The History of Atlantis (Dover Occult) [Paperback]

Lewis Spence (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2003 | Series: Dover Occult

Spence (1874-1955) wrote five books about Atlantis, and this one is considered his best. He sifted through a tremendous body of research in fields from mythology and comparative religion to geography, geology, and archeology. The result is the most authoritative study ever published on the history, geography, animal life, government, and religion of this fabled island.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lewis Spence was a Scottish historian (1874-1955) who is best known for his volumes on world mythology and his five Atlantis books. The History of Atlantis (1926) is considered his finest. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (March 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486427102
• ISBN-13: 978-0486427102
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,993,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very readable; engrossing;, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The History of Atlantis (Hardcover)

Spence picks up some loose ends Donelly could not tie in his book 'Atlantis'. Explanations for the pre-atlantean giants, antediluvians, and the subsequent diaspora. If you are interested in 'factual' Atlantis, or theoretical History, then you should get this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives readers a good deal to enjoy and then some, April 5, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The History of Atlantis (Atlantis Reprint Series) (Paperback)

The myth and legend of Atlantis has captivated readers for ages. "The History of Atlantis" is a reprint of one of the earliest books on the subject, originally printed in 1926. Seeking he basis of the mythology from countless sources such as Egyptian history, Aztec records, and more. For anyone with an even a mild fascination with Atlantis, "The History Atlantis" gives readers a good deal to enjoy and then some.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Read, January 14, 2011

By 

Emmet Sweeney - See all my reviews

This review is from: The history of Atlantis (Paperback)

Lewis Spence's take on Atlantis remains a fascinating read and infinitely superior to the plethora of nonsense written on the topic in recent decades.
Like Donnelly before him, Spence locates the "Lost Island" in the only place Plato's account permits - the Atlantic Ocean; and like his predecessor, he takes Plato's reference to an "opposite continent" which the Atlanteans visited, as a reference to the Americas. He therefore endeavours to identify cultural parallels on both sides of the Ocean that could be attributable to these ancient seafarers.
The problem for Spence, as for Donnelly, is that he takes seriously the statement of Plato that Atlantis had been destroyed 9,000 years prior to Solon. We know, of course, that no high civilizations existed at that remote time, nor were men practicing mummification of worshipping dragons on either side of the Atlantic. Spence identifies an "Atlantic cultural complex" with features common to both sides of the ocean, such as tattooing, the cult of the dead, mummification, witchcraft, and the cult of the thunder axe. Yet these, like pyramid-building, can scarcely be as old as eleven thousand years (with the possible exception of witchcraft). Sensing the problem, Spence moves part of the way to its solution, and argues that "part" of Atlantis - namely a landmass around the West Indies which he names Antillia - remained above the Ocean until the Bronze Age - ie until about 1500 BC.
This was a radical departure from Donnelly's position and an important step in the right direction. Yet he should have gone the whole way and realised that the entire Atlantis story and culture belonged to the Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages. Aside from the ridiculous date supplied by Plato, there is no reason whatsoever to date Atlantis to the tenth millennium BC. On the contrary, everything about the culture described in the Timaeus and Critias identifies it as a Bronze Age society. The Egyptian priests who mentioned nine thousand years to Solon were only displaying their complete ignorance of chronology. A hundred years after Solon another group of priests told Herodotus that Egyptian civilization was ten thousand years old!
The transatlantic links were real enough, as the discovery of Old World DNA - the X haplogroup - in Native American populations has now made perfectly clear: And this has been reinforced by the discovery of cocaine and tobacco - two American narcotics - in Egyptian mummies. But the link was terminated during the great natural catastrophes which struck the world at the end of the Early Bronze Age. These inundated settlements and monuments all around the shores of Europe. Neolithic and Early Bronze Age villages, as well as sunken forests, are still regularly located around the coasts of Britain, Spain, and Denmark. The lands around the Mid-Atlantic Ridge - especially around the Azores - were devastated by these events, and sunken beaches, many hundreds of meters down, are still regularly located off the Azores by Oceanographic surveys.
It was at the end of the Early Bronze Age - before the widespread use of the wheel, glass, stringed instruments, etc - that the transataltic connection was severed. The civilizations of the New World then remained, fossilized, in the Early Bronze Age, where they still were when the Spaniards arrived in the sixteenth century.
Yet the peoples of the Atlas region, who still called themselves "Atlanteans" in the time of Julius Caesar, still retained many New World customs, such as wearing feathered headdresses, tattooing, and the use of narcotic drugs for religious purposes, as I have shown in detail in various places.