The Five Cities of Legend
Nolan Brisbain may have been believed to be a brilliant man, but there are some who question his sanity. He wrote the following not long before his death.
There is no clue given by him as to what he means by Lazarus being the “Fifth City” and so there are many theories as to what other cities could have fallen before.
Anteaon
What happened at Anteaon that was so great a calamity as to cause the entirety of Atlantis to sink is unknown. There is no documentation on the city nor the entire land of Atlantis and the name “Antaeon” is batted about as result of unknown sources on the internet and in modern books on mysticism. The name may be linked to a god or other mythical figure in the same way that Athens, Minos, etc. are; in which case “Antaeus” would be the likely figure. He was a Titan, son of Gaia, who was invincible while in contact with the Earth, but who was defeated by Heracles, who figured out that if he could lift the giant from the ground, breaking his physical contact with Gaia, then he would be weakened. Heracles strangled the titan to death.
The city, if it ever existed, remains forever lost to the waves, a myth more disbelieved than revered. And those who fail to learn from history are perhaps condemned to repeat it…
Babylon
The final night of ancient Babylon is here. Nebuchadnezzar is dead. Belshazzar, his grandson, sits upon the throne, co-regent with Nabonidus, his father. During a banquet where the God of Heaven is defied, Babylon falls.
This is according to the New Testament, Daniel 5. The events were reportedly preceded by the king’s dream of warning. The events reportedly took place on October 12, 538 BC.
Sodom and Gomorrah
The ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah have been reported to be southeast of the Dead Sea. The modern names are Bab edh-Dhra, thought to be Sodom, and Numeira, thought to be Gomorrah. Both places were destroyed at the same time by an enormous conflagration. In the cemetery at Bab edh-Dhra, scientists have discovered what they feel is the cause. The buildings used to bury the dead were burned by a fire that started on the roof.
According to the bible, "Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah -- from the Lord out of the heavens" (Genesis 19:24). The only conceivable explanation for this unique discovery in the annals of archaeology is that burning debris fell on the buildings from the air.
Both sites are located on a fault line, and it is believed that the “fiery rain” was bitumen thrust from the fissure in the earth by a quake. Apocalyptics like the idea that a UFO, Comet, or other matter from the heavens started the fire. The New Testament further states:
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before Me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen" (Ezekiel 16:49-50)
Hiroshima
Historians and theologians alike continually discredit the idea that the hard working Japanese people of Hiroshima somehow harbored a dark secret that drew the wrath of God via a terrible weapon crafted by the United States. Naturally, American nationalists tend to say that their evil was rampant in the acts of aggression against the western powers. But then history is always written by the victors.
Rome and/or Berlin
Though neither fell in the cataclysmic sense of all of the other above candidates, Rome was eventually destroyed as an empire by a persecution of the Christians. Diocletian killed 1500 Christians over an 8 year period when they, as prisoners, refused to worship the Roman gods and be freed. The enormous resources of the empire applied by Diocletian and Constantine caused the empire to flounder and fail economically, and quite obviously socially. “Arianism” began during this time as a belief started by Arius that Jesus was not the son of God. Subsequently, modern use of the word “Arian” has come to be associated with dominance by white races in a decidedly xenophobic bent, and so a quantum leap has been made by theorists who group the fall of Rome with the fall of Berlin’s great wall, the demarcation that separated socialists and free men, seemingly the “good” from the “evil”.
But many authorities note any comparison between the two as a drastic over reaching of the facts in an attempt to fulfill prophecy. They liken it to the way that people tend to apply their days events to whatever is told them in the day’s astrology report, trying desperately to make the prediction hold up.
Pompeii
August 23rd/24th, 79 AD, the city of Pompeii was consumed by the molten lava of Mt. Vesuvius. The Earthquake in 62 AD may have been some sort of precursor, a warning of things to come, as it destroyed the aqueducts of both Pompeii and Herculaneum. The city was lost for 1500 years and forgotten.
In 1594, Workers digging a tunnel to supply water to a nearby village
find a stone that says decurio Pompeiis. The city has been so long forgotten
that most people think Pompeiis refers to a famous Roman ruler named Pompey.
It’s hundreds of years later that they discover the names Herculaneum and
Pompeii. Today the ruins serve as a perfectly preserved example of ancient
life, its citizens often seated at tables and going about their activities
when they were covered in the lava flow. Some theorize this city is a
warning; an exhibit preserved by God for the modern world to see and
subsequently heed.