Atlas
titanThe Titan who was condemned to hold the celestial sphere on his shoulders for eternity. His name became synonymous with endurance and with books of maps.
The Myth
Atlas was a second-generation Titan, son of Iapetus and brother of Prometheus. During the Titanomachy, Atlas led the Titans' forces against the Olympians. When the Titans lost, Zeus imposed a unique punishment on Atlas: he was condemned to stand at the western edge of the world and hold up the sky for all eternity.
Atlas stood at the ends of the earth, bearing the enormous weight of the heavens. Only once did he nearly escape his burden. When Heracles needed the golden apples of the Hesperides, he convinced Atlas to fetch them while Heracles temporarily held the sky. Atlas, tasting freedom, tried to leave Heracles with the burden, but Heracles tricked him into taking it back.
In another myth, Perseus turned Atlas to stone using the head of Medusa, and he became the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. The image of Atlas bearing the world became one of the most enduring symbols of strength and endurance in Western culture.
Parents
Iapetus and Clymene
Children
The Hesperides, Calypso, Maia
Symbols
Fun Fact
Books of maps are called "atlases" because the geographer Mercator put an image of Atlas on the cover of his 1595 map collection.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth: