Clitô
Cléito (Clitô)
9 min read
Cléito is a figure from Greek mythology, daughter of Evenor and Leucippe, known through Plato's dialogue 'Critias'. A mortal woman living on the island that would become Atlantis, she was beloved by the god Poseidon, who surrounded her home with concentric ramparts and fathered with her the ten first kings of Atlantis.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Cléito is mentioned in Plato's 'Critias' (c. 360 BCE), the only ancient source about her
- Daughter of Evenor and Leucippe, she was born on the island that would become Atlantis
- Poseidon falls in love with her and builds concentric rings of land and water around her home to protect her
- From their union are born five pairs of male twins, including Atlas, the first king of Atlantis
- Her name is at the origin of the name 'Atlantis' (island of Atlas, son of Cléito)
Works & Achievements
By bearing Poseidon's ten sons, Cleito is the founding mother of the entire Atlantean civilization. Her union with the god is the originating act from which Atlantis's entire political, religious, and architectural structure unfolds.
A philosophical dialogue in which Critias mentions Atlantis for the first time in Western literature. Cleito is named as the mother of the Atlantean kings within the introductory account of the island empire's origins.
An unfinished dialogue containing the most detailed account of Cleito: her encounter with Poseidon, the concentric rings of water and land, and the birth of the ten kings. It is the sole primary source on this figure in all surviving ancient literature.
A historical compilation that draws on elements of Plato's Atlantean myth. Diodorus expands the tradition by mentioning Amazons and Atlantean peoples, extending the literary legacy of the myth that Cleito's story set in motion.
The founding work of modern Atlantean esotericism, which interprets the Platonic myth as historical fact. Donnelly reignited popular interest in figures such as Cleito, leaving a lasting mark on literature, cinema, and comics.
Anecdotes
Cleito lived alone on a hill of the primordial island after the death of her parents Evenor and Leucippe. Poseidon, god of the seas, noticed her and fell deeply in love with her. To protect her from other men and mark his love, he transformed the hill into a natural fortress of alternating rings of land and water, making her the most well-guarded woman in the mythic world.
To isolate his beloved, Poseidon carved around her home three rings of water and two concentric bands of land. These natural ramparts made reaching Cleito nearly impossible without divine assistance. This extraordinary arrangement has become, in the Western imagination, the iconic image of the city of Atlantis, reproduced and depicted countless times since Antiquity.
From the union of Cleito and Poseidon were born five pairs of male twins — ten sons in all. The eldest, Atlas, became the first king of Atlantis and gave his name to the Atlantic Ocean. His nine brothers divided the rest of the island and the neighboring lands among themselves, founding what Plato described as the most powerful civilization of the ancient world.
Although Cleito was mortal, her sons blended divine and human blood, making the kings of Atlantis semi-divine beings. In Plato's account, this dual nature explains why the Atlanteans were at first virtuous and just before gradually succumbing to pride and corruption, losing their divine nature until they provoked the wrath of the gods.
At the heart of Atlantis, on the original hill where Poseidon had first met Cleito, a splendid temple was erected in honor of the founding couple. This sanctuary housed a colossal golden statue depicting Poseidon driving six winged horses, surrounded by a hundred Nereids riding their dolphins, preserving for generations of Atlanteans the memory of this founding love.
Primary Sources
There was, on the island, near the middle, a plain [...] and close to this plain, towards the center of the island, a mountain of small elevation. On this mountain lived one of the men who had been born in that land from the earth itself, named Evenor, and he had a wife called Leucippe; they had but a single daughter, Cleito.
Poseidon, having fallen in love with Cleito, united with her; and to make the place where she dwelt fortified and inaccessible, he cut the mountain all around into a circular form and raised alternating rings of earth and water, some larger, some smaller — two of earth and three of sea.
Poseidon, having received the island of Atlantis as his portion, settled his children — born of a mortal woman — in various parts of the island [...] He had five pairs of twin sons, and made the eldest of the first pair king, giving him the name Atlas.
Beyond the strait that you call the Pillars of Heracles, there was an island larger than Libya and Asia combined [...] This island was called Atlantis, and it held a mighty empire that stretched over the whole island and over many other islands and parts of the continent.
Key Places
Great mythical island located, according to Plato, beyond the Pillars of Heracles, in the Atlantic Ocean. Birthplace, home, and dynastic founding site of Cleito, mother of the ten first kings of an island empire unrivaled in mythological Antiquity.
A prominent rise at the heart of the island where Cleito lived with her parents before being chosen by Poseidon. It is on this hill that the god built the concentric ramparts and united with her, making this place the symbolic cradle of all Atlantean civilization.
Egyptian city where the priests of the temple of Neith are said to have transmitted to Solon — and through Plato to the Western world — the account of Atlantis and Cleito. Sais is the historical transmission point of the myth as we know it.
The city-state that opposed Atlantis in the Platonic myth. The Athenians defeated the armies descended from Cleito before the gods swallowed the island, with Athens embodying virtue against Atlantean pride in the narrative.
The boundary of the known world for the ancient Greeks, beyond which Plato placed Atlantis and the kingdom of Cleito. This real geographic location symbolizes the frontier between the known world and the mythical realm where the founder of the Atlantean empire lived.
