(Fox Photos/Getty Images) An illustration of Atlantis, circa
1600. An illustration of Atlantis, circa 1600. (Fox Photos/Getty
Images) We have the great Greek philosopher Plato to thank for
the ongoing obsession with the lost city of Atlantis. Around 360
B.C., Plato wrote that Atlantis was a great and wonderful empire
destroyed some 11,000 years before by earthquakes and floods
during a 24-hour period. Here are just some of the many theories
advanced over the years about where and what Atlantis was: In
the 19th century, several researchers suggested that ancient
Mayan hieroglyphs spoke of a lost continent, and therefore, the
site may have been near Mexico. The theory went that the Mayans
had interacted with the ancient Egyptians, who, in turn, passed
the tale of Atlantis down to the ancient Greeks, which is where
Plato got it. But that theory lost steam when it became clear
that early Mayanologists didn't fully understand the culture's
complex hieroglyphs. In 1912, the public caught Atlantis fever,
thanks to a