1) In
Greek Mythology, son of the
Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene, and brother of
Prometheus. Father of the Hesperides
?, Hyades
?, and Pleiades
?. When he fought in the war between the Titans and the gods of
Mount Olympus,
Zeus decreed that, as punishment, he should forever bear the burden of carrying the heavens and the earth upon his shoulders. Was turned to stone by
Perseus using Medusa
?'s head in the place where the Atlas mountains (see below) now stand. Also known as the king of
Atlantis.
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?
Reference:
- "Atlas"
- Encyclopedia Mythica
- http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles/a/atlas.html
- [Page accessed on April 7, 2001]
Holding up the earth doesn't seem to be classical, at any rate - none of the authors know anything about it.
2) A
moon of
Saturn is named after Atlas.
3) A collection of maps, often with additional geopolitical or social statistics, usually bound into book form. The name 'Atlas' derives from the custom of adorning the cover or title page of such collections with a picture of the Atlas of
Greek mythology holding the
Earth on his shoulders. This usage of the term dates from Gerardus Mercator
?'s
Atlas Sive Cosmographicae, (Atlas, or Description of the Universe) of 1585-1595. The earliest atlas was
Ptolemy's
Geography of c. 150AD.
4) In
Anatomy, the topmost vertebra of the spine, which (along with the Axis) forms the joint connecting the skull and spine. The Atlas and Axis are specialized to allow a greater range of motion than normal vertebrae.
5) In
Geology/
Geography, a mountain system in northwest
Africa extending about 2400km through
Morocco,
Algeria, and
Tunisia, and including
The Rock of Gibraltar. The highest peak is Toubkal, with an elevation of 4165 m (13,665 ft), located in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the
Mediterranean &
Atlantic coastlines from the
Sahara Desert.
6) The Atlas, first tested in 1959, was the United States' first
successful
ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). It was a
multistage, liquid-fueled (liquid oxygen and kerosene)
rocket, with
three engines which produced 162,000kg of thrust
?.
Though never used in combat, it was used to launch the Mariner?
space probes used to study Mercury, Venus, and Mars
(1962-1973); and to launch all but the first two the Mercury
missions (1962-1963). The Mercury missions resulted in the first
American to orbit the earth (Lt. Col. John H. Glenn Jr.) in February
of 1962. (Major Yuri A. Gargarin, a Soviet cosmonaut was the first
human in orbit, in April of 1961.)
7) 'Atlantes', the plural form of 'Atlas', is an architectural term for support columns sculpted in the form of a man. Compare Caryatids
?. Also the basis of the word '
Atlantic'.
Other uses:
- Atlas Beetle? (insect)
- Atlas Cedar? (tree)
- an early multiprocessing digital computer, CPL was going to implemented on it.
- something in mathematics, a collection of maps that cover some space? Something to do with [algebraic topology]? or something like it.
This is a classic case for not having content on this page, only links.
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