Atlantis

Atlantis. What a nice word. The first time I heard that word was in 1995, when I got my own copy of the PC game "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis". I played that RPG for many weeks before I completed it. And only after completing the game did I bother to go look up an encyclopaedia what Atlantis is all about.

Some say Atlantis was an island while some say it was an entire continent. I believe it was the former because if it was a continent we surely would have found some traces of it by now. It is supposed to have existed about 10-15000 years ago and was believed to be a highly civilised place. Plato makes a detailed mention about Atlantis in his books. Theories suggest that Atlantis was so developed that its people used vehicles to move around, there was electricity, trains, buses, and all such gadgets that we find in our daily lives. Some suggest that it was probably even more advanced than today's London or NY. Ok I know that' a bit too stretched and personally I don't believe it was that advanced - but its likely the city of Atlantis was more developed than Rome / Egypt / Incas was in their Golden period.

What happened to Atlantis then? Well according to theorists - it sank. The whole of Atlantis Island was basically a volcanic mountain and it sank due to some seismic activity. And ever since then archaeologists have been diligently searching for this mythical island. There is a village in Spain, where everyone has six fingers on each hand - and they claim that they are descendants of the people who lived in fabled Atlantis. If you are interested in reading about Atlantis - then do a Google and you will find dozens of useful links.

Now why did I suddenly write about this out of the blue? Well recently Reuters reported that a volcanic island submerged off the coast of Sicily for the last 170 years could reappear in the coming weeks if furious seismic rumblings continue. Ok that’s great news! But what's not so great is the diplomatic row that has been brewing since then. Over the centuries, the island has emerged four times, with underwater volcanic eruptions first recorded during the first Punic War of 264-241 BC.

The last emergence on July 2, 1831, caused months of international wrangling with four nations making territorial claims including Britain, Spain and the Bourbon court of Sicily. The rock, which rose some 65 metres (213 ft) above the surface and had a circumference of about five km (three miles), emerged for six months, giving the British time to claim it as Graham Island, while Sicily's King Ferdinand II called it Ferdinandea. Scientists refer to it as Graham Bank. This time, Sicilian divers have gone down and planted a flag on the rock in the hope of claiming it as Italian the moment it rises above the surface. Meanwhile European Union is busy getting its papers ready to make a special claim - to have it as a neutral base for all EU members. I hope Bush doesn't make a claim for it too ;o) By the way Atlantis was supposed to me in the 'middle of the earth' and Mediterranean means 'middle of the earth' :o)

And just to continue to grow my knowledge on such mundane issues, I got myself three new video games this weekend: Caesar III, Tombraider 3, F18 Hornet :o)