According to the Theogony, Atlas fought alongside his kin in the Titanomachy, when the Olympians rose up against the Titans. Little is known about Atlas’ origins, though Hesiod offers some insight into his role in Greek mythology.
Finally, Atlas had a son named Hyas, an archer and hunter. They achieved fame as the companions of Artemis and later transformed into stars to elude the amorous pursuits of the hunter Orion.Ītlas's other daughters included Calypso, an enchantress famed for her seven-year affair with Odysseus Dione Maera and the Hyades, a group of nymphs known as rain-makers. With either Pleione or Aethra, he had seven daughters known collectively as the Pleiades (Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope and Merope). With Hesperis, Atlas sired the mysterious Hesperides, sometimes known as the Atlantides. Ītlas had a number of lovers, including Hesperis, Pleione, and the Oceanid Aethra. Some sources named three additional brothers: Anchiale, Buphagus, and Dryas. Atlas had several brothers, including Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius. According to the best-known tradition, he was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene, though there was another version in which his mother was Asia (also an Oceanid). Some sources have even described Atlas as the inventor of astronomy: “For Atlas had worked out the science of astrology to a degree surpassing others and had ingeniously discovered the spherical nature of the stars.” FamilyĪtlas had a large family with connections across Greek mythology. According to a number of ancient sources, such as Diodorus of Sicily’s Library of History, Atlas was a master philosopher, mathematician, astrologer and astronomer. AttributesĪ figure of prodigious strength, Atlas famously bore the world on his shoulders and was renowned for his wit and wisdom. ErWin CC BY-ND 2.0 PronunciationĪtlas was often given the epithet Telamōn (“enduring”), due to his toils as the bearer of heaven. According to this theory, the Greek name “Atlas” was derived from adrar, the Berber word for the mountains that came to represent the doomed Titan (see below).Ītlas Mountains range, as seen in Morocco. Īn alternative etymology suggests a North African origin for Atlas’ name, tying it to the Atlas Mountains in northwestern Africa. Some modern scholars, however, insist that Atlas’ name is pre-Greek in origin. The name “Atlas” was likely the result of joining the prefix a- with the ancient Greek word tlēnai, meaning “to bear.” The latter may have been used in reference to Atlas’ reputation as the bearer of the celestial sphere.
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