“never studied Atlantis in depth” — heh heh... okay, g’night...
...anyway, if Plato’s account can’t be accurate, there’s no point looking for Atlantis at all. Trying to find it other than where he said it was amounts to looking on the sidewalk by your car for the glasses you lost in the dark restaurant, simply because the light’s better. :’)
It has been many years since I have read a translation of Plato’s description of Atlantis. I was a Classics major back in the early 70’s.
One thing which seems impossible is that Atlantis was located beyond the “Pillars of Hercules” which is Gibraltar. I have never heard of any account of a civilization located on an island in the Atlantic except for Plato.
Just because Plato’s description is not accurate does not mean that it is totally made up. Just about all the old stories have a basis in fact. Theseus and the Minotaur for instance. Or maybe the Trojan War.
The only Islands in the Mediterranean would be Crete, Sardinia, Corsica, The Balearic’s Rhodes, and Cyprus. I guess you could also include Sicily but it is just barely and Island. Also the various Greek Islands such as Delos, Melos, Santorini etc.
Of all these, none has disappeared tho maybe Santorini has almost. Of all these Islands only Crete is known to have been both highly advanced and large enough to be a real power.
Just my guess but I suspect Plato’s version of Atlantis is most likely inspired by Crete.