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Description
Son of Jápetus and Clymene.
Consort of Hespera and Pleione.
Second generation Titan.
He was the Titan condemned to hold up the sky (the lifeless body of Uranus) for all eternity after the Titanomachy. Atlas also plays a role in the myths of two of the greatest Greek heroes: Heracles and Perseus. According to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, Atlas was at the ends of the earth, in the far west. Atlas was said to be skilled in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. In antiquity, he was credited with inventing the first celestial sphere. In some texts, he is even credited with the invention of astronomy itself.
Atlas and his brother Menoetius allied with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. When the Titans were defeated, many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand on the western edge of the earth and support the sky on his shoulders. "Enduring Atlas" is how he became known, and he became a doublet of Coeus, the personification of the celestial axis around which the heavens revolve. A common misconception today is that Atlas was forced to hold the Earth on his shoulders, but classical art shows Atlas holding the celestial spheres, not the terrestrial globe.
When Atlas encountered Perseus, the hero asked for shelter, declaring that he was the son of Zeus. Atlas, fearful of a prophecy warning of a son of Zeus stealing his golden apples from his orchard, refuses Perseus' hospitality. In this account, Atlas is turned not just to stone by Perseus, but an entire mountain range. The prophecy did not refer to Perseus' theft of the golden apples, but to Heracles, another son of Zeus and great-grandson of Perseus.
One of the Twelve Labors of the hero Hercules was to fetch some of the golden apples that grow in the garden of Hera, tended by the renowned daughters of Atlas, the Hesperides (also called Atlantis), and guarded by the dragon Ladon. Hercules went to Atlas and offered to support the heavens while Atlas received his daughters' apples. Upon returning with the apples, however, Atlas attempted to trick Hercules into carrying the sky permanently by offering to deliver the apples himself, as anyone who picked up the burden on purpose must carry it forever, or until someone else take him away. Hercules, suspecting that Atlas did not intend to return, pretended to agree to Atlas's offer, asking only that Atlas return to heaven for a few minutes so that Hercules could rearrange his cloak to pad his shoulders. When Atlas dropped the apples and put the heavens back on his shoulders, Hercules took the apples and ran away.
In some versions, Heracles built the two great Pillars of Herakles to keep heaven from earth, freeing Atlas in the same way he freed Prometheus.
With Hespera he generated: The Hesperides (nymphs).
With Pleione he generated: The Pleiades.
With an unknown goddess he fathered: Calypso.

Description
Son of Jápetus and Clymene.
Consort of Hespera and Pleione.
Second generation Titan.
He was the Titan condemned to hold up the sky (the lifeless body of Uranus) for all eternity after the Titanomachy. Atlas also plays a role in the myths of two of the greatest Greek heroes: Heracles and Perseus. According to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, Atlas was at the ends of the earth, in the far west. Atlas was said to be skilled in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. In antiquity, he was credited with inventing the first celestial sphere. In some texts, he is even credited with the invention of astronomy itself.
Atlas and his brother Menoetius allied with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. When the Titans were defeated, many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand on the western edge of the earth and support the sky on his shoulders. "Enduring Atlas" is how he became known, and he became a doublet of Coeus, the personification of the celestial axis around which the heavens revolve. A common misconception today is that Atlas was forced to hold the Earth on his shoulders, but classical art shows Atlas holding the celestial spheres, not the terrestrial globe.
When Atlas encountered Perseus, the hero asked for shelter, declaring that he was the son of Zeus. Atlas, fearful of a prophecy warning of a son of Zeus stealing his golden apples from his orchard, refuses Perseus' hospitality. In this account, Atlas is turned not just to stone by Perseus, but an entire mountain range. The prophecy did not refer to Perseus' theft of the golden apples, but to Heracles, another son of Zeus and great-grandson of Perseus.
One of the Twelve Labors of the hero Hercules was to fetch some of the golden apples that grow in the garden of Hera, tended by the renowned daughters of Atlas, the Hesperides (also called Atlantis), and guarded by the dragon Ladon. Hercules went to Atlas and offered to support the heavens while Atlas received his daughters' apples. Upon returning with the apples, however, Atlas attempted to trick Hercules into carrying the sky permanently by offering to deliver the apples himself, as anyone who picked up the burden on purpose must carry it forever, or until someone else take him away. Hercules, suspecting that Atlas did not intend to return, pretended to agree to Atlas's offer, asking only that Atlas return to heaven for a few minutes so that Hercules could rearrange his cloak to pad his shoulders. When Atlas dropped the apples and put the heavens back on his shoulders, Hercules took the apples and ran away.
In some versions, Heracles built the two great Pillars of Herakles to keep heaven from earth, freeing Atlas in the same way he freed Prometheus.
With Hespera he generated: The Hesperides (nymphs).
With Pleione he generated: The Pleiades.
With an unknown goddess he fathered: Calypso.