Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

 I have to admit, when I first saw the headline that oricalum ingots had been discovered in a shipwreck, my first thought was of Skyrim. Orichalum doesn't even sound like a real thing, it sounds more like the comic book metal "Unobtainium".  Or perhaps it should be the metal from which all orc weapons are made in Middle Earth. Then a number of people decided that the presence of these bars of metal was conclusive proof of the existence of Atlantis.

I may tend to live in fictional worlds, but I am a bit of a cynic. Still, the idea was intriguing enough to do a little bit of digging. The metal was known in ancient times, or at least the name was mentioned several times in old texts. The one that leads to people claiming its existence of proof that Atlantis exists was written between 460 and 403 BC. It is known as Critias, or the Critias dialogue, and was probably recorded by Plato. The document describes how orichalum was found and mined only in Atlantis, how the temple of Poseidon there was sheathed in the metal, and how extremely valuable it is.  Therefore, say the Atlantis fans, if we found bars of this metal, Atlantis must exist.

There is a little problem with this logic. Well, two problems. First, even the Critias, which speaks with authority on the subject, was written well after the source of orichalum supposedly sank into the sea. Even though they wrote about this in ancient times, they were writing about a thing that they knew by reputation only. Plato was recounting myths, legends and hearsay, that he at the time accepted as reality. I don't fault the man for that, after all, fact checking in the modern age is a lot easier than it would have been when Plato was alive. 

The second little problem is that Plato was a philosopher, not a hard core scientist, so not every word out of his mouth is the gospel truth. We tend to accept that if someone is brilliant, they must always be right. Plato may well have invented the idea of Atlantis to further the ideals that he put forth in his Republic. After all, he claims to have gotten the story in a roundabout way from his great grandfather, who got it from the ancient statesman Solon, who got it from an Egyptian priest. According to this story, the land of Atlantis existed about 9000 years before and was set up, strangely enough, along the same lines as Plato's Republic. Of course, everyone was handsome, brave, and notably Athenian.

I love the story, and more than that I'd love to believe the story, but I think the evidence points more to Plato simply supporting and furthering his own ideas than it does to the existence of Atlantis. The only thing he mentioned, that wasn't known to his contemporaries is the metal Orichalum. Now, we have a wrecked ship, loaded with long bars of that metal, which begs the question, "Where the devil did that come from?".

I don't have an answer for you, and I'm glad of that. Orichalum may be nothing more than an alloy process that had been forgotten by the Athenians. I remember the taste of my great grandmother's chicken dressing, but without the recipe, I have lost the ability to duplicate it exactly. This could be something similar. Or it could be the start of a great discovery, finding an ancient civilization that was previously unknown to us. Pompeii and Troy were both once thought to be myths, partly because, despite all evidence, man still believes his works to be immortal. It is even conceivable that this is evidence of some culture swallowed by the sea, after all, Venice is slowly losing that fight despite modern technology, so why not an earlier culture.Finding orichalum isn't proof, it isn't the end of the journey, it's the beginning. 

Cheers,

Michelle