Some would also argue that because no apparent tangible evidence of the Atlantean maritime kingdom has ever been found, the subject is based on fiction - and thus is not to be taken seriously as true history.
However, the kind of historical evidence that would conclusively prove the existence of the Atlantean maritime kingdom will not surface as some lost artifact with the words "Made in Atlantis" labeled on the bottom, but will rise out of certain history books as "literary evidence".
Many have tried to interpret what Plato said about Atlantis and make sense of his data. One of the first was a resentful student of Plato named Aristotle.
It was Aristotle who was quoted as saying "he who invented Atlantis also destroyed it" - suggesting that his teacher invented the subject.
Aristotle, who later became teacher to the Hellenic general Alexander, probably had no geographical or political knowledge of what was beyond the "Pillars of Hercules" - and because of this, Aristotle may have used portions of Plato's work as the literary foundation to a political argument whereby the apparent Hellenic victory over the western Atlanteans long ago would help drive the political Hellenic empire eastwards into central Asia.
The story of Atlantis is much more than a propagandistic tale about some lost battle between the "western" and "eastern" empires, it is an account of a lost time and place in human history.
Historical textbooks have excluded the reality of the Atlantean maritime kingdom because the core site of the antediluvian story has never been found - and until the ancient capital seaport is conclusively found, will probably continue to ignore the subject.
There are many reasons why this site has never revealed any signs or clues that would announce its historical importance.
One of the primary reasons is that the site is buried deep within a swamp that even today is unwalkable. Even from an aircraft, no visual clues of the 1.25 nautical mile diameter site may not be visible.
The site sits directly atop a major fault-line that divides the American Plate from the Caribbean Plate - in fact, the epicenter of a 7.5 earthquake in '76 was less than ten miles from what may be the remnants of this ancient capital seaport.
The cause of that earthquake may be linked to the astronomical and gravitational forces caused by Comet West - which crashed into the surface of the Sun in '76.
Perhaps some comets do not have to hit the earth to cause disastrous results. Perhaps a rogue comet hit the sun long ago and, like Plato said about the one-day destruction of Atlantis, caused "a deluge from heaven and great earthquakes" that engulfed the ancient seaport and kingdom.
Plato gives the account of Atlantis together with another ancient story about how the son of Helios named Phaethon, while "driving his father's chariot... burnt up all that was upon the earth" - and that this tale "has a form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth which recurs after long intervals".
Does this quote sound like some of our ancestors once had knowledge of the astrophysical makeup of our Solar System? Perhaps some scholars long ago knew of comets and how they could have caused problems here on earth.
Perhaps the ancient image of King Atlas holding the heavens on his shoulders represents the lost astrophysical knowledge that some of our ancestors had about how other "heavenly bodies moved around the earth".
Because Plato was perhaps the first teacher of collective education at his school called the "Academy", it is ironic that conventional educational facilities throughout history have generally ignored his work about Atlantis.
Plato's "Academy" was the place where many students learned to read and write stories that were collected from other places beyond the Athenian region. One could say that Plato may have used his students to "publish" not only his philosophical views, but also other stories from abroad - like the story about the Atlantean seaport and its inhabitants.
Although the Timaeus dialogue mentions the Atlantean subject, it is in the Critias dialogue that Plato really gives extreme detail as to the layout of the lost capital seaport of Atlantis.
One of the many amazing aspects of this lost capital seaport is how it was "carved" out of rocky hill by what Plato describes "as with a lathe" - suggesting that some sort of massive stone cutting technology was once used to create the rings of land and sea of the seaport.
Moreover, according to Plato, this massive stone cutting technology also was used to carve canals into a surrounding agricultural plain that extended some fifteen by ten nautical miles inland from the coast.
Actually, Plato gives most of his measurements of the seaport and surrounding agricultural plain using the "stadia" value - however, new research reveals a new length value of this misunderstood measurement. Instead of the traditional value of about 608-feet, half that value equals 304-feet - or about 100-yards.
Because most sports stadiums of the world are built around a playing field measuring 100-yards, someone, somewhere must of doubled the original value of the original 100-yard dash of the Olympiad games - thus resulting in the much larger measurement value of the Atlantean seaport during traditional translation projects. (The first game of the Olympiad games was the foot-race the length of one stadia - or about 1/20th of a nautical mile.)
Also, because of a numerical misunderstanding during the translation of Plato's work, when he gives the stadia measurement values of the surrounding agricultural plain of 3000 by 2000 stadia, a new decimal value of 300 by 200 stadia reveals a plain that is about fifteen (15) by ten (10) nautical miles. (There exist other numerical examples of how an extra "zero" could have been added to early arithmetical translations of ancient writings - but that's another story.)
If one would look on certain maps in the far western Atlantic, say just inland from the western Caribbean Sea, within eastern Central America and between some mountains near Lake Isabal, there exist such a swampy plain that fits the measurement of 15 by 10 nautical miles.
Although the sunken seaport of Atlantis has always been perceived as a lost underwater city, perhaps it actually exist under many layers of swampy mud instead. Because of this, it may never reveal any significant artifact of value.
The site area in question probably contains more valuable environmental treasures in its current state than could ever be recovered in any "archeological dig" - so it is hoped that any attempt to recover information from the site area would respect the natural makeup of such a unique biosphere.
If conventional educational facilities would take the time to review the original Timeaus and Critias works by Plato, they may rediscover the many historical treasures from the lost world of Atlantis.