Atlas (mythology)

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Greek deities series
Primordial deities
Olympians
Aquatic deities
Chthonic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities
Titans
The Twelve Titans:
Oceanus and Tethys,
Hyperion and Theia,
Coeus and Phoebe,
Cronus and Rhea,
Mnemosyne, Themis,
Crius, Iapetus
Sons of Iapetus:
Atlas, Prometheus,
Epimetheus, Menoetius

In Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the Greek gods known as Titans.

1 Mythology
2 Etymology
3 Cultural influence
4 Sources

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Mythology

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Kinship

Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetos and the Oceanid Klymene. Atlas had three brothers — Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoitios. With different goddesses he was the father of the Hesperides sisters, Maira, Hyas, the Hyades sisters, Kalypso and the Pleiades sisters. A late mythographer, Hyginus, (Fabulae 82, 83) says that Dione was also a daughter of Atlas.

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Punishment

Atlas led the Titans in one of their wars against the Olympians. His brothers Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoitios weighed the odds and betrayed the other Titans by an alliance with the Olympians. When the Titans were defeated, Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of the earth and hold up the heavens on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace.

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Variations

In a late story, a giant named Atlas tried to drive a wandering Perseus from the place where the Atlas mountains now stand. Perseus revealed Medousa's head, turning Atlas to stone. As is not uncommon in myth, this account cannot be reconciled with the far more common stories of Atlas' dealings with Herakles, who was Perseus' great-grandson.

According to Plato, the first king of Atlantis was also named Atlas, but that Atlas was a mortal son of Poseidon. Another Atlas was said to have been a king of Mauretania and an expert astronomer.

Image:Rockefeller Center Atlas1.jpg

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Encounter with Herakles

One of the hero Herakles' Twelve Labors involved the acquisition of some of the golden apples which grow in Hera's garden, tended by the Hesperides and guarded by the dragon Ladon. Herakles went to Atlas, the father of the Hesperides, and offered to hold the heavens for a little while in exchange for the apples, to which Atlas agreed. Upon his return with the apples, however, Atlas attempted to trick Herakles into carrying the sky permanently by offering to deliver the apples himself. Herakles, suspecting Atlas didn't intend to return again, pretended to agree to Atlas' offer, asking only that Atlas take the sky again for a few minutes so Herakles could rearrange his cloak as padding on his shoulders. When Atlas set down the apples and took the heavens upon his shoulders again, Herakles took the apples and went on his way.

In some versions, Herakles instead built two great pillars to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas much as he liberated Prometheus.

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Etymology

The etymology of the name Atlas is uncertain and still debated. Some derive it from the Proto-Indo-European root *tel, 'to uphold, support'; others suggest that it is a pre-Indo-European name. Since the Atlas mountains fell in the region inhabited by Berbers, it could be that the name as we know it is taken from Berber.

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Cultural influence

Image:2005-12-22 - United States - New York - City of New York - Atlas Building - Black and White.jpg

Since the middle of the sixteenth century, any collection of cartographic maps has come to be called an atlas. Gerardus Mercator was the first to use the word in this way, and he actually depicted the astronomer king.

Atlas continues to be a commonly used icon in western culture (and advertising), as a symbol of strength or stoic endurance. He is often shown kneeling on one knee while supporting an enormous round globe on his back and shoulders. The globe originally represented the celestial sphere of ancient astronomy, but the use of the term atlas as a name for collections of terrestrial maps and the modern understanding of the earth as a sphere have combined to inspire the many depictions of Atlas' burden as the earth. (Both older and more accurate depictions adorn the sphere with constellations, not continents. The cosmology of Classical mythology understood the earth overall to be a disc surrounded by one ocean.)

The comic book superhero Captain Marvel was granted the stamina of Atlas as part of his powers. The image of Atlas bearing a great burden serves as an important metaphor throughout Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.

The size-changer of the Thunderbolts is also known as Atlas, he was recently shown on a cover holding up a building, this looked very similar to Atlas holding up the world.

"Atlas" is also used as the name of many objects and places, see Atlas (disambiguation).

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