Editing Atlantis (section)

===Jewish and Christian===
During the early first century, the [[Hellenistic Judaism|Hellenistic Jewish]] philosopher [[Philo]] wrote about the destruction of Atlantis in his ''On the Eternity of the World'', xxvi. 141, in a longer passage allegedly citing Aristotle's successor [[Theophrastus]]:<ref>T. Franke, ''Aristotle and Atlantis'', 2012; pp.&nbsp;131–133</ref>

{{blockquote|...&nbsp;And the island of Atalantes [translator's spelling; original: "{{lang|grc|Ἀτλαντίς}}"] which was greater than Africa and Asia, as Plato says in the Timaeus, in one day and night was overwhelmed beneath the sea in consequence of an extraordinary earthquake and inundation and suddenly disappeared, becoming sea, not indeed navigable, but full of gulfs and eddies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book35.html |title=Philo: On the Eternity of the World |publisher=Earlychristianwritings.com |date=2 February 2006 |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref>}}

The theologian [[Joseph Barber Lightfoot]] (''Apostolic Fathers'', 1885, II, p.&nbsp;84) noted on this passage: "Clement may possibly be referring to some known, but hardly accessible land, lying without the pillars of Hercules. But more probably he contemplated some unknown land in the far west beyond the ocean, like the fabled Atlantis of Plato&nbsp;..."<ref>Lightfoot, translator, ''The Apostolic Fathers'', II, 1885, p. 84, Edited & Revised by Michael W. Holmes, 1989.</ref>

Other early Christian writers wrote about Atlantis, although they had mixed views on whether it once existed or was an untrustworthy myth of pagan origin.<ref>[[L. Sprague de Camp|De Camp, LS]] (1954). ''[[Lost Continents|Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature]]''. New York: Gnome Press, p. 307. {{ISBN|978-0-486-22668-2}}</ref> [[Tertullian]] believed Atlantis was once real and wrote that in the Atlantic Ocean once existed "[the isle] that was equal in size to Libya or Asia"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0401.htm |title=Church Fathers: On the Pallium (Tertullian) |publisher=Newadvent.org |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> referring to Plato's geographical description of Atlantis. The early Christian apologist writer [[Arnobius]] also believed Atlantis once existed, but blamed its destruction on pagans.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 June 2005 |title=ANF06. Fathers of the Third Century: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius, and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arn |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06.xii.iii.i.v.html |access-date=24 October 2012 |website=Christian Classics Ethereal Library}}</ref>

[[Cosmas Indicopleustes]] in the sixth century wrote of Atlantis in his ''[[Christian Topography]]'' in an attempt to prove his theory that the world was flat and surrounded by water:<ref name="Indicopleustes2010">{{cite book|author=Cosmas Indicopleustes|title=The Christian Topography of Cosmas, an Egyptian Monk: Translated from the Greek, and Edited with Notes and Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp9S9o5lj5oC|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-01295-9}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2021}}

{{blockquote|...&nbsp;In like manner the philosopher Timaeus also describes this Earth as surrounded by the Ocean, and the Ocean as surrounded by the more remote earth. For he supposes that there is to westward an island, Atlantis, lying out in the Ocean, in the direction of Gadeira (Cadiz), of an enormous magnitude, and relates that the ten kings having procured mercenaries from the nations in this island came from the earth far away, and conquered Europe and Asia, but were afterwards conquered by the Athenians, while that island itself was submerged by God under the sea. Both Plato and Aristotle praise this philosopher, and Proclus has written a commentary on him. He himself expresses views similar to our own with some modifications, transferring the scene of the events from the east to the west. Moreover he mentions those ten generations as well as that earth which lies beyond the Ocean. And in a word it is evident that all of them borrow from Moses, and publish his statements as their own.<ref>{{cite web|author=Roger Pearse |url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cosmas_12_book12.htm |title=Cosmas Indicopleustes, Christian Topography (1897) pp. 374–385. Book 12 |publisher=Tertullian.org |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref>}}

[[File:Atlantis map 1882 crop.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|A map showing the supposed extent of the Atlantean Empire, from [[Ignatius L. Donnelly]]'s ''Atlantis: the Antediluvian World'', 1882<ref>[[Ignatius L. Donnelly|Donnelly, I]] (1882). ''[[Atlantis: The Antediluvian World]]'', New York: Harper & Bros. Retrieved 6 November 2001, from [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=4032 Project Gutenberg] p. 295.</ref>]]