The Acropolis of the ancient Athens extended to the Ilissus and
Eridanus, and included the Pnyx, and the Lycabettus on the opposite side
to the Pnyx, having a level surface and deep soil. The side of the hill
was inhabited by craftsmen and husbandmen; and the warriors dwelt by
themselves on the summit, around the temples of Hephaestus and Athene,
in an enclosure which was like the garden of a single house. In winter
they retired into houses on the north of the hill, in which they held
their syssitia. These were modest dwellings, which they bequeathed
unaltered to their children's children. In summer time the south
side was inhabited by them, and then they left their gardens and
dining-halls. In the midst of the Acropolis was a fountain, which gave
an abundant supply of cool water in summer and warm in winter; of this
there are still some traces. They were careful to preserve the number of
fighting men and women at 20,000, which is equal to that of the present
military force. And so they passed their lives as guardians of the
citizens and leaders of the Hellenes. They were a just and famous race,
celebrated for their beauty and virtue all over Europe and Asia.
And now I will speak to you of their adversaries, but first I ought to
explain that the Greek names were given to Solon in an Egyptian form,
and he enquired their meaning and translated them. His manuscript was
left with my grandfather Dropides, and is now in my possession...In the
division of the earth Poseidon obtained as his portion the island of
Atlantis, and there he begat children whose mother was a mortal. Towards
the sea and in the centre of the island there was a very fair and
fertile plain, and near the centre, about fifty stadia from the plain,
there was a low mountain in which dwelt a man named Evenor and his wife
Leucippe, and their daughter Cleito, of whom Poseidon became enamoured.
He to secure his love enclosed the mountain with rings or zones varying
in size, two of land and three of sea, which his divine power readily
enabled him to excavate and fashion, and, as there was no shipping in
those days, no man could get into the place. To the interior island he
conveyed under the earth springs of water hot and cold, and supplied the
land with all things needed for the life of man. Here he begat a family
consisting of five pairs of twin male children. The eldest was Atlas,
and him he made king of the centre island, while to his twin brother,
Eumelus, or Gadeirus, he assigned that part of the country which was
nearest the Straits. The other brothers he made chiefs over the rest of
the island. And their kingdom extended as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia.
Now Atlas had a fair posterity, and great treasures derived from
mines--among them that precious metal orichalcum; and there was
abundance of wood, and herds of elephants, and pastures for animals of
all kinds, and fragrant herbs, and grasses, and trees bearing fruit.