Atlas

In Greek mythology, one of the Titans who revolted against the gods; as punishment, he was compelled to support the heavens on his head and shoulders. Growing weary, he asked Perseus to turn him into stone by showing him the Medusa's head, and was transformed into Mount Atlas.

Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and Clymene, daughter of the Titan Oceanus. He was the legendary king of Mauretania and his children by Aethra were the Hyades, the Pleiades, and in some traditions, the Hesperides.

In a variant of the legend of the 12 labours of Heracles, the hero took the weight of the heavens while Atlas fetched the golden apples tended by the Hesperides. On his return, Atlas was unwilling to relieve Heracles of the burden, offering to deliver the apples on his behalf; the hero appeared to agree, but asked him to bear the weight while he made himself comfortable, and managed to escape.

Analogy The name Atlas has been applied to books of maps since his image, with the world on his shoulders, appeared in Gerardus Mercator's collection of maps, published in 1595. The highest vertebra of the spine is also named after him.

atlas

Book of maps. The first modern atlas was the Theatrum orbis terrarum (1570); the first English atlas was a collection of the counties of England and Wales by Christopher Saxten (1579). Mercator began work on the first great world atlas in 1585; it was completed by his son in 1594. Early atlases had a frontispiece showing Atlas (a figure in Greek mythology) supporting the globe.