“The Nymphs of Grecian mythology were a kind of middle beings between the gods and men, communicating with both, loved and respected by both; . . . living like the gods on ambrosia.  In extraordinary cases they were summoned, it was believed, to the councils of the Olympian gods; but they usually remained in their particular spheres, in secluded grottoes and peaceful valleys, occupied in spinning, weaving, bathing, singing sweet songs, dancing, sporting, or accompanying deities who passed through their territories—­hunting with Artemis (Diana), rushing about with Dionysos (Bacchus), making merry with Apollo or Hermes (Mercury), but always in a hostile attitude toward the wanton and excited Satyrs.”

The Nymphs were plainly the female inhabitants of Atlantis dwelling on the plains, while the aristocracy lived on the higher lands.  And this is confirmed by the fact that part of them were called Atlantids, offspring of Atlantis.  The Hesperides were also “daughters of Atlas;” their mother was Hesperis, a personification of “the region of the West.”  Their home was “an island in the ocean,” Off the north or west coast of Africa.

And here we find a tradition which not only points to Atlantis, but also shows some kinship to the legend in Genesis of the tree and the serpent.

Titaea, “a goddess of the earth,” gave Zeus a tree bearing golden apples on it.  This tree was put in the care of the Hesperides, but they could not resist the temptation to pluck and eat its fruit; thereupon a serpent named Ladon was put to watch the tree.  Hercules slew the serpent, and gave the apples to the Hesperides.

Heracles (Hercules), we have seen, was a son of Zeus, king of Atlantis.  One of his twelve labors (the tenth) was the carrying off the cattle of Geryon.  The meaning of Geryon is “the red glow of the sunset.”  He dwelt on the island of “Erythea, in the remote west, beyond the Pillars of Hercules.”  Hercules took a ship, and after encountering a storm, reached the island and placed himself on Mount Abas.  Hercules killed Geryon, stole the cattle, put them on the ship, and landed them safely, driving them “through Iberia, Gaul, and over the Alps down into Italy.”  (Murray’s “Mythology,” p. 257.) This was simply the memory of a cattle raid made by an uncivilized race upon the civilized, cattle-raising people of Atlantis.

It is not necessary to pursue the study of the gods of Greece any farther.  They were simply barbarian recollections of the rulers of a great civilized people who in early days visited their shores, and brought with them the arts of peace.

Here then, in conclusion, are the proofs of our proposition that the gods of Greece had been the kings of Atlantis: 

1.  They were not the makers, but the rulers of the world.

2.  They were human in their attributes; they loved, sinned, and fought battles, the very sites of which are given; they founded cities, and civilized the people of the shores of the Mediterranean.