Mary Settegast Prehistorian

“Plato Prehistorian” by Mary Settegast, a mysterious American researcher, is a speculative but very interesting book on human pre-history, arguing that the legend of Atlantis as recorded by Plato in “Timaeus” and “Critias” is based on historical fact. Settegast has also written a book about the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra. Some speculations about his role are included in “Plato Prehistorian”, as well.

Settegast argues that Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures were fairly advanced, and that the advanced traits lack a transitional pre-history. They seem to just “pop up” ready-made, suggesting they must have a lost pre-history somewhere else. That somewhere else is Atlantis, an advanced high culture which dominated Western Europe during the period we call Paleolithic in the form of the Magdalenian culture. Settegast doesn't speculate about the exact location of Atlantis, and admits that no geological evidence for a recently submerged large island in the Atlantic Ocean exists.

As for the Magdalenian culture, Settegast notes the advanced character of its cave art, the existence of strange symbols similar to much later writing systems, and the prominence of bulls or bisons, suggesting a tie-in with later bull cults. The author believes that the caves were places of “initiation”, presumably of a mystical-religious kind. The bull was to become prominent in Minoan, Egyptian and Greek religion, but above all in the cult of Mithras popular in the Roman Empire (an initiatory mystery cult). The author further argues that various cultures in North Africa were dominated by or derived from Atlantis.

If Plato was right, Athens must have existed already during the so-called Stone Age. No evidence for this exists, but the Greek landmass was substantially larger during the Ice Age, perhaps suggesting that whatever evidence there is has been submerged beyond the Mediterranean. Settegast believes there is evidence for Greek sea-journeys already during the “Paleolithic”, since obsidian from the island of Melos has been found at a Late Paleolithic site in the Argolid. Further evidences comes from mythology. The patron deity of Athens, Pallas Athena, is not Indo-European. She is really a “Pelasgian” goddess and has been connected to the Egyptian Neith worshipped in Sais (where the priests told Solon the story of Atlantis). In several myths, Athena – regarded as native to Attica – has a violent brawl with Poseidon, the Indo-European sea-god (and hence a good symbol of Atlantis!).

In Settegast's scenario, the advanced Neolithic cultures in Catal Hüyük and Jericho were built by refugees from the deluge which destroyed both Atlantis and Ur-Athens in Plato's tale. Catal Hüyük was a multi-national cult centre with symbolism similar to later Dionysiac, Mithraic and Orphic worship. A famous goddess statue from the site is similar to later idols of Cybele. There is also a tie-in with Upper Egypt, in the form of vulture worship (compare Nekhbet, the Egyptian vulture goddess). If Settegast is right, the ultimate source of the initiatory mystery cults of the ancient world must have been Atlantis and/or the prediluvian world of which Atlantis formed a part. Indeed, this seems to be the *real* point of the book, suggesting that the author does have some kind of spiritual perspective. Theosophy?

The latter chapters deal with Zarathustra (Zoroaster). Apart from an oblique reference that Zarathustra may have been Greek or Atlantid, it's not clear what these chapters have in common with the preceding ones. Settegast argues that the Neolithic Revolution lacks a “material” explanation, instead proposing that agricultural settlements were a religious imperative for Zarathustra's followers. In this scenario, Zarathustra (who thus lived 6,000 years ago) was both a religious and a societal reformer, extolling the virtues of the husbandmen and hence common people above those of priests and warriors.

Personally, I think the author looses the plot about two-thirds into the book, but I did find the earlier chapters extremely interesting. Books like this one have made me more open to the idea that “Atlantis” or “Lemuria” might indeed have been actual civilizations. Even if we assume they were not, Catal Hüyük in particular suggests a high degree of cultural sophistication during the Neolithic, and also a venerable age of many religious traditions usually associated with later civilizations.

In the end, I give this book four stars.