Olof Rudbeck's Atlantis

As part of his first Earth-Venus global catastrophe, Immanuel Velikovsky dated the innundation of Atlantis at approximately 1500 B.C.E. He thought the event must have occurred only 900 years (instead of 9,000 years) prior to Solon's trip to Egypt, as described by Plato. 1500 BC is also the date that Olof Rudbeck (based on archaeological evidence) assigned for the innundation of his proposed location for Atlantis in Sweden (see below). [Added 27 Nov 2008.]

According to David King, "By 1702, Atlantica had swelled to four and a half colossal volumes, and many scholars believed this work had revolutionized the understanding of the ancient past..." "Avid readers were Leibniz, Montesquieu, and the famous skeptic Pierre Bayle. Even Sir Isaac Newton wrote to request a personal copy."(2)

King does an excellent job of informing the reader just what it was that Rudbeck had done (and paid dearly for) but he appears to be of the same mind of Rudbeck's university detractors by concluding that the man had gone mad in his quest. (Having said that, I still highly recommend King's book.)

The attacks on Rudbeck by many of his contemporaries (They were pushing a more tame Swedish history, based on more recent writings.) would have been enough to drive most men mad, but I see no fault with his thesis, and so far, no contradiction with what is known of Swedish ancient history and Baltic geography.

Thanks to Geneva Borod for calling David King's book to my attention.

The Siljan meteorite crater is located 121 miles (198 km) northwest of Uppsala. Physicist, Thomas Gold describes drilling in Siljan crater in search of deep abiogenic hydrocarbons.(3)

Burial Mounds at Old Uppsala (1690-1710)
Looking Southeast. The Uppsala Castle can be seen between the two trees on the right.
Uppsala Cathedral is partially hidden behind the right-most tree.
Erik Dahlberg, Svecia Antiqua et Hodiema, facimile, 1983

Google Earth image of present day Uppsala showing locations of the Cathedral, Castle and Ancient Mounds.

The burial mounds, located just west of Gamla Uppsala are 2.7 miles (4.3 km) North of the Uppsala Cathedral. They may have also been beefed up as high water retreats. The red outline in the image foreground corresponds to the approximate boundaries of Uppsala in the 17th century. (See the city drawing on Page 8 in King's book.)

See Lars Walker's excellent review of King's book at: http://brandywinebooks.net/?post_id=1899

It would be of interest to find out if the Straits of Denmark were ever made non-navigable by mud, say back around 1500 B.C.E. If so, are there any historical records to the effect that the rivers and precipitation which feed the Baltic sea broke through the hypothetical mud flats?

Map showing waterways in and around Denmark

In the Archaeology section of the Wikipedia article on Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala) it is stated: "People have been buried in Gamla Uppsala for 2,000 years, since the area rose above water." A different possibility is that water covering the land receded. I speculate that the recession might have been associated with the final unplugging of the mud flats mentioned above. (Added 18 Nov 2008.)

One suggestion of such a relation is found in the Old Testament. I Samuel 17:3-4 (KJV) says:

Here, I have underlined the word Gath to suggest a possible relation to the Swedish island province of Gotland, which some hold to be the original home of the Goths.

Goliath was known as a giant. His described height equates to his being ten feet tall. He was not, however, a unique freak of nature. He was apparently a member of a race of giants living in Caanan.

More to come.

(2) King, David, Finding Atlantis: A True Story of Genius, Madness, and an Extraordinary Quest for a Lost World, Harmony Books, New York, (2005) ISBN 1-4000-4752-8, Page 5.

(3) Gold, Thomas, Deep Hot Biosphere, Springer, (1998).