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1960 begins
Atlantis and North Africa, A letter from Jean Gattefosse, Ain Sebaa, May 1959 (excerpts)
"If Plato produced the first study of the island Atlantis it must not be forgotten that the problem of the African Atlantis was first put by Diodorus, who devoted numerous pages of his 'library' to the traditions of the Atlanteans and of the peoples who succeeded them in Africa. It is thus that the City of Nysa, the paternity of which you somehow attribute to me, was sited several times by Diodorus."" In your referances you also omitted a French author: Bory de Saint Vincent, year 11 (1803), who in his remarkable illustrated work: "Essay on the Fortunate Isles and Atlantis", demonstrated the invasion of North Africa by the Amazones and the Atlanteans after the submersion of their homeland, and also showed the Atlantean origin of the Guanches. It was on geological observations that Bory based his conclusions, in which respect he was the predecessor of our contemporary Nocola de Ascanio. ""Also mention should be made of Claudius Roux, the pupil of Berlioux, who went into the question very seriously in the "Bibliography of Atlantis and of Connected Questions" which we published at Lyon in 1926 in collaboration. Now Claudius Roux has reached 85 and is unfortunately blind (as of 1959). My own part in studying the question consisted in the publication of two books: "Atlantis and the Western Tritonis" of which a summary of the chapter headings is attached; and "Hyperborea and the Neolithic Migration", published in 1940 ". "My story "The Bronze Gates", is in effect the imagined tale of the discovery of the Silver Belt, and of the revelations on Atlantis, given by psychometry of some of the best French experts of the time." "As for Nysa, this was certainly not the Cerne mentioned in Avenius' "Ora Maritima". Cerne was an ocean port whilst Nysa was a seaport but on the interior sea, which in far antiquity, was called 'Atlantic' because it was bound by the Atlas mountains. In the same manner this interior sea was also called 'Meropic', as was the Atlas range was also known as the 'Meros'. Recently Jerome Carcopino, in his book "Antique Morocco", has identified Cerne with the site of Herne on the Rio d' Oro; it was there that a natural canal, an arm of the sea, joined the Ocean and the Interior Sea. I think that the ruins of Nysa were those seen by Captain Martin of the Meharist (Camel Corps) in 1914, not far from the well of Aouinetbel-Legraa; there, spread over some 20 klm, are huge megalithic ruins, inumerable tombs surrounded by dressed stones, and many necklet and other ornaments of pebbles or copper lying in the sands. It was there that we should have gone in company with Byron de Prorok, Stanley and mager, if the Ethiopian War had not put a stop to our plans. You are certainly aware that, relying on popular folk lore, I affirm that the Pillars of Hercules were at Tartessos, and that they still exist at Seville where they are a popular tourist attraction, which is why I identify Tartessos with that city, as mentioned in my "Archaeological Walks in Andalusia" and Madame Wishaw the lady whose "Atlantis in Andalusia" is known to you all. But there are also Pillars of Cadiz which are also the relics of Atlantis-Tartessos. I can recommend the book "The Pillars of Hercules and Atlantis' by A. Rousseau Liessens, Brussels, 1956, which gives all the necessary details on the matter." Yours sincerely, Jean Gattefosse
Erytheia, Tartessos and Atlantis, By Dr. N. Th. Zhirov
The problem of Tartessos, the mysterious city of the West, was discussed by Hennig and Schultern and others. These writers worked on the hypothesis that Tartessos was a city of S. W. Spain. Schultern placed the city on the estuary of the Guadalquiver River, but protracted investigations on the spot produced no effective results. This might be explained by the fact that Tartessos was not on the continental coast or in the river estuary. In my opinion Schultern correctly identified Tartessos as being the Island of Ertheia, from which Hercules took the oxen of Geyron. But a careful study of the story indicates that the island cannot have been just off the Spanish Coast, as if this had been the case it would not have been necessary for Hercules to obtain from Helios the golden cup, which showed the direction by day and night. If the island was where Cadiz now stands there would have been no need for a primitive compass, but if it lay more than one days voyage away such a instrument would have been essential. This implies that the island was not visible from the mainland and that the journey, while taking more than one day, would not have exceeded two, as otherwise the small vessel of Hercules could not have carried forage and water for the animals. From the above it may be assumed that Erytheia-Tartessos was about 60 miles from the Spanish Coast. There are some grounds for equating this with the kingdom of Gadieros, the second son of Poseidon, whose Greek name was Eumelus, and who received the "extremity of the Island towards the Pillars of Hercules". This fragment of Atlantis may have survived the original catastrophe as a small island, which existed by trading with the Spanish mainland for metals and other products. However as it lay in the region of earthquakes and volcanic disturbances it was gradually reduced in size until its conquest from the mainland became possible, by the aid of a fleet. The subsequent fate of Tartessos is lost in obscurity, but it must have vanished beneath the waves, possibly about 500 B.C., at the time of the great subsidence which took place in the Atlantic about this time. The disappearance of the Island of Thule between Iceland and the Hebrides, where just recently the Soviet Ocean exploratory ship Michail Lomonossov found a large submarine mountain, must have occurred about then, as also the subsidence of the North Sea region which caused the mass movement of the Cimbri, the Teutons, and other tribes.
Letter From Professor Marcel Homet, Brazil and Cave Paintings in Urals, By Zhirov
