We have already touched upon the account of Aldland in comparison with the Scandinavian lore of Freyja and how they relate to one another. Now we look to the Mediterranean, to Plato to be exact, and his works on Atlantis called Timaios and Kritias, which he wrote around 355 BCE. I do not wish for the scope of this investigation to turn towards historical speculation about the actual location of Atlantis. However, I will say that there are modern scholars who are looking towards the more northerly regions of Europe, in the areas where O.L.B. is centered, for the site of this ancient land of high civilization.

Both O.L.B. and Plato mention the sinking of this land in connection with volcanic acitivity, which may very well have had something to do with it. The massive eruption of Santorini, occuring between 1450 and 1550 BCE, had similar results as that which is mentioned on pg. 31 of O.L.B. The explosion spread for thousands of miles, blackening the sun with its dust and sulphurous vapors, and killing millions. 100-foot tidal waves roared inland at speeds of 200 miles per hour, while new lands were formed from the debris.

The probable fate of the people was graphically described in a study made by geologists Dragoslav Ninkovich and Bruce Heezen of Columbia University. “The initial cloud, composed of volcanic ash, dust, gas, and vapors, covered the whole area... causing total darkness for several consecutive days after which the tidal wave may have destroyed the coastal areas, quenched lamps and may have caused the burning of cities, while the gas and vapors poisoned the population.” (Distant Secrets of Our Ancient Past pg. 117)

The surging and devastation of such an explosion, the largest ever, could have lasted for up to 30 years, leaving behind a legacy of mass destruction that buried entire nations under hundreds of feet of ash. No matter how Atland or Aldland actually sunk, the account of volcanic activity in O.L.B. is certainly accurate and may relate to the Santorini eruption. Even though the dates are a few centuries off (Aldland is said to have sunk in the year 2193 BCE), we can’t rely too much on the accuracy of the records when they pertain to such things as when events actually occured. Even with the advanced technology we today have a hard time pinpointing when historical events took place. the early historians, including the author of O.L.B., mostly relied on local tales and legends to record their data.

Another belief is that the story of this sinking has something to do with the melting of the glaciers in Northern Europe after the last Ice Age. This Ice Age most likely formed the foundations of our Fimbulwinter tale as well. In the Scandinavian lore we find an account, albeit a strange one, of an island sinking after Fimbulwinter, which would have had something to do with the rising sea levels after the glaciers melted:

“Before Thjalfi’s arrival on the island of Gotland it regularly sank into the sea at sunrise but emerged again at sunset. Thjalfi carried the holy friction-fire around the island and by this stabilized it.” (Fädernas Gudasaga ch. 30 and Saxo)

This account makes it clear that the occurrence at Gotland was due to Fimbulwinter, for it is in repair of the great winter’s damage that Thjalfi performs his holy deed while other gods perform similar duties for the same goal.

An interesting idea presented in O.L.B. is that the land dwellers in Frisia are said to have known this island under the name “Aldland”, whereas their seamen knew it as “Atland” in their naval corruption of the tongue. “Atlantis” would certainly seem to be a Latinizing of the name “Atland” and if anyone were to have imported the word into Athenian society, where Plato would have picked it up, it would have had to have been sailors. This certainly makes for fascinating considerations between the two.

One thing that we have to note is that most likely Aldland or Atland was not an island according to O.L.B., but rather was a large area of land that once connected the Frisian islands to the mainland of Europe. On page 36 the text states:

“Inka thought there should perhaps be a high part of Atland left by way of islands, there he might live in peace with the people. As both could not thus unite, Tunis went up and stuck a red flag in the beach, and Inka a blue one.”

Another interesting factor of the sinking of both Atland and Atlantis is that both seem to have had some sort of connection to the moral corruption of man. Indeed, scientists studying tree rings, ancient lore, and history have found that the late 12th and early 13th centuries BCE were rife with violence and destruction. Empires from China to Mycenae fell, peaceful lands such as Ireland and Frisia became war torn. Possibly this had something to do with our placement in the universe, which will be discussed in the next segment of our investigation.

This moral corruption leads us to connect the actual theological lore of the sinking of Atland to Freyja’s curse on Hadding and the elements turning against him, which has already been discussed. The relation of this event to Fimbulwinter only serves as a historical possibility for what might have actually happened, rather than how the tale has been passed on to us in the great Teutonic epic.

No matter what we believe about Atlantis or its relation to Atland the most important thing to remember is that our ancestors valued higher civilization greatly, to the point where they shared tales of mighty lands of powerful thinkers and spread legends about them for thousands of years. Many legends of sinking lands exist, and almost all of them have something to do with the corruption of the folk, which seems to be the inevitable result of any progressing society and the primary warning in most religious lore.

Of course, I cannot move on without first mentioning that it was Dr. J.O. Ottema, the first translator of Oera Linda Book who first suggested that Atland and Atlantis are identical and it was Robert Scrutton who presented a lot of evidence on this in his book The Other Atlantis.