Why did Olof Rudbeck argue that Sweden had been the site of Atlantis?

Olof Rudbeck developed his theory that Sweden was the lost Atlantis as an extension of his interest in the work of the scholar Olof Verelius, who had been editing and translating Icelandic sagas.1

Influenced by this study of ancient Nordic texts, Rudbeck proposed in his work Atland eller Manheim (1679–1702)—also known as Atlantica—that Sweden was the cradle of Western civilization. This argument was deeply rooted in the national pride of the 17th century, a period during which Sweden was asserting itself as a major European power and seeking to establish a grand cultural and historical identity.1