Genesis.

The dawn of a legend. In 360 B.C. A Greek philosopher named Plato invented a legend about a hyper intelligent people who mingled with the gods and lived on an island known as Atlantis. These people, according to the Greeks, were empowered by their god-man abilities to create and invent technology far beyond mere mortals. No force of men could defeat them by strength of arms or numbers.

Their demise eventually came by a civilization known as the Athenian Empire. These Athenian men, or men of Athens, the Grecian Empire, overthrew the power of Atlantis. Though it was not by their numbers, for no force of men no matter how great could defeat the Atlanteans, and it was not by the superiority of their weapons, for no civilization was as advanced as the Atlanteans; the Greeks defeated the power of Atlantis by the strength of their will and so ended the civilization. If this story seems a bit familiar, this legend of Plato is where the idea for Star Wars came from.

Plato, being a student of the world, studied the histories of many peoples; in particular, he studied the Jewish people, intrigued by their prophesies and fore-tellings of the future. The Jewish prophets were uncanny in their abilities to predict future events, even down to names and places that were not in existance when they prophesied. The concept was bizzare, yet it sparked something in the philosopher's mind and he descided to write a prophesy of his own. It is today reffered to as, "The Legend of Atlantis".

In part one of this post, I told you of the ancient Phoenecian city of Tyre. In this, part two of said post, I will lay before you my theory that Tyre is the lost Island of Atlantis.

Crazy, right? That's what I thought when I first read Ezekial 26 and made the comparison between Tyre and Atlantis. Before I get too far into how I formed this theory, I'd like to point out what I found in the Scriptures, that sparked the idea to begin with.

Here are a few similarities between Atlantis and Tyre:

• They were both islands.
• They were both recognized as the center of the world for economics, inventions, sea travel, and military strength.
• They both existed around the same time era. (The legend was around at the same time that Tyre was.)
• They both were eventually destroyed by sinking into the sea.

Interesting fact:

Plato's student was Aristotle. Aristotle's student was Alexander the Great, who eventually destroyed Tyre. I find it ironic, if not convenient, that the man who destroyed Tyre, was the student of Plato's aprenticeses.

Now, you might be thinking, "Hold on, Tyre never sank into the sea." But that's not what Ezekiel says, and this is what first caught my attention.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee; when I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living; I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 26:19-21

These verses come after 18 others prophesying the previous two destructions of Tyre at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great. This is the final destruction of Tyre, God's destruction. You see, God hated Tyre; to borrow the colloquial, He hated its guts. His hatred was such that He mentioned Tyre, or its psuedonym Tyrus, in 18 of his 66 books in the Bible. By five of His prophets, God spoke destruction and damnation upon Tyre and her inhabitants. And what did they do to deserve such hatred?

The Tyrians, despite being sinful and prideful, arrogant against the nations and God himself, were also enemies of Israel. Ever since King Ahab married the daughter of the enemies of the Phoenicians, the bond between Israel and Tyre was cut asunder. Tyre laughed and mocked when Israel was destroyed and her wall broken down; they sold Jewish refugees to other countries. God hated them because they hated His people.

But, back to Ezekiel. Why do these verses make me think that Tyre is Atlantis? Notice the last statement that God makes toward Tyre: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith The Lord.

People will seek for Tyre, but how is that possible if the city is still around. Why would anyone seek for something if it already was on a map? The answer is, they wouldn't, and haven't. How many expeditions have set out to find the lost island of Tyre? Not very many, if any at all. So why would God specifically say: though thou be sought for?

I contend that it is because Plato wrote his legend of Atlantis about a city that he knew would be destroyed--and even the specific kind of destruction-- to take the credit for the prophesy himself. God may have used Plato to create a legend out of his foretelling of destruction, to mask the identity of Tyre so that her, and her wicked inhabitants would be forever forgotten.

Atlantis still lives in infamy as, "The Lost City", and if it truly is Tyre, that name is more fitting than any other.

If you have any questions, I would love to answer them.