All that is left of the ancient continent is now ice covered shelfs in the Arctic, but earlier it was a part of two supercontinents. A recent research has refuted a myth about Hyperborea being located in a mythical northern continent.
What is Hyperborea?
Hyperborea is the mythical land of the people “beyond the North Wind” in Greek lore. It is mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus as a continent-bound land from Egyptian legend, bordered by the river Oceanus. Eridanos was the main river that flowed through it, home to white swans and lined with poplar trees that would weep amber. At one point, it had been blessed with eternal spring, resulting in a double harvest of grain per year, with most of the countryside covered in forests called the Garden of Apollo. When it was destroyed by ice, its people were believed to have migrated to lands in the south. According to Greek legend, the land of Hyperborea is a place of total perfection, with sunlight 24 hours a day. The people never suffered from disease or old age, nor did they have to labor or fight in any wars or battles.
Hyperborea is believed to have been far north of Thrace, and in modern times would be considered to be located within the Arctic Circle. The actual location of Hyperborea is a mystery, however, and according to the Greek Poet Pindar, the road to the Hyperboreans could not be found by ship or on foot.
Mercator: Septentrionalium Terrarum descriptio. A map of the North Pole. 1623 (Image Source)
Recent Discovery
Russian scientists from the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics believe they found the location of the mysterious continent called Arctida using paleomagnetic analysis.
According to their research, the continent, which now mostly exists as underwater shelf, came together twice in Earth’s history — first as a part of the Rodinia supercontinent 750 million years ago and then as a part of the Pangaea supercontinent, which existed around 335 million years ago.
Following the dissolution of Pangaea and creation of the Arctic Ocean, parts of the ‘second’ Arctida were spread across the northern pole, mostly becoming the Arctic shelf.
The discovery can disproof the theory that Arctida was home to the mythical Hyperborea, a northern land describe in Ancient Greek texts. Since the last time the continent existed as a whole was several hundred million years ago, leading researchers from Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysic insist that no civilisation could have existed there.
The north polar inset map presents mythical lands including a central continent of Hyperborea. ARRIAN’S WORLD as depicted by ORTELIUS, 1624 (Image Source)
The Mysterious Civilisation of Hyperborea
According to Ancient Greek texts Hyperborea was the mythological civilization similar to Shambhala and Atlantis, and the people possessed secret knowledge and were close to the gods, like Apollo, the personification of the Sun.
H. P. Blavatsky, René Guénon, and Julius Evola all shared the belief in the Hyperborean, polar origins of Mankind and a subsequent solidification and devolution. It is believed that Hyperborea was the Golden Age polar center of civilization and mankind may has been strayed physically and spiritually from its Northern homeland.