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As to the size of Atlantis, it is not quite clear whether we are to compare it with Mediterranean Africa and Asia Minor individually or collectively. Probably Plato merely meant to indicate a great area without any exact conception of its extent. If we think of an island as large as France and Spain we shall probably not miss the mark very widely. The site of the mid-Atlantic Sargasso Sea would be about the location indicated.
Improbability of the Existence of Such an Island
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Now, was there any such great island and populous magnificent kingdom in mid-Atlantic or anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean about 11,400 years ago? If not absolutely impossible, it seems at least very unlikely. Through the mouth of Critias Plato tells how the people of Atlantis employed themselves in constructing their temples and palaces, harbors and docks, a great palace which they continued to ornament through many generations, canals and bridges, walls and towns, numerous statues of gold, fountains both cold and hot, baths, and a great multitude of houses.19