Finding Atlantis: A True Story of Genius, Madness, and an Extraordinary Quest for a Lost World

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Like a physician dissecting in his anatomy theater, Olof Rudbeck cuts open a map of the modern world and reveals the secret history of Sweden. Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and many other well-known figures of antiquity sit around the dissection table like students. The philosopher Plato strains to take a closer look, and the scholar Apollodorus slaps his head in surprise. Ptolemy, who is so often criticized by Rudbeck for faulty geography, looks away in disgust.

TO SARA

If you are ever in a gathering of your friends

and want to get some attention, wait until a suitable

pause occurs in the conversation and then toss out the phrase

“Well, how about Atlantis?”

—HENRY M. EICHNER

INTRODUCTION

May 16, 1702

MOST OF UPPSALA was in flames. Strong winds had carried the fire swiftly through the winding alleys of wooden houses. Shortly after midnight, it seemed as if fire rained from the heavens. And now, with the brigades unable to reach the old town, the blaze threatened to turn the cathedral, the castle, and the rest of the university into little more than embers and ash.

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