Pound Pup Legacy

Poseidon and the Five Twins; The Mythology of Atlantis

For all parents of twins or even to those special families who have two-or-more sets of twins, you might want to pause the next time you are near the Atlantic Ocean.

That's because the Atlantic Ocean and the lost continent of Atlantis are both named for Atlas, who according to the mythology for Atlantis, was one of five sets of boy twins borne by Cleito, wife to Poseidon, god of the sea.

Atlas was the oldest among the five sets of twins and all 10 boys helped rule Atlantis as each twin followed Atlas as the land's king and ruler. The other twins didn't quite get the publicity (or naming rights) that Atlas enjoyed, but ruling a land as magnificent as Atlantis doesn't make too bad of a consolation prize.

For the record, the other twins besides Atlas were Eumeleus 8 (Atlas' twin brother), Ampheres and Evaemon 3, Mnesus and Autochthon, Elasippus 2 and Mestor 4, and Azaes and Diaprepes.

If you're looking for a vacation idea and want to learn more about Poseidon and his five sets of twins, you might want to consider a trip to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

In a stunning, new 1.2 billion dollar hotel and resort, the Sun International Company has built a palace worthy of the name, Atlantis, complete with a four-star restaurant devoted to Atlas and his brothers, appropriately enough called 'Five Twins'. (the restaurant's menu is shown to the right)

When you enter the restaurant, you'll notice that the bar is fully stocked with pairs of the world's finest wines and liquors, and everything in the restaurant is repeated, including having two waiters service each table, delivering fine cuisine to the customers in a mirror-image ceremony.

 Three sets of twins worked at the restaurant when we visited 'The Five Twins' back in 1999 although the manager did tell us that he has trouble finding twins on the island who are qualified to work there. If you are looking for more twin-themed stops on your trip to the Bahamas, you might try visiting downtown Nassau (on New Providence Island), where the world-famous Twin Brothers Daiquiri Bar is tucked away upstairs in the middle of an outdoor shopping bazaar.

The four of us (yes, we're twins married to twins--that's the two couples shown above in the restaurant bar) who were enjoying dual honeymoons on the Island also ran into a sales clerk at a downtown jewelry store whose grandmother gave birth to four sets of twins. Not quite as impressive as Poseidon and Cleito, but nevertheless an impressive accomplishment.