2366) "Lost City of Atlantis" Niue Island: “Legendary Lands Coin Series": The first $5 (Five Dollars) Antique Finish (AF) Silver Coin with selective gold plating features this mysterious Lost City first mentioned by the Greek Philosopher Plato: Date of Coin issue: 2019:
Legendary Lands Coin Series:
This Coin Series is titled - "Legendary Lands Coin Series".
The first coin of the new Series is dedicated to one of the most interesting and mysterious places on Earth - the Lost City of Atlantis".
Holographic Models of the $5 (Five Dollars), Niue Island "Lost City of Atlantis" Silver Coin with selective Gold Plating
About the "Lost City of Atlantis":
An Artistic representation of what the "Lost City of Atlantis" may have looked like, from various descriptions
It is believed to be a mythical land that was destroyed by earthquakes/tsunami, which led to its sinking.
The location of this land has been speculated by explorers/treasure hunters in various places on the globe from being at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, near Madeira or the Canary Islands or Spain, to various other locations around Europe.
The legend of Atlantis ("Island of Atlas") began as a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias, wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that besieges "Ancient Athens", the pseudo-historic embodiment of Plato's ideal state in The Republic.
In the story, Athens repels the Atlantean attack unlike any other nation of the known world, supposedly bearing witness to the superiority of Plato's concept of a state. The story concludes with Atlantis falling out of favor with the deities and submerging into the Atlantic Ocean.
Despite its minor importance in Plato's work, the Atlantis story subsequently has had a considerable impact on literature.
Plato's vague indications of the time of the events (more than 9,000 years before his time) and the alleged location of Atlantis ("beyond the Pillars of Hercules") gave rise to much pseudoscientific speculation.
As a consequence, Atlantis has become a byword for any and all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations and continues to inspire contemporary fiction, from comic books to films.
Later interpretations:
The allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up in utopian works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacon's New Atlantis and Thomas More's Utopia.
On the other hand, nineteenth-century amateur scholars misinterpreted Plato's narrative as historical tradition, most famously Ignatius L. Donnelly in his "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World".
While present-day philologists and classicists agree on the story's fictional character, there is still debate on what served as its inspiration.
Plato is known to have freely borrowed some of his allegories and metaphors from older traditions, as he did, for instance, with the story of Gyges.
This led a number of scholars to investigate possible inspiration of Atlantis from Egyptian records of the Thera eruption, the Sea Peoples invasion, or even the Trojan War.
Others have rejected this chain of tradition as implausible and insist that Plato created an entirely fictional account drawing loose inspiration from contemporary events such as the failed Athenian invasion of Sicily in 415–413 BC or the destruction of Helike in 373 BC.
Some interpretations of Plato's account, which kept the Atlantis story alive:
The Greek philosopher Plato (c. 424–328 B.C.) described Atlantis as a powerful and advanced kingdom that sank, in a night and a day, into the ocean around 9,600 B.C. The ancient Greeks were divided as to whether Plato's story was to be taken as history or mere metaphor.
Plato told the story of Atlantis around 360 B.C. The founders of Atlantis, he said, were half god and half human. They created a utopian civilization and became a great naval power. Their home was made up of concentric islands separated by wide moats and linked by a canal that penetrated to the center.
Plato wrote about "Atlantis" some 2,600 years ago, describing it as "an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules," as the Straits of Gibraltar were known in antiquity.
Plato's "dialogues" from around 360 B.C. are the only known historical sources of information about the iconic city. Plato said the island he called Atlantis "in a single day and night ... disappeared into the depths of the sea."
Using Plato's detailed account of Atlantis as a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and Atlantic as the best possible sites for the city.
Researchers have previously proposed that Atlantis was located on the Greek island of Santorini, the Italian island of Sardinia or on Cyprus.
Tsunamis in the region have been documented for centuries. One of the largest was a reported 10-story tidal wave that slammed Lisbon in November 1755.
Debate about whether Atlantis truly existed has lasted for thousands of years.
Does the origin of Atlantis lie in the Mud-Flats of Spain?
A U.S.-led research team believes that they have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago, in mud flats in southern Spain.
To solve the age-old mystery, the team analyzed satellite imagery of a suspected submerged city just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multiringed dominion known as Atlantis.
