Cleito was the daughter of Evenor and Leucippe [one writer has even sought to equate them with Eve and Lucifer!!]. Although Cleito was a mere mortal, she became the wife of Poseidon, the founder of Atlantis. According to Plato Cleito gave birth to five pairs of twins, of whom Atlas was the first born and was appointed as the primary ruler of Atlantis while his brothers reigned over the other nine kingdoms (or colonies?). In order to protect Cleito, Poseidon built a palace (Critias 113d) in the centre of Atlantis surrounded by the famous concentric rings of land and water, which according to some translations (including Jowett’s) were so perfect that it was as if they had been created on a lathe. I find it odd that people who accept that that Poseidon was a mythological figure, are not also prepared to accept his home as equally unreal. What I’m suggesting is that Plato’s description of the divine residence and its environs is just a literary invention and that it is an exercise in futility to look for an historical Atlantis that matches the architectural perfection depicted by Plato.

The story of Atlantis is unconnected to the rest of Greek mythology with the exception of references to Poseidon and Atlas.