What was the premise of Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World?

Published in 1882 by Ignatius L. Donnelly, the book argues that Plato's account of Atlantis was a historical fact. It proposes that Atlantis was the original cradle of civilization, from which all known ancient cultures descended through a process of hyperdiffusionism.

What we know

• Donnelly argued that Plato's account of the lost continent of Atlantis was largely factual. [2]
• The book suggests that all known ancient civilizations descended from Atlantis through a process of hyperdiffusionism. [2]
• The book was published in 1882 by Ignatius L. Donnelly, an American populist politician and U.S. representative. [2, 3]
• Donnelly's theories on Atlantis and catastrophism are widely rejected by modern scholars as pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology. [2, 3]

Where to go next

• whoWho was Ignatius L. Donnelly?
• how it workedWhat is hyperdiffusionism in archaeology?
• the bigger pictureHow did the concept of the antediluvian period develop?
• what caused itDid an ancient impact event inspire catastrophism theories?
• compared withHow do modern writers like Graham Hancock adapt these ideas?
• an unexpected connectionHow did a nineteenth-century Atlantis theory shape modern Netflix documentaries?Donnelly's 19th-century hyperdiffusionist ideas about Atlantis laid the groundwork for modern speculative theories, such as those promoted by Graham Hancock in his Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse.

Sources

• [1]Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (Wikidata Q4072127) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Atlantis: The Antediluvian World · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Ignatius L. Donnelly · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Antediluvian · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Graham Hancock · CC BY-SA 4.0