|
Sponsored Links
In Greek mythology, Atlas (Eng. /'æt l?s/ Gk. ?t?a?) was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia[1] or Klyméne (???µ???)[2] "Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled maid Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas also she bare very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus."[3] Atlas, along with his brother Menoetius, sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. His brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus weighed the odds and betrayed the other Titans by forming an alliance with the Olympians. When the Titans were defeated, many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia, the Earth and hold up Ouranos, the Sky on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. Thus, he was Atlas Telamon, "enduring Atlas." A common misconception is that Atlas was forced to hold the Earth on his shoulders, but this is incorrect. Classical art shows Atlas holding a Celestial Sphere, not a Globe. In a late story,[7] a giant named Atlas tried to drive a wandering Perseus from the place where the Atlas mountains now stand. Later, out of pity, Athena 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.
|
Atlas (mythology) Subcategories
Atlas (mythology) Articles
|
|
