is the idea of a mud filled ocean, and impassible because of it. Such a large body sinking in a day and a night would likely have resulted in a mega-tsunami. Silt along its coasts would have been stirred up. Topsoil on the continent would also have been left stirred into the upper currents. More importantly, the entire coastline of the North Atlantic would have been washed out to sea by a wave that might have been thousands of feet high. However, none of this would generate an impassable barrier of mud.

The myth of Metis and the birth of Athena (discussed below) suggests that Atlantis may have been ruled by women. The nature of some of the agglutinative speaking societies add support to this hypothesis. If Atlantis was a matriarchy (gynecocracy) during its latter days, would Greek patriarchal sentiment have disbelieved it so strongly as to change the facts. This happened to the Europeans when they disbelieved the existence of matriarchal and matrilineal Native American tribes.

Women rule? Impossible! Someone obviously misunderstood something and got it all wrong.

Yet there are numerous matriarchal, matrilineal, or at least gender neutral societies that may have come from Atlantis or may have been derived from the descendants of their refugees. Many of the Native American tribes of North America were matriarchal or matrilineal. Some are genetically related to the Basques of Western Europe (mtDNA haplogroup X). The Basques had their couvade. The Spanish (through the Basques perhaps?) have a tri-part name strongly honoring the mother's family (similar to that of the Etruscans). And the Etruscans, were slandered by the Romans and Greeks for all the power they gave to their women. But such arrogance! Could it have been that the women gave their men a share in the power? There are other clues, too numerous to mention here, including subtle traces in the isolate languages across Eurasia.

In Plato's favor, Greenland ice cores show a moderately large deposit of volcanic debris around 9620 BCE. Shortly thereafter, the Younger Dryas, miniature Ice Age, abruptly ended. Timaeus places the destruction of Atlantis at 9000 years before Solon's visit to Egypt (circa 600 BCE). Coincidence, or cause and effect? Certainly more information is needed. One scientific paper (1989) on sea level records graphed the near perpetual rise of sea levels over a 17,000 year period. Is it coincidence that sea levels seemed to drop right at the end of the Younger Dryas? The amount of the drop (approximately two meters) is roughly consistent with a Texas-sized plot of land collapsing three kilometers in the middle of the ocean. That is a two meter drop worldwide!

Also in Plato's favor is the near simultaneous collapse of Atlantis and the ancient proto-Greek homeland (could this be what is now the Aegean?). Two such rare events happening so close together (days or even hours apart) suggest a common source, or a chain reaction. Serendipity is possible, but the short distance of both from the African-Eurasian tectonic plate boundary might have something to do with both incidents (if indeed they happened at all).

The fact that Plato placed Atlantis in the realm of such geological anomalies should arouse at least a glimmer of curiosity. These include such anomalies as the atypical "hot spot" of the Azores, the elbow and branch in the plate boundary called the "Terceira Ridge," the jumbled nature of the Azores-to-Gibraltar region, the premature closure of the Gibraltar Strait 7 million years ago (which led to the desiccation of the Med), and the effective rotation of the African plate (divergence at Terceira Ridge, and convergence east of Gibraltar). Read more on the The Geology of Atlantis.

Finally, a plausible explanation exists for the creation and subsequent destruction of Atlantis. The geological mechanics are surprisingly simple, and the evidence to support them are equally compelling.

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Skeptics
Proof is good, but lack of proof does not disprove a hypothesis. That said, there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to suggest that Atlantis did in fact exist. The difficulty in obtaining "smoking gun" quality of evidence is the location of the site — three kilometers straight down in the middle of the ocean. The exact location is also unknown, so excruciatingly careful surveys would have to be done over a large area around the Azores. To make matters worse, the region has long been one of active volcanism. Many of the ideal targets may also be buried under landslides, or worse, hardened lava, decorated with thousands of years of silt.

