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Sigüenza first learnt of Atlantis while studying to be a Jesuit where he came across the work of Athanasius Kircher whose 1665 map of the lost continent was the first in history. Expelled from the Jesuit order for his lack of discipline, Sigüenza turned to science, making groundbreaking studies of eclipses before journeying to Teotihuacan to see the city's ruins for himself. What he found there overwhelmed him. Carefully measuring and recording everything he could, Sigüenza found Teotihuacan's layout truly mystifying--a puzzle that appealed to his mathematical talents and would bring him back to this ruined city, time after time. The city bore all the hallmarks of an advanced civilization, and Sigüenza found evidence of astronomy, hieroglyphic writing and pyramid building that was uncannily similar to that of ancient Egypt.
He saw many parallels between Egypt and the early Mexican culture in the calendar, in the way of dress, in the hieroglyphics, and in the pyramids.
Could the two civilizations have been related?
I have been stimulated by the great love, which I have for my country and in which would be found exceedingly strange information. These data will probably die with me on account of my great poverty.
But fortunately, some of Sigüenza's works did survive and we know that amid these vast monumental ruins he believed that he had found the answer to the ancient riddle of Atlantis.
What he was trying to do, I believe, was to connect Atlantis, Plato's ideas, with the Bible. Sigüenza would have jumped from the myth of Atlantis which would have been kind of a foundation for him to Biblical prophecy of people dispersing across the globe after the Deluge.
Fusing scientific ideas with his deeply held belief in the truth of the Bible, Sigüenza concluded that the destruction of Atlantis and Noah's flood had actually been one and the same event. A vast deluge which had swept away a forgotten civilization, forcing its survivors to seek refuge in both Egypt and Mexico where they built the pyramids before vanishing from history.
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hieroglyphic writing: n. 象形文字
uncannily: adv. 惊异地，神秘地
exceedingly:adv. 非常地，极度地
prophecy: n. 预言
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