A: Aalu to Aztlan 35
Atami was an important resort as early as the fifth century A.D., although
Neolithic finds in the crater prove the site has been occupied from much earlier
times, when the name originated. “Atami,” an Atlantean linguistic survivor, has
no meaning in the Japanese language.Atana
Meaning a “cultic center” or “sacred site” in Linear B, Atana is a linguistic
term archaeologists use to describe a Greek language spoken on the island of
Crete after 1500 to about 1200 B.C. “Atana” is comparable to sacred places around
the world identified with variants of “Atlantis.”Atanua
The Marquesans’ memory of Atlantis, described in their oral epic “Te Vanana
na Tanaoa”: “Atanua was beautiful and good, adorned with riches very great. Atanua
was fair, very rich and soft. Atanua produced abundantly of living things. Atea [and
his brothers] dwelt as kings in the most beautiful palaces supported on thrones.
They ruled the space of heaven and the large, entire sky and all the powers thereof
[astrology]. The first lords dwelling on high. Oh, throne placed in the middle of the
upper heavens! The great lord Atea established in love to love the fair Atanua. A
woman of great wealth is Atanua. From within Atea came forth Ono [a terrible
sound, the explosion of Mt. Atlas erupting]. Atea produces the very hot fire.”
These lines from “Te Vanana na Tanaoa” vividly compare with Plato’s descrip-
tion of Atlantis and its destruction. Atea’s, like that of Atlas’s association with a
volcanic mountain, was recognized by the early 20th-century anthropologist
Abraham Fornander: “In this sense, it would appropriately convey the idea of the
lurid light which accompanies an eruption of the volcano.”Atanum
The Indian name for a river in Washington State. It means “water by the long
mountain.” Here, as elsewhere throughout the world, a name appears among a
native people, combining the “At” prefix to describe a mountain bounded by water.
In this instance, “Atanum” suggests the ancient Egyptian Atum (god of the Primal
Mound) and/or Nun (the sea-god who sank it), both intimately connected with
the Egyptian version of the Atlantis story.Atao
According to archaeo-linguists, a masculine name in Linear A,the language
spoken by the Minoans, who raised a great civilization on Crete from 3000 to 1500
B.C. “Atao” may be the Minoan version of the Greek “Atlas,” the eponymous
Titan of Atlantis.