Some skeptics have taken it easy, choosing to use ad hominem and non-sequitur arguments to dismiss the idea that Atlantis ever existed. Laughingly remarking, "Where can you hide a continent," does little more than show the scientist's disregard for the rigors of the scientific process. Some refer to the subject as "fringe," or simply leave it at "myth." Scientists and skeptics, sometimes one in the same, are human — with egos to bruise or bolster, and agendas to protect. It saddens this author that some arrogant anthropologists, specializing in North American habitation, long held reign over the subject, coddling their pet dogma about "Clovis first." Clovis, New Mexico was long held as the earliest location of human habitation in North America (circa 9500 BCE). Those who found evidence to the contrary, squelched their new "truth," or risked ridicule from on high.

On the other side of the world, Egyptologists have a tightly-knit club. For the most part, they seem to do a good job. One scientist though, on a cable television science special, commented that scientists base their conclusions only on the evidence, not wild theories. Then he proceeded to state a conclusion based on the evidence as conclusively proved. But hello! That was not the only possible conclusion, and none of the arguments against his conclusion were addressed. I felt embarrassed for him. Yet even Schliemann's Troy is not a done deal — not 100% certain. Perhaps if he had found a sign saying, "Troy City Limits," we would have conclusive proof. (Joke!)

The suggestion that we have proof that the Amazons factually existed must be tempered with the reality that the light smattering of proof is circumstantial. The same applies for the larger subject of Atlantis and its refugees. Yet when would there be enough of this circumstantial evidence to build a compelling picture of the world in the years following Atlantis's destruction? As with any art, the gradation of evidence from light to heavy is subject to interpretation. The "beauty" of an idea is in the eye of the beholder. There is no hard edged formula for "proved" and "not quite proved."

The difficulty with interpretation frequently rests on the narrow scope of the person analyzing the given evidence. All too often, relative "truth" lies outside the scope being investigated. Perhaps it is best to hold all hypotheses as less than 100% proven, especially in "soft" fields like anthropology, archaeology, sociology, psychology, and even medicine. Complex systems contain complex processes, and can be affected by adjacent systems in ways we may never fully understand.

The cold, analytical style of the prototypical scientist might be described as a measure of restraint. There is a time for restraint, but some skeptics apply their "art" with wild abandon. Skepticism for its own sake often can blind the participant to other, sometimes equally obvious, possibilities.

Even "hard" fields, like physics, astronomy, mathematics, and others, are a little squishy around the edges. If they were not, we might already have a grand unified field theory, and complete understanding of stellar nuclear processes. We understand so much, today. But it may be that with every Newton, there is an Einstein to say, "you almost had it right."

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Caesar Augusta
While researching the novel, it was interesting to come across a map of Western Europe from the days of the Roman Empire. Naturally, the regions had names unfamiliar to our modern geographical sense. It came as a mild shock to see the name of a city in Northern Iberia (Spain) named after the first emperor — Caesar Augusta. Why a shock? Because the name has changed in very interesting ways over the last 2000 years. The city is now called, "Zaragosa." Though changed, it is essentially the same name.

Merla – Minerva
In the backstory behind this novel, Merla Volsinii's name evolved over the thousands of years to become Merva. Then, with the immigration of the Indo-Europeans, the root syllable "mn," representing the mind, affected Merla's name in a different way. Because she was, by then, the goddess of wisdom, it would seem appropriate for her name to evolve into Minerva [mn-erva].

Her last name has a different story. "Volsinii" was the Roman name of an Etruscan city. To the history buff, "Volsinii" would likely be more recognizable than the Etruscan version, "Velzna." Besides recognition by a small number of Roman history fanatics, why use "Volsinii," instead? Artistic preference, perhaps. But how do we get to the name "Athena?" Read about her husband....

