ZAP’S FACTS!
GREEK

Atlas was forced to hold up the sky on his shoulders forever.

According to Greek myth, a Titan named Atlas lost a war against the gods - and his punishment was to carry the heavens for all time.

1 min read
Atlas was forced to hold up the sky on his shoulders forever.
THE FULL STORY

Atlas was a Titan, one of the giant beings the Greeks said ruled the world before the Olympian gods took over. According to the legend, Atlas chose the wrong side in a huge war between the Titans and the gods. The gods won, and Zeus needed a punishment for the losing leader.

Zeus sentenced Atlas to stand at the western edge of the world and hold the entire sky on his shoulders, forever. The Greeks said this was incredibly heavy work, because without him the heavens would crash down onto the Earth. He could never put it down or take a break.

Many people think Atlas held up the planet Earth, but in the original myth it was the sky. The confusion came hundreds of years later when mapmakers put pictures of him on book covers carrying a globe. That is also why we call any big book of maps an atlas today.

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