Question: Did Atlas hold the earth on his shoulders? Original sources indicate he stood on the earth and held up the heavens. Is holding the earth as well a modern retelling or does it have classical roots?
- The earth version dates at least from Rennaissance? times, if not before. Could the change have been due to 'artistic license'? (Easier to draw someone holding the Earth than the sky.) Or just a mistranslation?
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Holding up the earth doesn't seem to be classical, at any rate - none of the authors know anything about it.