Atlantis...as Described by Plato

...in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which you call the columns of Herakles...the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from the islands you might pass through the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Herakles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a continent.
Now, in the island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire...a veritable paradise. Atlanteans were mechanically and horticulturally advanced, far ahead of surrounding cultures. However, the culture abruptly ended when Atlantis sank under the ocean.