The legend of Atlantis is predicated on hearsay and I have my suspicions that the fabled antediluvian utopia never existed. You see, Plato (428 BC – 328 BC) introduced the notion of the lost civilization in his dialogues, Timaeus and Critias, and of the four personalities that he recounts only Critias speaks of Atlantis. Our entire notion of this antediluvian paradise, of which volumes – no, libraries – of information have been written, originates from Critias’s sparse account of the 6th century BC Athenian lawgiver named Solon, and his meeting with a priest from the Egyptian temple of Sais.

The Ruins of Sais and the Temple of the Bee of the Goddess Neith

Serendipitously, it is said that Plato was kissed on the lips by bees as an infant, for Sais is famous for its Temple of the Bee, dedicated to the Goddess Neith, mother of the RA, the most important of all Egyptian gods, and who is said to have cried bees as tears.

Actually, it was the Philosopher Crantor (late 4th Century BC), who introduced the notion that the story of Atlantis was ‘written on pillars which are still preserved’ at Sais. But my concern is; when have Egyptian pillars EVER spoken of another civilization as being superior or more advanced in any way? Many ancient pillars in Egypt have survived, however any casual traveler will have witnessed pillar after pillar and temple wall after temple wall of tales of Egyptian supremacy, of Pharaoh smiting his enemies; scenes of supremacy and victory – not pandering to another culture from a distant epoch. So, my feeling is that Atlantis never existed, or if it did, it was a memory of the Minoan capital of Thera on the Greek isle of Crete; a popular candidate amongst historians for the historical Atlantis.

Minoan Gold Bee pendant from Crete, circa 2000 BC

I like Thera as a candidate for the historical Atlantis, not only due to the well documented ties between Egyptian and Minoan cultures – thus creating the only likely scenario in my mind by which a distant and foreign culture would be venerated on an Egyptian temple pillar – but because of Sais’s link with the sacred bee. Minoans had a word for bee and they spelt it ‘Sphex’. They venerated the insect and taught the Greeks the art of beekeeping, and it was the Greeks who named the Sphinx (previously known as Hu nb). The Minoans were also renowned for their worship of bulls, as were the Egyptians, and it was a symbol of regeneration, as was Osiris, who is said to have been buried at Sais. And of course the most sacred bull of all was the Apis Bull, and Apis in Latin means ‘bee’.

A Minoan bull statue

So, forgive me, Plato, but I reckon that Atlantis never existed. That said, the subtle and entirely overlooked symbolism of the sacred bee is a link worth exploring, and one that may tie Sais to Minoan culture and the true site of the historical Atlantis.