If I told you there was once a society so advanced, so impressive, and so beautiful that the gods themselves were angered by its existence and buried it in the sea, would you believe me? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway because my name is Gabe Bauer and this is Top Shelf History, where we combine great stories with great drinks.

This is Plato‘s Paradise. It is the cocktail I have made for you based on the legendary city of Atlantis–a place which Plato himself testified as being a land of tremendous wealth and technology.

The city of Atlantis was first described in Plato‘s dialogues, Critias and Timaeus. In these Socratic discussions he described this incredible empire just beyond the pillars of Heracles with technology beyond its years. Today, most modern people believe that the pillars of Heracles were located at the strait of Gibraltar–but not all modern people. Like most things related to Atlantis, there’s room for speculation.

Still, as the story goes, Atlantis was a sight to be seen. Purportedly created by Poseidon, it was made up of 10 distinct but similarly sized kingdoms, bonded together by truce. In times of war, it was said the Chief Kingdom could summon 1,200 ships and a million men. With their advanced technology, the Atlanteans built an empire that conquered the Mediterranean. According to Plato, only the Athenians were able to stand up to the Atlantean interlopers and stop the expansion in its tracks.

But as Atlantis prospered, respect for the gods faltered. Morality (which ironically the Greek gods were not known for) decayed. And the gods got angry. It was time for some punishment. So Zeus rounded up the heavenly council to do just that. And that is where Plato’s story ends. But the legend continues. In their anger, the gods doled out Atlantis’s comeuppance: a barrage of earthquakes and flooding until finally their fate was sealed as the once mighty empire was buried beneath the sea.

It’s a crazy story. And Plato was a pretty impactful guy. So it’s strange to think that it was forgotten by mankind for almost all of history–not making a reappearance until the 19th century with Ignatius Donnelly’s book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, which became a best seller in 1882. It was this book that introduced western imagination to the story of Atlantis, inspiring archaeologists, historians, and treasure hunters alike. They all began to wonder, did Plato’s paradise ever really exist?

Several theories were proposed. Some are still being concocted to this day. But when we think about Atlantis, we have to ask ourselves, was Plato describing a real, historic place? Some say no. Maybe it was entirely made up–an allegory or metaphor to continue the dialogue in Plato’s commentary on Athenian society. After all, despite its utopian power, Atlantis was corrupt. They were the antithesis of Athens. It’s a theory that could be further evidenced by the fact that it was the Athenians that halted the Atlantean expansion in the story. But, while it’s most likely that Atlantis never existed, it’s far more fun to imagine it did. And there are plenty of theories that think so.

The first “Atlantis was totally real” theory was proposed by Donnelly, who claimed that, based on Plato’s description of its location, Atlantis was a submerged continent in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He believed that the Atlantic was only a few hundred feet deep, and that it was shifting waters that sunk the once large landmass. Modern Oceanography and sonar mapping disagree, but the positioning based on Plato’s description isn’t totally off-base.

Another theory supposes that Atlantis isn’t under the sea at all, but buried in the sands of the Sahara. Inspired by observations of the Richat structure (an eroded geological dome) 300 miles inland in Mauritania, the “Eye of the Sahara” seems to fit some of the measurements provided by Plato. Plus, the area is littered with sea shells, aquatic bones, fossils, and artifacts. Water was there at some point, why not with Atlantis?

But my favorite theory, and the one I ascribe to, is the theory that Atlantis was Thera. Thera, better known as modern day Santorini, was part of the Minoan empire before the emergence of the Athenian, Spartan, and Theban city states. The Minoans were centered in Crete, and they had a fairly rich and prosperous reign. The volcanic eruption on Thera around 1645-1500 BC was massive. I mean MASSIVE. It was one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in the world in history. Lesser eruptions lowered the earth’s temperature by 1 degree, killed thousands, and spawned tsunamis 40 feet tall. We can only imagine the effect of Thera’s eruption on the early world. At the very least, two-thirds of the island sank into the Mediterranean and the Minoan empire faded into the pages of obscure history. The loss of an island? The collapse of an empire? The proximity to Greece? Certainly sounds plausible to me.

Man, isn’t history fun? While we can’t be sure Atlantis really existed, we can be sure this drink will. So, let’s get into it!