Atlas Mythology
According to Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the Titans. He was the son of Iapetus (one of the first original 12 Titans) and the Oceanid named Asia or Clymene. Clymene was the daughter of Oceanus. The couple gave birth to Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. Other versions of the story say that Gaea and Aether so this is open for discussion.
Atlas and his brother, Menoetius sided with the Titans during the War against the Titans. This was consisted of the Olympians waging war against Cronus (one of the Titans), and the Olympians. The Olympians were lead by Zeus and his other brothers and sisters. Cronus was their father and the children were getting revenge for what their father did to them when they were born. It seems that when each of Cronus’ and Rhea’s children (except for Zeus) were born, Cronus swallowed them. He did this because he had gotten word that one of his children would overthrow him and rule the other gods. Zeus was the only one who was not swallowed because Rhea (his mother) hid him in a cave after he was born. She then went back and gave Cronus an herb which made him regurgitate and when he did, the other children came up too. When they were older they vowed to get revenge.
After the war Zeus became the ruler of all gods and humans and he condemned Atlas to stand on the western edge of the Earth ( Gaea) and hold up the sky (Uranus). On his shoulders so the two would not touch and resume their giving birth to more children. As some have been misinformed, Atlas holds a celestial sphere, not the earth.
Another interesting story about Atlas is when Hercules had to perform the 12 labor tasks for a king. One of these tasks involved getting the Golden apples which grew in the orchard of Hera. The apples were tended by Hesperides and guarded by the dragon known as Ladon. Hesperides was the son of Atlas so Hercules asked him for help in getting the apples. Hercules promised Atlas that he would hold the sky for him while he got the apples. Hercules agreed and got the apples. He then thought he would fool Hercules into holding the sky forever so he offered to deliver the apples for Hercules. Hercules suspected he was being tricked so he told Atlas he would hold the sky forever if only Atlas would hold it for a few minutes while he adjusted the cloak on his shoulders to relieve the pressure of the sky. Atlas fell for it and when he took the sky back onto his shoulders, Hercules took the apples and left.
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