But Ulf Erlingsson, a Swedish geographer, believes Plato combined elements from different times and places in the background description for his utopia. The distribution of the Atlantean empire seems to match that of the megaliths (large rough stone monuments) in Western Europe and North Africa. The geographic description of the island Atlantis, he suggests, is based on an island that is still standing today—Ireland.

“Just like Atlantis, Ireland is 300 miles [480 kilometers] long, 200 miles [320 kilometers] wide, and features a central plain that is open to the sea,” said Erlingsson, the author of Atlantis From a Geographer’s Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land.

“I have looked at geographical data of the whole world. Of the 50 largest islands, Ireland is the only one that matches Plato’s description of the landscape,” he added.

“The hill in which the Atlanteans’ maternal ancestor, Cleito, was born resembles Tara, the legendary seat of the high king of Ireland, while Newgrange resembles the palace of their paternal ancestor, Poseidon,” he said.