Myths and Legends of the World | Atlas

In Greek mythology, Atlas was a Titan,one of a family of giants who ruled the earth until overthrown by the Greek gods of Olympus a son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymphminor goddess of nature, usually represented as young and beautiful Clymene. After the Titans lost a war against Zeusin Greek mythology, king of the gods and husband of Hera (Roman god Jupiter), Atlas was condemned by Zeus to stand forever holding up the heavens. (A collection of maps has been called an atlas since the 1500s, when the mapmaker Mercator put a picture of Atlas holding up the world—not the heavens—on the title page of his book.) Because the place where Atlas stood to perform his task was the westernmost end of the world known to the ancient Greeks, the ocean near him...