Aten – Apollo
[Caution: this paragraph contains a plot spoiler] Merla's lover, and eventually her husband, was Aten Penkelé, a farm supervisor from the breadbasket of Atlan. When the two were reunited in the colonial wilderness of the Mediterranean, the new town she was having built was named in his honor — Pel es Atenai (a pel being the Atlani term for "colonial town," or "imposition of order onto the wilderness"). In such a small community, everyone knew Aten and spoke to him regularly. It is not surprising that many would adopt a nickname for Merla's husband. They would choose to coin a name, literally "not the town" or "not the pel" — "A-pel-u." Later, Aten would use his status as the last known Atlani senator to help restore self-rule in Egypt. For this, the Egyptians would refer to him as a sun god. The appellation would stick, and the Greeks and Romans would refer to him by his nickname, "Apollo."

Thousands of years later, a serpent ship captain named Cecrops would found the city of Athens. He would ask his soldiers to help him in naming the city. They had bold plans for their new home, and they wanted a name that would command respect throughout history. It was only natural that they would recall the names of other cities from their own heritage — Pos and Onn (Poseidon) from the Age of the Gods, and Pelles Atenai (Pallas Athena), from the First Age of Man. Because the term "pelles" (Pel es) diminished the weight of its name (after all, a pel is merely a frontier town), the soldiers decided to use only the given name, "Atenai." And it was only natural that Merla would be associated with the town she helped build. Her discovery of a way to cure olives would be instrumental in their decision.

Neria – Neith
[Caution: this section contains a plot spoiler] Neria Volsinii would settle down in Saïs, Egypt, and retire from her military life. History would associate her with her aunt Merla, the future goddess of wisdom. The later Egyptians would call her "Neith," their own goddess of wisdom, domestic arts, and homeland security.

Neria's future husband, Ket'hosamen, would get his own nickname. Neria would call him after the pet owl her aunt Merla had adopted — "Tehooty." Nine thousand years later, the Greeks would call him the god, "Thoth," keeper of the records, scribe of the gods.

Atlantis – Atlantic
Some writers of the past have made some significance over the fact that the names "Atlantis" and "Atlantic" are so similar. And why not? According to legend, Atlantis sank into the Atlantic. Some have said that both names derive from Atlas, the mythical hero tasked with holding up the Earth. The Pillars of Heracles (today's Strait of Gibraltar) consists of Gibraltar Rock on the North and none other than the Atlas Mountains to the South of the strait. In the section, Plato on Atlantis (above), we learned how much of what he wrote on the subject may not entirely represent fact.

Pos & Onn – Poseidon
"Pos" is the name of the capital city of Atlan. In the story, it is named after the first emperor. The other great city in that prehistoric world was named "Onn" — historical Heliopolis, and now part of modern Cairo. "On" is the name used in Biblical references, while "Iunu" is used in others. Pos and Onn were the centers of the world. Today, we remember only Poseidon, god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses. And there's an interesting combination, easily explained by what Pos and Onn represented, and by what happened to Pos in the end.

Katira – Cádiz
Katira, Gadir, Gades, Qādis, Cádiz — these are the names of one city. The first is a fictional colony of Atlan, reborn as "Gadir" with the Phoenicians nearly 8000 years later. The Romans modified the name slightly, and the Moors even less. Today, the Spanish name, "Cádiz" is surprisingly little changed since this "first city" of the Atlantic coast was founded — as much as 3000 years in the past, but perhaps a great deal longer ago.

Rossen – Rasenna
Rossen is the name in the novel for the "Tyrrhenian Sea," that part of the Mediterranean between Italy, Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily. "Tyrrhenian" was the name the Greeks gave the people who lived in the north of Italy. They called themselves "Rasna" or "Rasenna." Later, the Romans would call them "Etruscan," and their land would become known as "Tuscany." According to one site, some of the symbols we associate with Rome came originally from the Etruscans. Was the eternal fasces amongst these? This symbol of power has been used right up into modern times, appearing on U.S. coinage until mid-twentieth century. Were the Rasenna descendants of Atlantis? Were they amongst the mysterious natives encountered by Odysseus on his circuitous route home?