Freund, a professor at the University of Hartford who led an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.
The team of archaeologists and geologists in 2009 and 2010 used a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping and underwater technology to survey the site.
Freund's discovery in central Spain of a strange series of "memorial cities," built in Atlantis' image by its refugees after the city's likely destruction by a tsunami, gave researchers added proof and confidence.
The research team was of the view that Atlantean residents who did not die in the tsunami fled inland and built new cities there.
The team's conclusions were featured in a documentary "Finding Atlantis," which was a National Geographic Channel special.
While it is difficult to know with certainty that the site in Spain is truly the "Lost/Legendary City of Atlantis", the "twist" of finding the memorial cities makes one confident Atlantis was buried in the mud flats.
A computer graphic shows the concentric rings that may have existed during Atlantis' ancient heyday.
Scientists have seen evidence of such submerged structures beneath the vast marshlands of southern Spain's Dona Ana Park.
The Coin:
The Reverse of the $5 (Five Dollars) Antique Finish Silver with selective Gold Plating Coin depicts the escape of the people of Atlantis, at the time of the earthquake.
On the upper periphery is the name - "ATLANTIS".
The high relief reflects every detail, even the appearance of columns resembling Ionic columns.
The armour of the warrior has been selectively gilded.
The Obverse of the $5 (Five Dollars) Antique Finish Silver with selective Gold Plating Coin, features an image of a land sunken in the sea.
The inscriptions on the upper periphery are - "NIUE. ELIZABETH II. FIVE DOLLARS." Just below this inscription is engraved - "2019" (the year of issue) and "Ag 999" (the Silver Metal Fineness).
The specification of the Silver Coin are:
Country of issue: Niue Island; Date/Year: 2019; Coin Series Theme: "Legendary Lands"; Coin Theme: "The Lost City of Atlantis"; Denomination/Face Value: $5 (Five Dollars); Metal Composition: Selective Gold plated, .999 Fineness Silver (Ag); Weight: 2.00 Oz or 62.2 grams; Diameter/Size: 45.00 mm; Coin Quality: Antique Finish (AF); Mint: Gdansk Mint, Poland; Mintage: 500 pieces; Special Modifications: High Relief (HR); Presentation Case/Box: Yes; Certificate of Authenticity (COA): Yes.
Packaging: Each coin is encapsulated and comes in a Presentation Case accompanied with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA).
Links to posts on "The Mandalorian Classic Coin Collection on this Blog:
Links to "Star Wars: A New Hope™":
5) Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), Niue: First Silver Coin with a denominational value of 1 NZD (One New Zealand Dollar) in "Geniuses of the 19th Century Coin Series" minted by the Czech Mint on behalf of Niue: Date of Coin issue: 01/2020
6) Nikola Tesla, Niue: Second Silver Coin with a denominational value of 1 NZD (One New Zealand Dollar) in "Geniuses of the 19th Century Coin Series" minted by the Czech Mint on behalf of Niue : Date of Coin issue: 03/2020
7) Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Niue: Third Silver Coin with a denominational value of 1 NZD (One New Zealand Dollar) in "Geniuses of the 19th Century Coin Series", minted by the Czech Mint on behalf of Niue: Date of Coin issue: 07/2020
3) The Mystical Ancient Egyptian Labyrinth depicted on $10 Silver coins issued by Cook islands in 2016, under its "Milestones of Mankind Series". 4) King Arthur: The first coin in the six coins "Camelot Series". 5) Quilling Art: Silver 2 Dollars coins issued - Flowers (2016) & Bird (2017)
Links to other posts on Metropolis Tiffany Art Coin Series:
The 7-Summits Silver Coin Series:
Links to interesting posts from the South Pacific Island of Fiji:
Links to posts on Australia, New Zealand and Countries and Overseas Territories of the South Pacific etc on this Blog:
3) The Mystical Ancient Egyptian Labyrinth depicted on $10 Silver coins issued by Cook islands in 2016, under its "Milestones of Mankind Series". 4) King Arthur: The first coin in the six coins "Camelot Series". 5) Quilling Art: Silver 2 Dollars coins issued - Flowers (2016) & Bird (2017)
Links to other Coins issued in the Cyborg Revolution Coin Series by Republic of Palau: