The island Atlantis was ruled by a confederation of kings which held power also in surrounding islands

According to an Egyptian priest, the Athens of old resisted the invasion of the people from Atlantis, an island larger than Libya (name for the whole of northern Africa except Egypt) which lay in front of the mouth of the so called "Pillars of Heracles" (today called "straits of Gibraltar").

The island Atlantis was ruled by a confederation of kings which held power also in surrounding islands. The people of Atlantis had occupied Libya as far as Egypt and southwestern Europe, as far as Tuscany in Italy. And having conquered those regions, they gathered a host to extend their dominion to both Egypt and Greece. The Athenians of old, however, defeated this powerful army.

At a later time, earthquakes and floods destroyed the two opponents, Athens being swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis by the sea, vanishing for ever. This is why, the Egyptian said, the ocean at the spot where Atlantis once was, became impossible to sail across, being blocked up by the mud created by the large island when it sank.

Now, when the gods divided among themselves different regions of the earth, the island of Atlantis was allotted to Poseidon, who settled there the children he had begotten of a mortal woman. In the middle of the island there was a fertile plain, and in its centre there stood a mountain where the autochthons (offspring of the soil) Evenor 4 and Leucippe 6 lived with their daughter Cleito 2.

When they died, Poseidon married this young woman, and decided to alter the landscape, making the hill impregnable. And so the god carved circular belts—three of sea and two of land around the hill—isolating it completely, for at that time sailing was unknown. He also brought up springs of warm and cold water, producing all kinds of food.

Poseidon and Cleito 2 had five pairs of twins, who, along with their descendants, ruled the ten provinces into which Poseidon had divided Atlantis. The island and the ocean were called after Poseidon's first-born, Atlas, who was also king over his brothers. The brothers and the descendants of their ten royal houses ruled over many other islands, and also over the Mediterranean peoples living west of Egypt and Tuscany.

The ten kings, who governed each his own province, are said to have assembled every fifth year and every sixth year, administering the public affairs and delivering judgement according to the law that Poseidon handed down to them, and according to records inscribed in a pillar of orichalcum.


http://www.maicar.com/GML/Atlantis.html