Greek Mythology Applied to Life: Atlas

You may have seen this picture somewhere before: [an engraving of Atlas carrying a globe on his shoulders]

Or this: [the cover of National Geographic's Atlas of the World]

Or if you're into geography, you probably heard of the Atlas mountains in North Africa: [a map of the Atlas mountains across Morocco and Algeria]

And yet, you see something related: These three terms are called Atlas. Well, the first picture is obvious as to why it is called Atlas: He is a titan in Greek mythology. But what made the word "atlas" as in the map, called Atlas? And how did the Atlas mountains get its name?

First, we need to know who Atlas was. He was the son of Lapetus, one of the twelve titans born from Gaia and Uranos. In the Titanomachy, a war between the titans and the gods, Atlas was on the titan's side, being their main military leader. When the titans lost the war with the gods, Atlas was given a cruel punishment: He would have to hold the celestial sky at the Western edge of the earth. This way, the weight of the sky wouldn't collide with the earth.

The word Atlas thus has come to symbolize endurance, as he endures his pain of carrying the burden of the heavens on his shoulders. One misconception is that people think that Atlas is carrying the globe of earth. But that is not the case. He is actually carrying the celestial globe, which are the stars and constellations.

Now as to how the word Atlas became related to maps, we would have to thank Mercator: Gerardus Mercator named the word "Atlas" after this Greek mythological figure when he was coining the description of "a collection of maps."

The Atlas Mountains, also being named after Atlas, was coined based on a mythological story of Perseus. Perseus was in North Africa when he came across Atlas, and he asked him for hospitality. However, Atlas, fearing a prophecy that one of Zeus's sons would take the golden apples of Hesperides, refused. Perseus was offended, and then turned Atlas into stone by showing Atlas the face of Medusa, which turns any being into stone. The stone-turned Atlas then became the Atlas mountains, and that is how it was named.

Another interesting fact about Atlas is that the Atlantic Ocean was named after him. This is because the people at the time believed that the ocean west of the strait of Gibraltar (where the pillars of Hercules were) was where Atlas was at.

This article has delved into how just the word Atlas applies to so many things in life today, from a collection of maps to the Atlantic Ocean, Greek mythology really influenced how the world works. In the next series, we will explore Greek and Roman Mythology applied to Space. So until next time!