The theory that Malta was Atlantis is being challenged by a new publication which claims that the fabled city lies off the southern tip of Cyprus.
The book "Discovery of Atlantis - the Startling Case for the Island of Cyprus", written by an expert on the ancient world, Robert Sarmast, uses maps to show the location of archaeological remains on a sunken strip of land just off the south coast of Cyprus, which he claims is Atlantis.
The book, which has just been launched in the US, is being given wide coverage by the international media.
The Sunday Telegraph of London said this book may be the answer generations of experts on the ancient world have been looking for.
The Sunday Telegraph writes that after nearly 10 years of research using ocean mapping technology and accounts from ancient texts, Mr Sarmast has evidence that Atlantis lies off the southern tip of Cyprus.
The newspaper, however, acknowledges that Mr Sarmast's claim about Cyprus is just the latest in a long list of suggested locations for Atlantis including Malta, the Azores, the Sahara desert, Central America and Antartica.
Mr Sarmast was quoted saying that his new research "will rewrite the history books. We are set to make the biggest archaeological discovery of all time".
The new research, which cost $500,000, was paid for by the Heritage Standard Corporation. Mr Sarmast now intends to carry out an expedition to explore the seabed in a bid to find proof of his theory.
Mr Sarmast is adamant that the site matches Plato's account of Atlantis, in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 400 BC. The description is said to be based on the writings of Solon, who in turn recorded the story told to him by the Egyptians at around 600 BC.
Whereas many historians believe that Atlantis is the stuff of legend and that Plato's description is an allegory to praise the values of Athenian society, Mr Sarmast takes a more literal view.
He was quoted saying that his discovery "will vindicate Plato. Within his dialogues, Plato provides factual clues to what Atlantis was like. I have matched all but two of the 45 clues with the area around Cyprus. That's either the biggest coincidence in the history of the world or we have found Plato's Atlantis."
Last year the idea that Malta was Atlantis gained international recognition and featured in popular television documentaries, publications and guidebooks.
A Russian TV crew had visited Malta for this purpose and a documentary was screened on OTR channel 1 in the Soviet Union. Piero Angela, of Super Quark, was also interested enough to come to Malta to make a documentary about the subject.
David Furlong, author of Keys to the Temples, was also in Malta to study the positions of prehistoric sites and compare them with British sites.
The theory that Malta was Atlantis was published in the Italian journal of archaeology Hera, while the French journal Archeologie also carried articles about it.
Best selling author Graham Hancock had also published a book 'Underworld, flooded kingdoms of the Ice Age' in the UK, dedicating 120 pages out of its total of 761 to Malta and the publications Malta: Echoes of Plato's Island, and Dossier Malta - evidence for the Magdalenian, published in 1997. The latter had suggested that the presence of man on Malta could date back to about 15000 to 12000 BC rather than the traditionally accepted date of about 7000 BC.
RAI Tre had sent a team to Malta and Channel Four were in Malta last year and screened a documentary on the subject.
The theory and parts of the contents of the book 'Echoes of Plato's Island' have also been featured on several websites, including those of best selling author Andrew Collins and Egyptologist David Calvert Orange.