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Atlantis-Facts and Fiction

 

The theory most people believe about Atlantis came from the Greek archaeologist Angelos Galanopoulos in the late '60s. He believed that around 1500 B.C., a very big eruption from a volcano destroyed the island of Santorini in the Mediterranean and most of the civilisations on the Greek islands and regions of Greece. Angelos suggested this disaster is the one that sank Atlantis. If this is so, then he must have his dates wrong - or does he? He believes that when the story was being translated, the Egyptian symbol of 100 (a coiled rope) was mistaken for the symbol of 1000 (a lotus flower). This changes the date from 9000 years ago to 900 years ago. The only thing wrong with this explanation is that Plato said the city was near the  Pillars of Hercules . However, historians think these Pillars are not near Greece.

Check that you understand what these words mean in this document
Eruption: explosion.
Sank (past simple of the verb to sink): caused to go down below the surface. 
Coiled rope: a piece of thick twisted string wound into a spiral.
Pillar: a column, a post.