The Second Continent

 

The island itself was situated on the equator, whence two wings of the sea united at the island's center to form a wide, deep basin. It was covered with trees and was well watered and irrigated with two springs, one hot and the other cold. This basin was the cradle of the mighty gods, and its waters were extremely pure and sweet to the taste.

Atlantis remained at peace for more than seven hundred years, so great was its prosperity, and its inhabitants prospered on the island to such an extent that their share in the world was equal to that of the Athenians, the Romans, the Persians, and the Britons. In length and breadth, Atlantean cities were as great as those of Rome, Athens, or Babylon. After a period of continued peace, and when the Atlanteans had exhausted all their natural resources, Poseidon manifested his anger at Atlantis. In fury he commanded the waters around to cease to flow, and before the island was aware of his action the rivers emptied into the sea and the rivers dried up.

The deluge came on a day of heavy rain, when the earth was loaded with water. The rivers overflowed their banks and streams ran noisily in all directions. The weather was stormy; but since the floods had not been for a while, no one realized the severity of the situation, until it was too late. To continue in the rebellion against the mighty Poseidon was as impossible as it would have been had the wind and clouds never been shaken. Now the eastern coast of the continent sank beneath the sea, while the western coast of the continent slid downwards, in which case there would have been none to witness the disaster. At the beginning of the deluge were no signs of any land anywhere near the land. The true source of the floodwaters lay at the bottom of the sea. Thus did Poseidon manifest his anger at Atlantis. The people of the continent retreated to their underground cities, and lived in fear of a return of the waters.

In time, however, a second and greater deluge occurred. As before, the waters carried away the continent of Atlantis, the islands, and the coastal states, yet this time the waters entered the very heart of the land. The Atlanteans were again divided into many countries, the names of which were lost to memory. Many of the defeated islands took shelter in the great northern ocean, which now lay overgrown with ice. The coast of Atlantis, which had reached as far south as the mouth of the Styx River, was now about a hundred miles away. The western ocean now rose to a point where ships could not pass from the Mediterranean into the eastern ocean. Most of the survivors did not survive. Others, however, the survivors of these two famines, built a second continent on the highest point of the land where they had been before the deluge. The new continent, unlike the first, was not greatly greater than the first.

Atlantis finally returned to the understanding of the world, and returned to the ways of the Atlantean god, Poseidon. No longer did they worship Poseidon, but chose to adopt the different god Ares, the god of war, as their chief god.