Atlantis

Having read recently about claims that Malta was once Atlantis, may I place a few facts before your readers before they are further bemused? The Atlantis story was first recorded by Plato (429-347BC) in Timaeus as told to him by his grandfather, who himself had heard it from his father. His father had the story told to him by Solon, who had visited Egypt about 570BC and had it told to him by an elderly priest called Senchis the Saite.

He located Atlantis beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the Gibraltar Straits) as an island as big as Libya and Asia Minor put together. He also stated that ships could reach the opposite continent by a series of islands, of which Atlantis was one. This is in itself rather startling as it would imply that the presence of the Americas was known.

There are further factual statements in the Critias but I do not want to bore your readers unnecessarily. I would just like to add that in your own newspaper in December, you reported the finding of a large city beneath the sea off Cuba. This might well confirm the site of Atlantis at some future time as there is further visible evidence available in the sourthern states of the US.