The idea of Atlantis, both as a name and as a civilisation, comes mainly from Plato. In his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, Plato describes a conversation said to have taken place between Solon and an Egyptian priest. The account speaks of a powerful civilisation that was destroyed by a massive catastrophe around 9600 BC, close to the end of the last Ice Age. _____. For this reason, many archaeologists and historians have found it difficult to dismiss the story entirely as fiction, and this has led to repeated speculation about where Atlantis might have existed.