Atlas (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the primordial Titans.

Atlas (Eng. /'æt ləs/ Gk. Ἄτλας) was the son of the Titan Iapetos (Eng. /aɪ ə 'pi: təs/) and the Oceanid Clymene (Eng. /'klɪ mə ni:/ Gk. Κλυμένη Klyménē).^[1] Where a Titan and a Titaness are assigned each of the seven planetary powers, Atlas is paired with Phoebe and governs the moon. ^[2] He had three brothers — Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius.^[3]

Children

Sources describe Atlas as the father, by different goddesses, of numerous children, mostly daughters:

• by Hesperis, the Hesperides;^[4]
• by Pleione (or Aethra^[5])

• the Hyades,^[6]
• a son, Hyas,^[7]
• the Pleiades;^[8]

• and by one or more unspecified goddesses

• Calypso,^[9]
• Dione,^[10]
• Maera.^[11]

Some of these are assigned conflicting or overlapping identities or parentage in different sources.

Punishment

Atlas sided with the Titans in their war (known as the Titanomachy) against the Olympians. His brothers Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius weighed the odds and betrayed the other Titans by an alliance with the Olympians. When the Titans were defeated, many of them were confined to Tartaros, but 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.

Variations

In a late story,^[12] a giant named Atlas tried to drive a wandering Perseus from the place where the Atlas mountains now stand. Perseus revealed Medusa'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 Heracles, 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.^[13] Another Atlas was said to have been a king of Mauretania and an expert astronomer.

Lee Lawrie's colossal bronze Atlas, Rockefeller Center, New York

Encounter with Heracles

One of the hero Heracles' 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. Heracles 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 Heracles into carrying the sky permanently by offering to deliver the apples himself. Heracles, 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 Heracles could rearrange his cloak as padding on his shoulders. When Atlas set down the apples and took the heavens upon his shoulders again, Heracles took the apples and went on his way.

In some versions, Heracles instead built the two great Pillars of Hercules to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas much as he liberated Prometheus.

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. In other languages, e.g. German, Atlas is translated as "Atlant", suggesting the connection between the Titan and Atlantis.

Cultural influence

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, rather than the earth. 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.

Trivia

The novelist Ayn Rand named her magnum opus Atlas Shrugged. In a key passage, one of the protagonists states that if she were to meet Atlas, she would tell Atlas to shrug. This attitude reflects the novel's general themes of rational self-interest and Objectivism.

Jeanette Winterson's novel Weight is a retelling of the Atlas myth.

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

The movie "Superman Returns" includes a scene in which Superman catches the falling globe from the top of the Daily Planet building and holds it in the same manner as Lee Lawrie's statue in Rockefeller Center. This alludes to the popular myth of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders rather than the heavens.

The Led Zeppelin song 'Achilles Last Stand' makes numerous references to the Titan.

Television

Atlas has a guest appearance on Class of the Titans

Gallery

Bronze sculpture of Atlas on a building in Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia

Notes

Sources

• Origin of "Atlas" for a collection of maps
• Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, London: Penguin, 1955; Baltimore: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-001026-2

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