Roman statue depicting Atlas (c. AD 150), probably modeled after a Greek original
In Greek traditions, Atlas is a Titan condemned to hold up the heavens after the Titanomachy. This is sometimes erroneously depicted in the modern day as Atlas holding up the earth, but in antiquity, the heavens were depicted as a sphere.
During his labor to obtain golden apples, Heracles temporarily relieved Atlas of holding the heavens while Atlas got the apples for him. Atlas tried to convince Heracles to let him give the apples to Hera while Heracles would continue to hold the heavens, but Heracles used his wit to give the heavens back to Atlas, taking the apples and leaving.[1]
According to the Greek poet Polyidus, Atlas was turned to stone by Perseus using Medusa's severed head, becoming the Atlas Mountains in North Africa; the account by Polyidus, however, survives only in a fragment.[2] This narrative would be repeated in Ovid's Metamorphoses.[3]
Design
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Origin: Greece Prometheus's brother and a strong hero. After the Titans lost the battle against Zeus and the other gods, he was punished. His sentence was to hold up the weight of heaven for all eternity. He was later turned to stone out of pity.