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story there are different versions, and Hercules is often credited on releasing Atlas, by building the Pillars of Hercules to hold the heavens in Atlas' place.

The second most popular story containing Atlas, concerns Perseus, and could not have occurred if the adventure of Hercules had done so. Perseus, was the great-grandfather of Hercules, and had encountered Atlas in his wanderings. Atlas annoyed Perseus by attempting to drive him off and refused him hospitality, at which point Perseus revealed the head of Medusa causing Atlas to turn to stone. Of course Atlas was not stone by the time Hercules came along.

The multitude of stories involving Atlas makes it appear that there may be more than one Atlas, Plato names the first king of Atlantis as a mortal Atlas. Whilst in other stories there is a mythical king of Mauretania also called Atlas. The Titan Atlas can though be reconciled as the god who gave the gift of astronomy to man, as the king of Arcadia and also of a kingdom in North-west Africa.

The stories though give rise to a number of offspring from Atlas, mothered by different goddesses. The Trojans are said to have been descendant of the Titan, from the Pleiadas, through the lineage of Dardanus. Other notable children included the Hesperidas and Calypso.

In addition to being intertwined in many Greek stories, the name of Atlas has transferred through to modern day. Atlas is often depicted as a symbol of strength, kneeling on one knee with a globe on his back and shoulders. Overtime the image may have been misinterpreted to show the globe as the earth, rather than a Celestial Sphere. The name Atlas has now become interlinked with that of a book of maps, this though is another misconception. Gerardus Mercator, the 16th Century Flemish cartographer, named his book of maps after King Atlas, the mythical king of Mauretania, although it is the image of the Greek Atlas that is linked with the book.

Atlas has passed from myth into modern symbolism for strength, within Greek mythology though he played a surprisingly prominent role for a non-Olympian, especially for one who was never in favour with Zeus

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