Bear my ignorance, but I have always wondered about the Atlantis myth. The idea of a lost civilization rumoured to be ahead of its time, and disappearing tragically captured my mind and imagination since childhood.   
 
And now, after much thought, crazy theories and more sensible ones, I found today, on a documentary in Discovery, one that I can accept without much doubt. 
 
Plato's narrative could had been inspired in the Minoan tragedy that occurred when a volcanic eruption sweep the Mediterranean island of Thera, in the 15th century BC. It is thought to have been a monumental disaster, that not only affected the nearby locations, but travelled the world, spelling disaster. The event sunk most of the island, now called Santorini, and was responsible for massive earthquakes, and ashes throughout the world. To have an idea of the gravity of the situation, in American trees, dating from that specific time, was found volcanic dust. There were also found particles in the ice from Antarctica.  
 
This is said to have severely affected the Minoan civilization, as it was a very advanced and artistic society heavily supported by its favourable location in the see, and send it into a decline. Eventually, not many years afterwards, they were invaded and conquered by the Mycenaeans, and their culture crumbled.  
 
So things like these 
 

 The unknown is both interesting and desirable. It's mysteries like this that make life worth living.....well, that and video games ;)

"  The unknown is both interesting and desirable. It's mysteries like this that make life worth living.....well, that and video games ;) "

" Here's an alternate explanation. "

" @Video_Game_King said:

" Here's an alternate explanation. "

That was a good read.  "

" @Jeust:   It was? *Wikipedias that shit* Kind of? "

" @Jeust:   Counterpoint: Plato never put forward the hypothesis that it was a real city of any kind. He just sort of said, "What if it happened, wouldn't that be super-cool?" Or maybe he made Socrates say that, since Plato didn't want to sound like such a nerd. "

Yeah, but that doesn't mean it was fictional either. It was probably a contextualized story. :p

" Here's an alternate explanation. "