T: Tahiti to Tyche 269
civilization and Egypt from the invading forces of Atlantis. Located on a large
island “beyond the Pillars of Heracles,” or Strait of Gibraltar, the kingdom was
greater than Libya and Asia Minor combined, and exercised domination over all
neighboring islands, together with the “opposite continent.” The Atlantean sphere
of influence stretched eastward as far as Italy and the Libyan border with Egypt.
But in the midst of its war with the Greeks, the island of Atlantis sank “in a single
day and night” of earthquakes and floods.
The information presented by Timaeus is entirely credible, with most details
verified and supported by geology and the traditions of dozens of disparate cul-
tures in the circum-Atlantic region. The only and consistent exception concerns
the numerical values applied to Atlantis: they are unmanageably excessive; Atlantis
was supposed to have flourished more than 11,000 years ago, its canals were said
to be 100 feet deep, and so on. The difficulty is clearly one of translation. The
Egyptian high priest who narrated the story spoke in terms of lunar years for the
Greeks who knew only solar years. The discrepancy perpetuated itself whenever
numerical values were mentioned. Given the common error in translation, the
impossible date for Atlantis comes into clearer focus, placing it at the end of the
Late Bronze Age, around 1200 B.C.
One of the most revealing details of Timaeus is its mention of the “opposite
continent,” an unmistakable reference to America. Its inclusion proves not only
that the ancient Greeks knew what lay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean 2,000
years before Columbus rediscovered it, but underscores the veracity of Plato’s
Atlantis account.Timu
One of five islands among the Maldives at the Equator, located directly south
of the Indian subcontinent, named after the lost Pacific civilization of Mu. The
Maldives feature numerous stone structures, many of them similar to pyramidal
examples in Yucatan, said to have been built long ago by a powerful, seafaring
people.
(See Mu, Redin)Tiri
Flood-god of Peru’s Pacific coastal Yurukare Indians. They recounted that
their ancestors hid in a mountain cave during two worldwide cataclysms that de-
stroyed a former age. All other humans were killed by a fire that fell from the sky,
followed by an all-consuming deluge. Tiri alone, of all the other deities, took pity
on the survivors of a sinful mankind by opening the Tree of Life, from which new
tribes stepped forth to repopulate the world. His myth refers to the destruction of
Lemuria, where a sacred tree cult was venerated.
(See Mu, Tree of Life)