156 The Atlantis Encyclopedia
TheKalevala describes an ancient cosmic disaster, in which a “fire from heaven”
devastates much of the world, causing unprecedented earthquakes and unusually
high tides in Finland.Kanamwayso
In Micronesian myth, a splendid kingdom from which sorcerers very long
ago sailed throughout the Pacific. The stone ruins at Nan Madol, on the island
of Pohnpei, are allegedly the remnants of their work. Falling stars and earth-
quakes were responsible for setting Kanamwayso aflame and dropping it to the
bottom of the ocean, where it is inhabited by the spirits of those who perished in
the cataclysm, who still preside over the ghosts of all persons who perish at sea.
(See Mu)Katkochila
When mortals stole the magic flute of this Wintun Indian god, he devastated
the Earth with a “fire from heaven” extinguished only by a universal flood that
killed off most mankind. Katkochila’s South American tradition is in common
with deluge stories everywhere—namely, human irreverence punished with
celestial fire and earthly inundation.Kaveripumpattinam
Described in the “Manimakalai,” the Tamil epic, as a harbor city preceding
the birth of civilization on Sri Lanka, Kaveripumpattinam slipped beneath the
Indian Ocean, where its ghostly ruins are still alleged to lie not far from the shore
at Poompuhur.Kesara
Queen of the Fomorach and the first ruler of Ireland. She arrived with her
followers from Atlantis in the late fourth millenniumB.C. during a period of severe
geologic upheavals that generated similar migrations to various parts of the world.Kircher, Athanasius
German polymath of the 17th century, this Jesuit priest was a pioneering
mathematician, physicist, chemist, linguist, and archaeologist; the first to study
phosphorescence; inventor of, among numerous futuristic innovations, the slide
projector and a prototype of the microscope. The founding father of scientific
Egyptology, his was the first serious investigation of temple hieroglyphs.
Kircher was also the first scholar to seriously investigate the Atlantis legend.
Initially skeptical, he cautiously began reconsidering its credibility while assembling