Titan

Atlas

Ἄτλας

Overview

Titan condemned to hold up the heavens after the Titanomachy.

Titan descendants

Celestial sphere, heavens

Son of Iapetus and commonly Clymene or Asia.

Mythic West

Atlas is connected with the Hesperides, the garden of the golden apples, or the mythological figures surrounding Heracles' famous quest.

Beyond Antiquity

Atlas still appears in the modern world through language, science, medicine, astronomy or culture.

Today: A collection of maps.

The geographical sense ultimately derives from Atlas, the Titan associated with bearing the heavens.

Today: The first cervical vertebra, supporting the skull.

It is called the atlas because it supports the head, recalling Atlas bearing the heavens in Greek mythology.

Heracles and the Apples of the Hesperides
Titan who helps obtain the apples in a major tradition