Re: New book identifies Ireland as Atlantis

From: Oriel36 (geraldkelleher_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 08/09/04 

Date: 9 Aug 2004 08:54:54 -0700

Doug Weller <dweller@ramtops.thisremove.co.uk> wrote in message news:<1h1d65vdhu4ft.12uw84b50vkoo.dlg@40tude.net>...
> On 8 Aug 2004 08:27:03 -0700, Oriel36 wrote:
>
> > Doug Weller <dweller@ramtops.thisremove.co.uk> wrote in message news:<1qy9sli30fhed.5br116arqevd$.dlg@40tude.net>...
> >> On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 08:49:25 +0100, Katherine Griffis-Greenberg wrote:
> >>
> >>> Well, as I recall the review of the theory in Reuters, the author Ulf
> >>> Erlingsson bases his theory on how closely the geographical
> >>> _description_ of Atlantis meets the geography of Ireland.
> >>>
> >>> "Geographer Ulf Erlingsson, whose book explaining his theory will be
> >>> published next month, says the measurements, geography, and landscape of
> >>> Atlantis as described by Plato match Ireland almost exactly.
> >>>
> >>> <...>
> >>>
> >>> 'Just like Atlantis, Ireland is 300 miles long, 200 miles wide, and
> >>> widest across the middle. They both have a central plain surrounded by
> >>> mountains.
> >>>
> >>> 'I've looked at geographical data from the rest of the world and of the
> >>> 50 largest islands there is only one that has a plain in the middle --
> >>> Ireland.'
> >>
> >> Yep. He looks around for something that matches and thinks it is
> >> meaningful. He assumes that someone had been able to measure Ireland
> >> accurately, and then tosses in monuments of various dates from various
> >> cultures. And says it wasn't really 'Atlantis' that sunk. And ignores
> >> anything that doesn't fit. Am I right? (Has anyone read the book?)
> >>
> >> [SNIP]
> >>
> >> Doug
> >
> > The most respected metrologist I came across was Livio Stecchini who
> > was ostracised by his own community for pointing out the inaccuracies
> > in the contemporary tendency to attribute everything to the Greeks
> > while even the Greeks themselves had marvelled at insights of remote
> > antiquity which were almost lost to history in their
> > era.Notwithstanding that the Grecian era of Plato is closer to our era
> > than to the era they were marvelling at,it is definitely a modern
> > insecurity that promotes human advancement from the primitive Greeks
> > to modern understanding but that is the empirical method for you.
> >
> > Any reference in textbooks to the measurement of the Earth is
> > attributed to Erathostenes but for those who dig a bit deeper it is
> > more blurred than that much like the discovery of the wheel,the
> > division of the day in 24 hours or the division of a circle into 360
> > degrees.
> >
> > "A series of ancient authors credits Eratosthenes as having introduced
> > the calculation of the degree as equal to 700 stadia, but there is not
> > a single writer who indicates that he based himself on an empirical
> > survey of the ground. Contemporary scholars exalt Eratosthenes as a
> > great scientist and as a pioneer in mathematical geography, but none
> > of the ancient writers who were acquainted with his works indicate
> > this. If Eratosthenes had been such an innovator, Ptolemy who
> > discusses at length the problem of the dimensions of the Earth in the
> > Prolegomena to his Geography would have said at least some words to
> > this effect. Theon of Smyrna and Proklos, who lived in Alexandria do
> > not make any reference to the alleged discovery of Eratosthenes in
> > their extensive commentaries on ancient mathematical science. Strabo,
> > who had before his eyes the writings of Eratosthenes and discusses
> > them at length, does not ascribe to Eratosthenes any specific
> > achievement in the field of empirical geodesy or of theoretical
> > geography. Strabo mentions repeatedly the figure of 700 stadia to the
> > degree, but justifies it only in these words: "We suppose as
> > Hipparchos, that the size of the Earth is 252,000 stadia, a figure
> > given also by Eratosthenes." He would not have spoken in these terms
> > if Eratosthenes had provided a complete mathematical demonstration."
> >
> > http://www.metrum.org/measures/measurements.htm
> >
> > In short,the insecurity of contemporaries is more bewildering than any
> > investigation into the great innovations emerging from remote
> > antiquity and their appearance in various parts of the world.Scholars
> > who like to keep our ancestors 'primitive' are more inclined to ignore
> > what does'nt fit the historical/scientific trajectory we receive in
> > textbooks even as most people now appreceate places like Newgrange and
> > the Pyramids.
> >
> > Our ancestors were not primitive,apart from technological
> > achievements,we look more primitive.
>
> The Greeks were very sophisticated. But measuring the earth, which we know
> they did, does not prove that they measured the length and breadth of
> Ireland. Perhaps you know details of some islands they did measure?
>
> Doug

The chances are that I did not structure my point too well and the
point was that the historical trajectory of human advancement in
geometry and astronomy is not at all well known.

I am not arguing against the Greek civilisation nor arguing for
another be it Irish,Eygptian,Babylonian ect however textbooks indicate
that the point of departure for empirical science begins with the
Greeks and this is an absolute insult,a matter of making the Greeks
and those who preceded them look primitive so we can look 'advanced'.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: New book identifies Ireland as Atlantis
    ... >> while even the Greeks themselves had marvelled at insights of remote ... >> Any reference in textbooks to the measurement of the Earth is ... If Eratosthenes had been such an innovator, ... >> discusses at length the problem of the dimensions of the Earth in the ...
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  • Re: New book identifies Ireland as Atlantis
    ... He assumes that someone had been able to measure Ireland ... > while even the Greeks themselves had marvelled at insights of remote ... > "A series of ancient authors credits Eratosthenes as having introduced ... > discusses at length the problem of the dimensions of the Earth in the ...
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  • Re: New book identifies Ireland as Atlantis
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