Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ATLAS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 858 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ATLAS , in See also:

Greek See also:mythology, the " endurer," a son of the Titan See also:Iapetus and Clymene (or See also:Asia), See also:brother of See also:Prometheus. See also:Homer, in the Odyssey (i. 52) speaks of him as " one who knows the depths of the whole See also:sea, and keeps the tall pillars which hold See also:heaven and See also:earth asunder." In the first instance he seems to have been a marine creation. The pillars which he supported were thought to See also:rest in the sea, immediately beyond the most western See also:horizon. But as the Greeks' knowledge of the See also:west increased, the name of Atlas was transferred to a See also:hill in the See also:north-west of See also:Africa. Later, he was represented as a See also:king of that See also:district, See also:rich in flocks and herds, and owner of the See also:garden of the See also:Hesperides, who was turned into a rocky See also:mountain when See also:Perseus, to punish him for his inhospitality, showed him the See also:Gorgon's See also:head (See also:Ovid, Metam. iv. 627). Finally, Atlas was explained as the name of a See also:primitive astronomer, who was said to have made the first See also:celestial globe (Diodorus iii. 6o). He was the See also:father of the See also:Pleiades and See also:Hyades; according to Homer, of See also:Calypso. In See also:works of See also:art he is represented as carrying the heavens or the terrestrial globe. The See also:Farnese statue of Atlas in the See also:Naples museum is well known.

The plural See also:

form ATLANTES is the classical See also:term in See also:architecture for the male sculptured figures supporting a superstructure as in the See also:baths at See also:Pompeii, and in the See also:temple at See also:Agrigentum in See also:Sicily. In 18th-See also:century architecture See also:half-figures of men with strong See also:muscular development were used to support balconies ',see See also:CARYATIDES and See also:TELAMONES). A figure of Atlas supporting the heavens is often found as a See also:frontispiece in See also:early collections of maps, and is said to have been first thus used by See also:Mercator. The name is hence applied to avolume of maps (see See also:MAP), and similarly to a See also:volume which contains a See also:tabular conspectus of a subject, such as an atlas of ethnographical, subjects or anatomical plates. It is also used of a large See also:size of See also:drawing See also:paper.

End of Article: ATLAS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ATLANTIS, ATALANTIS, or ATLANTICA 		[next]
ATLAS MOUNTAINS

Site © 2006 - Net Industries