The Aegean island whose volcanic eruption may have helped inspire the Atlantis legend is Thera, now commonly known as Santorini. Its enormous Bronze Age eruption, usually called the Minoan eruption or Thera eruption, devastated much of the island and created the caldera visible today.
The eruption is generally dated to the seventeenth or sixteenth century BCE, with scientific estimates often placing it around 1600 BCE. It buried the settlement of Akrotiri under ash and pumice, preserving buildings, frescoes, pottery, and evidence of a sophisticated maritime society. Tsunamis generated by the eruption likely affected other Aegean coastlines, including parts of Crete.
The proposed connection to Atlantis rests on broad similarities: a powerful island society, a catastrophic destruction, and land apparently lost beneath the sea. However, there is no proof that Thera was Plato’s Atlantis. Plato described Atlantis in dialogues written centuries later and placed it beyond the Pillars of Heracles, generally identified with the Strait of Gibraltar. Many historians therefore treat Thera as a possible source of inspiration rather than the historical identity of Atlantis.
“Thera” is the ancient name, while “Santorini” became the island’s better-known modern name. Both refer to the same volcanic island complex in the southern Aegean.