The main sources for the legend are two of Plato's dialogues, Timaeus and Critias. According to Plato, Atlantis had a rich civilization, and its princes made many conquests in the Mediterranean before earthquakes destroyed the island and it was swallowed up by the sea. Plato also supplied a history of its ideal commonwealth, and Atlantis is sometimes imagined as a utopia.

Legends about the disappearance of Atlantis may have some connection with the volcanic eruption that devastated Santorini in the Cyclades islands, north of Crete, about 1500 BC.

In Greek mythology, an island continent west of the Straits of Gibraltar, said to have sunk following an earthquake. Although the Atlantic Ocean is probably named after it, the structure of the sea bed rules out its former existence in the Atlantic region.

Legends about the disappearance of Atlantis may have some connection with the volcanic eruption that devastated Santorini in the Cyclades islands, north of Crete, about 1500 BC.