The Gospel of Hellas - Research Institute for Waldorf Education

the twilight of the gods
happened in ancient times, either among us or among yourselves. For, in the
first place, you remember one deluge only (the events of Deucalion!), whereas
there were many of them ... [F]or there was a time, Solon, before that greatest
deluge of all (the catastrophe connected with the names of Noah and Manu),
when the city which is now Athens was pre-eminent for the excellence of her
laws ... as touching the citizens of nine thousand years ago I will briefly inform
you of their laws and of the noblest of their actions.’ ” 43
Plato’s description of Atlantis, as spoken with the tongues of the initiates
of Egypt, is the content of a myth, that is, of spiritual insight, not a story of
history or geology. The myths of the Greeks, however, tell us in the form of
imaginations about the unfolding of the earth and the human body; they reveal
to us cosmology and physiology. The mythology of Hellas is, in fact, the only
true “paleontology” of Atlantis. 44
In accordance with ancient traditions we find the earth has passed through
four stages of geological development. The first stage was the epoch when our
globe was still unified in one sphere with all the celestial bodies of the solar
system. It is this oneness which is reflected in the religion of the Hindus, in
their desire for unity with Brahma. The second stage of geology is often referred
to as “Hyperborea.” There was by this time a duality of the sun and the earth
sphere. In its principles of Ormuzd and Ahriman, the lord of the sun and the
prince of darkness, the religion of the Persians reflected this stage of duality.
The epoch of “Lemuria,” when a trinity of celestial bodies appeared in Sun,
Moon and Earth, marked the third stage of geological evolution. This trinity is
reflected in the religion of ancient Egypt which pointed to the divine triad of
Osiris (sun), Isis (moon) and Horus (earth).
The fourth stage of the earth’s unfoldment, embracing what geology refers to
as the end of the Palaeozoic and the whole of the Mesozoic eras, was the world
of Atlantis. At that stage the earth had become a globe among the multitude of
planets, moons and fixed stars. It was connected with the spheres of divinities
through numerous oracles. There were oracles of the sun, of the moon and of
all the planetary spheres. The oracles (oraculum means literally mouthpiece or
lips of the gods) revealed the wisdom of the gods in the manifold spheres of
the solar system. This world of Atlantis with her many oracles was reflected in