Ama-Atlan – Amazon
There are many theories about the origin of the name "Amazon." This novel poses yet another, and based on facts from a broad tapestry of subject areas. For one, we have the agglutinative languages of many Native American tribes, the Basques, Etruscans, Sumerians, Dravidians, Mon-Khmer, and others. For another, we have the matriarchal, matrilineal, or gender-neutral nature of many of these societies. And we have the interesting progression of two sentimental favorite words across Eurasia amongst these languages — the words for "mother" and "father."

In a few of these languages, "mother" was known as "ama." To a group of women, perhaps fed up with ineffectual or dishonest men, "mother" would be a powerful symbol for the theme of their new tribe. If they were also descendants of Atlantean refugees, and if Atlantis was matriarchal in its last days, "Ama-Atlan" could be a perfect symbol for their new way of life.

To other cultures, especially to those who hear the term for the first time, "Atlan" may not have sat well in their ear, prompting them to modify the sound. Such changes are common, even in modern times. For example, the English word "impossible" is "inposhiburu" in Japanese. For the Greeks to modify "Ama-Atlan" into "Amazon" is thus an easy jump to make in the backstory of this novel.

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The Geology of Atlantis
With a subject as controversial as Atlantis, it would seem, on the surface, impossible to lend any credibility to such a story. There are some who would dismiss the subject, sometimes citing a lone fact read in a journal somewhere. Such a dismissive attitude, however, is hardly scientific. One scientist once commented that Atlantis was impossible because of the evidence in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. It seems that there could not have been an industrial society or high-tech civilization prior to the modern age. Those cores lack any pollution prior to our own Industrial Revolution. The scientist's statement, though, assumes a great deal not in evidence. It begs the question, "So, it's civilized to pollute?" Perhaps, what we learn sometimes blinds us to viable possibilities.

Additional research showed that fossil fuels would not have been possible locally to Atlanteans. Current scientific estimates place the formation of fossil fuels between 380 and 250 million years ago, straddling the Carboniferous and Permian geological periods. The sea floor that later became Atlantis did not exist during that period. In fact, the entire Atlantic Ocean did not exist then. The ancient super-continent, Pangaea, did not start to split along the Mid-Atlantic ridge until about 150 million years ago, becoming firmly established only fifteen million years later, at the end of the Jurassic. So, if Atlantis existed, and its citizens developed a high-technology civilization, that tech was likely based on something other than fossil fuels. For more information, see "Timelines," in the "Background" section of the menu (above left).

After writing the first draft, further geological research revealed another clue. The most ancient edge of the Azores underwater plateau was roughly 65 million years old. There was something hauntingly familiar with that age. It was the era of the Cretaceous-Terciary (K-T) boundary — the death of the dinosaurs. If a meteor collision had been powerful enough to start a "nuclear winter" — one that destroyed the dinosaurs — then perhaps another collision could have damaged the African-Eurasian plate boundary, creating an impediment to the African's normal subduction under the Eurasian. Such an impediment might have locked the two plates together. Over time, the African plate's inexorable movement toward the Northeast would have crumpled both plates, creating the necessary uplift to form Atlantis.

• 65,000,000 BCE – Formation of Deccan Traps, India. Death of the dinosaurs. Birth of Azores oceanic plate material.
• 36,000,000 BCE – Formation of Terceira Rift spreading center, a northwest diagonal of the African-Eurasian boundary.
• 35,000,000 BCE – Rifting begins, separating African and new Arabian plates.
• 15,000,000 BCE – Rifting begins farther South, separating African and formative Somali plates.
• 7,200,000 BCE – Blockage of the Gibraltar Strait. Mediterranean evaporates.
• 5,400,000 BCE – Gibraltar Strait unblocked. Mediterranean floods.
• 750,000 BCE – Formation of Kilimanjaro begins.
• 9,600 BCE – Plato's date for submergence of Atlantis. The abrupt ending of the Younger Dryas 1300-year Ice Age.

