This is unsurprising, given Helike’s position in one of the most active earthquake zones in Europe. The patron god of Helike was Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea and earthquakes. Due to this position, Helike was an important economic, cultural and religious centre.
During its heyday, it was the leader of the first Achaean League, a confederation that consisted of 12 cities in the surrounding area. The legendary ancient city of Helike was situated in Achaea, on the northwestern part of the Peloponnesian peninsula. While doubt still remains as to whether Ubar and Iram really are one and the same, it has been suggested that at the very least, the story of Iram was inspired by the city of Ubar, and over time became altered to incorporate a message to obey the will of Allah. The team announced they had found the legendary Iram of the Pillars. When an excavation was carried out at the site, a large, octagonal fort with high walls and tall towers was uncovered. One of these converging points was a well-known water hole at Shisr, in Dhofar province, Oman. These resources allowed the team to identify old camel trade routes and the points at which they converged. This was achieved using NASA’s remote sensing satellites, ground penetrating radar, Landsat programme data, and images taken by the Space Shuttle Challenger. In the early 1990s, a team, led by Nicholas Clapp, an amateur archaeologist and filmmaker, announced that they had found the ancient city of Ubar, which was identified as Iram of the Pillars. In the end, Iram vanished beneath the sands as though it had never existed. As a result, legend says that the Ad were punished, and a sandstorm was sent against their city for seven nights and days. The people of Iram reacted with hostility and did not heed the words of Hud. As they had turned away from Allah, the prophet Hud was sent to summon them to return to the worship of Allah and to obey Him. In the Quran, Iram was said to be adorned with lofty buildings, and was populated by a group of people known as Ad. Iram of the Pillars, the Lost ‘Atlantis of the Sands’Ītlantis of the Sands is a lost city, tribe, or area spoken of in the Quran, which has come to be known as Iram of the Pillars.
However, there are now numerous cases of ancient cities, once seen as little more than myths and legends, that have now emerged from the past, raising the question as to how many more lost cities remain buried and waiting to be uncovered. Most of these legendary cities have never been found. Yet, the story of Atlantis is not unique, as other cultures have similar legends of landmasses and cities that have disappeared under the waves, been lost beneath desert sands, or buried beneath centuries of vegetation. The story of Atlantis is one of the most renowned and enduring tales of a lost city, said to have been swallowed up by the sea and lost forever.