Plato
Athenian philosopher, c. 428–348 BC
Known for: Writing the only ancient source for Atlantis — the dialogues Timaeus and Critias — and thereby founding, entirely by accident, the most durable lost-civilisation debate in history.
The voices
Key figures, both camps
Every debate has its champions — and ancestors. Pick a group below: the historical figures who started these arguments, or the researchers and writers who define each side today. Open a profile for their full case — and the other side's response beside it. Deciding who is more persuasive is deliberately left to you.
Herodotus
Greek historian and traveller, c. 484–425 BC — 'the Father of History'
Known for: Writing the first great narrative history, packed with first-hand observation of Egypt and the Near East — alongside tales his own contemporaries called unbelievable.
Heinrich Schliemann
German merchant turned excavator, 1822–1890
Known for: Taking Homer literally when scholarship dismissed Troy as myth — and finding a real Bronze Age city at Hisarlik.
Ignatius Donnelly
American congressman, populist and author, 1831–1901
Known for: Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) — the book that transformed Plato's parable into modern Atlantology and the template for all lost-civilisation literature since.
Helena Blavatsky
Russian occultist, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, 1831–1891
Known for: Weaving Atlantis and Lemuria into an esoteric prehistory of 'root races' — the channel through which lost continents passed from Victorian science into occult and New Age tradition.
James Churchward
Anglo-American engineer, inventor and author, 1851–1936
Known for: The lost Pacific continent of Mu — which he claimed to have reconstructed from secret 'Naacal tablets' shown to him by a temple priest in India.
Arthur Posnansky
Austrian-Bolivian engineer and self-taught archaeologist, 1873–1946
Known for: Devoting five decades to Tiwanaku and dating it, by archaeoastronomy, to 15,000 BC — the calculation that made the site a cornerstone of alternative chronology.
Plato
Athenian philosopher, c. 428–348 BC
Known for: Writing the only ancient source for Atlantis — the dialogues Timaeus and Critias — and thereby founding, entirely by accident, the most durable lost-civilisation debate in history.
Herodotus
Greek historian and traveller, c. 484–425 BC — 'the Father of History'
Known for: Writing the first great narrative history, packed with first-hand observation of Egypt and the Near East — alongside tales his own contemporaries called unbelievable.
Heinrich Schliemann
German merchant turned excavator, 1822–1890
Known for: Taking Homer literally when scholarship dismissed Troy as myth — and finding a real Bronze Age city at Hisarlik.
Ignatius Donnelly
American congressman, populist and author, 1831–1901
Known for: Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) — the book that transformed Plato's parable into modern Atlantology and the template for all lost-civilisation literature since.
Helena Blavatsky
Russian occultist, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, 1831–1891
Known for: Weaving Atlantis and Lemuria into an esoteric prehistory of 'root races' — the channel through which lost continents passed from Victorian science into occult and New Age tradition.
James Churchward
Anglo-American engineer, inventor and author, 1851–1936
Known for: The lost Pacific continent of Mu — which he claimed to have reconstructed from secret 'Naacal tablets' shown to him by a temple priest in India.
Arthur Posnansky
Austrian-Bolivian engineer and self-taught archaeologist, 1873–1946
Known for: Devoting five decades to Tiwanaku and dating it, by archaeoastronomy, to 15,000 BC — the calculation that made the site a cornerstone of alternative chronology.
Plato
Athenian philosopher, c. 428–348 BC
Known for: Writing the only ancient source for Atlantis — the dialogues Timaeus and Critias — and thereby founding, entirely by accident, the most durable lost-civilisation debate in history.
Herodotus
Greek historian and traveller, c. 484–425 BC — 'the Father of History'
Known for: Writing the first great narrative history, packed with first-hand observation of Egypt and the Near East — alongside tales his own contemporaries called unbelievable.
Heinrich Schliemann
German merchant turned excavator, 1822–1890
Known for: Taking Homer literally when scholarship dismissed Troy as myth — and finding a real Bronze Age city at Hisarlik.
Ignatius Donnelly
American congressman, populist and author, 1831–1901
Known for: Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) — the book that transformed Plato's parable into modern Atlantology and the template for all lost-civilisation literature since.
Helena Blavatsky
Russian occultist, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, 1831–1891
Known for: Weaving Atlantis and Lemuria into an esoteric prehistory of 'root races' — the channel through which lost continents passed from Victorian science into occult and New Age tradition.
James Churchward
Anglo-American engineer, inventor and author, 1851–1936
Known for: The lost Pacific continent of Mu — which he claimed to have reconstructed from secret 'Naacal tablets' shown to him by a temple priest in India.
Arthur Posnansky
Austrian-Bolivian engineer and self-taught archaeologist, 1873–1946
Known for: Devoting five decades to Tiwanaku and dating it, by archaeoastronomy, to 15,000 BC — the calculation that made the site a cornerstone of alternative chronology.
Scroll or use the arrows — open a profile for the full case and the response.