Crete and Santorini: Lost Worlds Atlantis

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TV Documentary Review


There are many excellent TV documentaries about ancient Greece that are worth watching before you embark on your trip to Greece. They provide you with valuable historical, archaeological information and excellent video footage of the places to visit and what to look for when traveling in Greece.

The Lost Worlds episode called Atlantis is an excellent documentary about Crete and Santorini. I’ve watched this episode several times. It tries to prove the possibility that ancient Thira (Santorini) was the lost civilization of Atlantis as described by Plato. They specifically mention that there may have been a town in the area of what is now Nea Kameni. In ancient times it would have been a large and inhabitable circular island that nobody realized was actually a volcano. The inhabitants of Ancient Thira circa 1500 BC probably never knew what a volcano was, anyway.

Around 1500 BC, this volcano erupted and subsequently destroyed this town and the entire civilization that flourished on Santorini. Whether or not this is true, the program provides the viewer with some compelling insight as to why Santorini could have been Atlantis.

Besides the correlation that may exist between Atlantis and Santorini, this documentary provides amazing footage of the landscape of Santorini as well as footage of ancient Akrotiri. One of the ancient towns on Santorini that flourished and thrived till the massive volcanic eruption that buried this town and destroyed the civilization on this island. The cameras also take you into the tiny portion Akrotiri that has been excavated so far showing you multi-storied buildings with its own plumbing system and the narrow alleys.

This program also examines the consequences of the massive Santorini volcanic eruption on the neighboring Minoan civilization of Crete, explaining that it eventually caused the downfall of the Minoan civilization there. The program specifically looks at the palace complex at Knossos. It takes you inside the palace, shows you in detail how it was built and how advanced the technology that they used was for their time. I’m talking about their methods of construction and their abundance of flowing water and their plumbing system. The video footage of this palace is amazing.

In my opinion, I feel it is worth watching this documentary for the video footage and the historical information that it presents about Santorini and Crete.