Before the civilizations that we know of there was a great island, called by contemporary scientists Atlantis. It was inhabited by a civilization that had extraordinary cultural and technological achievements, especially in architecture and art.
All that wouldn’t have been possible if they hadn’t been blessed by the gods, who the Atlants honored by building glorious monuments for them. And the gods didn’t mind that they weren’t the only ones being cherished by the Atlants. Alas, the plan of the gods was not perfect. Things went awry because of the younger generation of the gods.
Specifically it was Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, whose actions resulted in the disaster. His wickedness was endless, and the cruelty of his followers and the destruction they caused initiated civil war in the land that had only known peace. The emerged conflict divided both the Atlants and their deities. Before those events, the gods had taken pleasure in watching their folk grow, but then they started to interfere with the people’s affairs as well as fight one another. Some of the old gods had predicted that this civilization would eventually collapse due to the ever growing conflict between the deities. Conflict in which people’s lives would mean nothing.