The Edfu Texts & Atlantis

The Edfu Temple is an Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in Edfu. The Temple's inscribed building texts preserve information about the Island of Creation and thus give credit to Plato's story about Atlantis.

 Although the two stories provided by the Edfu Texts and Plato are different, there are many stunning similarities. In fact, if you break down both stories, their core is exactly the same:

1. An island emerges from the sea through divine power. There is a mountain in the island’s center and a reed pillar which marked the center and the god's seat of power.
2. Divine people (the Primeval Ones) populate the island and are led by a god (the Earth God) and they rule from the central mountain.
3. A physical disaster eventually strikes brought on by a divine power. As a result the island sinks under the waves and its inhabitants are gone.

In Plato’s story the god leading the Atlanteans is Poseidon. His descendants are naturally divine beings instead of ordinary people. Poseidon raises an island (Atlantis) from the sea for his people to live on. Atlantis eventually sinks due to a physical catastrophe (earthquake and flood) that is is triggered by a dine power. In the Edfu story it is a divine serpent that attacks, while in Plato's story it is the wrath of Zeus. Note that the main weapon of Zeus, the thunder, has a similar shape to a serpent. In the Edfu story the Primeval Ones are identified as the Ogdoad, four pairs of deities where each pair represented the two sides of a creative power and rule from the central mountain (the reed pillar). On the other hand, in the Atlantis story Poseidon and his wife have five pairs of twins that rule the island, with the temple of Poseidon being on a hill in the center of the island. Inside the temple, the god's seat of power, there was a pillar of orichalcum.

In Greek Mythology Poseidon is the god of the sea. At first glance this is an important difference between the two stories. However, Poseidon has a strong connection to land. He has many adjectives that show this connection, like earth-shaker (geosistis in Greek from the words Gaia and shake), being responsible for earthquakes. In fact, in the ancient Orphic Texts Poseidon is presented mainly as an earth god.

Plato tells us that the story of Atlantis originated from Egypt. So we visit Edfu Temple in Egypt and what do we find? That a similar story is inscribed on the temple walls. Is this another coincidence?

Now is this actual proof? No. Yet dismissing the story of Atlantis becomes increasingly difficult, as the coincidence list keeps piling up.