After Plato , the idea of Atlantis was mostly forgotten until 1882 , when a writer named Ignatius Donnelly wrote a book saying that Atlantis was real and that the culture of Atlantis had started many other ancient cultures , such as the Egyptian and Mayan . The 1882 publication of Atlantis : the Antediluvian World by Ignatius L. Donnelly stimulated much popular interest in Atlantis .