ATLAS
Greek Mythology
Roman Mythology
One of the Titans
This is one of the TITANS in the classical mythology of Greece and Rome. The name, according to various sources, means "the Bearer" or "Daring" or "Sufferer". ATLAS was the son of OCEANID TITANESS CLYMENE/KLYMENE and the TITAN JAPETUS/IAPETUS; his step-brothers were PROMETHEUS, MENOETUS, and EPIMETHEUS; and he was the father of the NYMPHS known as the PLEIADES, HYADES, HESPERIDES, CALYPSO, MAIA, HARMONIA, ELECTRA, and DIONE. ATLAS was also the ruler of ATLANTIS, a vast region of the earth flooded and destroyed by the newly emerging gods headed by ZEUS. In vengeance, ATLAS, with the other TITANS, waged war on the new gods of OLYMUS. However, when the TITANS were defeated, ATLAS was condemned to hold the sky forever on his shoulders at the edge of the known world in North Africa. During this period he was able to have but one period of rest - when the hero HERCULES/HERACLES, needing his help, took his place - However, when the hero PERSEUS returned on the winged horse PEGASUS returned via ATLAS'S place of resriction, bearing the head of a GORGON known as MEDUSA, ATLAS saw the head and was instantly turned to stone. He became the mountains bearing his name in what is now the country of Morocco. When a very early compendium of maps of the country of the world was printed, the cover bore an image of the TITAN holding the world; from this image we now have the word ATLAS, which to this day refers a group of such maps.
Source: Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth