K: Ka’ahupahau to Kuskurza 159
tsunamis (destructive waves) as far away as Hawaii and South America, reaching
heights of 125 feet, and claiming 36,000 human lives on Java and Sumatra.
Krakatoa’s geological history not only makes the destruction of Atlantis credible
through close comparison, but demonstrates how the Earth energies common to
both events were brought about.Krantor of Soluntum
A 4th-century neo-Platonist, a contemporary and colleague of Iamblichos,
who played a important part in confirming Plato’s account of the sunken civilization
by personally traveling to the Nile Delta, where he found the same Temple of the
Goddess Neith, inscribed with identical information presented in the Dialogues.
(See Iamblichos, Plato, Solon)Krimen
South America’s Tupi-Guarani Indians tell how three brothers—Coem and
Hermitten, led by Krimen—escaped the Great Flood, first by hiding in caves high
up in the mountains, then by climbing trees. As in the Greek version of Atlantis,
the brother motif plays a central role.Kritias
The second of two Dialogues composed by the Greek philosopher, Plato,
describing the rise and fall of Atlantis, left unfinished a few years before his
death in 348 B.C. The text is formed from a conversation (more of a monologue)
between his teacher and predecessor, Socrates, and Kritias, an important fifth-
centuryB.C. statesman. He begins by saying that the events described took place
more than 9,000 years before, when a far-flung war between the Atlantean Empire
and “all those who lived inside the Pillars of Heracles” (the Mediterranean)
climaxed with geologic violence. The island of Atlantis, according to Kritias, was
greater in extent than Libya and Asia combined, but vanished into the sea through
a series of earthquakes “in a day and a night.” Before its destruction, it ruled over
an imperial system from the “Opposite Continent” in the far west, to Italy in the
central Mediterranean, including other isles in its sphere of influence and circum-
Atlantic coastal territories.
The beginnings of this thalassocracy occurred in the mythic past, when the
gods divided up the world between themselves. As part of his portion, Poseidon
was given the Atlantean island. Its climate was fair, the soil rich, and animals—
even elephants—were in abundance. There were deep forests, freshwater springs,
and an impressive mountain range. The island was already inhabited, and Poseidon
wed a native woman. The sea-god prepared a place for her by laying the founda-
tions of a magnificent, unusual city. He created three artificial islands separated
by concentric moats, but interconnected by bridged canals. At the center of the
smallest, central island stood his wife’s original dwelling place on a hill, and it was