About thirty million years after the age of dinosaurs, the African plate could no longer move against the new Atlantis landmass. The force was still there, but it would have been deflected laterally, initiating a plate rotation around the region of tectonic damage. Today, that rotation is marked by several features: the moderately divergent boundary known as the Terceira Ridge, the poorly-defined Gloria Fracture Zone (between the Azores and Gibraltar), and the convergent (subduction) zone between Gibraltar and the eastern end of the African-Eurasian boundary. Another product of this plate rotation is perhaps the Great Rift Valley. Shear forces first broke off what is now the Arabian plate, and later the formative Somali plate, as yet incomplete.

Rotation also meant that the African plate was no longer pushing against the Eurasian in the region of Atlantis. Over many millennia, the rotation gradually weakened the artificially uplifted landmass. And ultimately that landmass was restored to its original position — as submerged ocean crust. All that now remains is the volcanic archipelago known as the Azores.

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Female Warrior, Goddess of Wisdom, and More
[Caution: this section contains plot spoiler material]
Myth and legend was also used in constructing this story, but with the idea in mind that stories tend to become distorted over time. In the dystopia following the downfall of a civilization, certain terms, concepts, and technologies would lose their meaning.

Take for instance the idea of a capital city. After several hundred years, or even a few thousand, descendants may very well have had no idea about the concept of a city — or even "town," for that matter. The idea of a capital or "head" city would have been meaningless. Just as compelling, the idea of a nation would have been a lost concept for small, roaming tribes — especially the idea of a nation with technology.

Such a nation, or empire, might have taken on the persona of a god. And the capital city would thus have been the head of such a god. Thus the story of Atlantean refugees leaving their matriarchal, high-tech, homeland — especially its capital city — all swallowed whole by the sea, would become the story of Metis, the wisest individual of all time, being swallowed whole by the chief god, and Athena being born full-grown from her father's head.

When I read the attributes of Athena, one element locked my attention — her discovery of the olive. At that moment, the room grew dark around me, and I saw Merla walking along her Mediterranean beach. I saw her find the pool of sea water into which the olives had collected. And I wept at the discovery. I felt the overpowering sense of relief, and the sense of bewilderment at the serendipity that would affect their survival.

When I wrote the scene where Merla discovers that Aten was still alive, I also wept. The depth of emotion startled me. I had heard before of tears flowing. Never before had I seen it or felt it. This was my first and only experience with a flood running down my face. Talk about getting into your characters! Wow!

Minerva (Etruscan-Roman) or Pallas Athena (Greek) was said to have been born, full grown and armored, from her father's head. The myth sounds ludicrous, but the reality may have been far simpler. When I created the character, Merla, I had not yet thought of her as the future Minerva, but the names are similar. Serendipity? Perhaps. Subconscious intelligence? Of their own creativity, some writers would like to think so. Here, though, we have a goddess of wisdom, not as some might think because of the place of her birth (her father's head; the seat of wisdom), but because of her mother! Let us not forget Metis, the wisest person of all time, and swallowed whole by her jealous lover, Zeus.

As symbols, Poseidon represented the patriarchal beginnings of Atlantis, and the name of the capital (or "head") city. Metis represented the matriarchal endings of Atlantis, swallowed whole by the sea. Athena-Minerva represented the refugees of Atlantis, fully cognizant of civilization, and thus not immature or infantile like the primitive societies of the great eastern continent (Eurasia). And Zeus represented nature or the world at-large, uncertain about the future intentions of the Atlantean people.

In the novel, Merla is deeply religious. She feels strongly that humanity and civilization serve a greater, more spiritual purpose. Jesus would call it "salvation," or "heaven." Buddha would call it "Enlightenment." Lao Tzu would call it "The Way," or "The Tao." The destination is all the same, and appears to involve a great deal of self-discovery, and removal of ignorance, whether through meditation, prayer, or spiritual counseling. Without civilization, such self-discovery would be nearly impossible to accomplish. And without these human forms, the desired spiritual awakening would be far beyond possibility. These are the reasons why Merla felt that the most important things in life were people and civilization.

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