Atlantis: The Antedeluvian WorldDonnelly, Ignatius
History
Atlantis: The Antedeluvian World
Donnelly, Ignatius
Atlantis (Legendary place); Deluge; Ethnology
The Bible says (Gen. i., 2), "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face
of the waters." The Quiche legend says, "The Creator--the Former, the
Dominator--the feathered serpent--those that give life, moved upon the
waters like a glowing light."
The Bible says (Gen. i., 9), "And God said, Let the waters under the
heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:
and it was so." The Quiche legend says, "The creative spirits cried out
'Earth!' and in an instant it was formed, and rose like a vapor-cloud;
immediately the plains and the mountains arose, and the cypress and pine
appeared."
The Bible tells us, "And God saw that it was good." The Quiche legend
says, "Then Gucumatz was filled with joy, and cried out, 'Blessed be thy
coming, O Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, thunder-bolt.'"
The order in which the vegetables, animals, and man were formed is the
same in both records.
In Genesis (chap. ii., 7) we are told, "And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground." The Quiche legend says. "The first man was made
of clay; but he had no intelligence, and was consumed in the water."
In Genesis the first man is represented as naked. The Aztec legend says,
"The sun was much nearer the earth then than now, and his grateful
warmth rendered clothing unnecessary."
Even the temptation of Eve reappears in the American legends. Lord
Kingsborough says: "The Toltecs had paintings of a garden, with a single
tree standing in the midst; round the root of the tree is entwined a
serpent, whose head appearing above the foliage displays the face of a
woman. Torquemada admits the existence of this tradition among them, and
agrees with the Indian historians, who affirm that this was the first
woman in the world, who bore children, and from whom all mankind are
descended." ("Mexican Antiquities," vol. viii., p. 19.) There is also a
legend of Suchiquecal, who disobediently gathered roses from a tree, and
thereby disgraced and injured herself and all her posterity. ("Mexican
Antiquities," vol. vi., p. 401.)
The legends of the Old World which underlie Genesis, and were used by
Milton in the "Paradise Lost," appear in the Mexican legends of a war of
angels in heaven, and the fall of Zou-tem-que (Soutem, Satan--Arabic,
Shatana?) and the other rebellious spirits.
We have seen that the Central Americans possessed striking parallels to
the account of the Deluge in Genesis.
There is also a clearly established legend which singularly resembles
the Bible record of the Tower of Babel.
Father Duran, in his MS. "Historia Antiqua de la Nueva Espana," A.D.
1585, quotes from the lips of a native of Cholula, over one hundred
years old, a version of the legend as to the building of the great
pyramid of Cholula. It is as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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