Atlas

Family: Titans · Role: Titan · First appears: Apollodorus, Library 1.2

🌐 Also appears in: The Aeneid (as Atlas) · The Metamorphoses of Ovid (as Atlas)

Atlas is a Titan of the Titans. In Hesiod’s account, Iapetus married Clymene, who bore Atlas along with Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus: “And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas.” Hesiod also says that Zeus assigned Atlas the lot of upholding the wide heaven, which he does “with unwearying head and arms.”

Apollodorus names Atlas as parent of Iapetus and Asia, and with Pleione he fathered the seven Pleiades: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia. Maia is also called his daughter in Hesiod, while Calypso is identified as his daughter in the Epitome. When Heracles sought the apples of the Hesperides, Atlas brought him three apples and asked him to hold up the sky in his stead, saying he would carry the apples to Eurystheus.

Relationship record

Life events

Iapetus married Clymene, who bore Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus.(Hesiod, Theogony 453-561)
- With: Iapetus Clymene Menoetius Prometheus Epimetheus
- “Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled mad Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus”

Apollodorus, Library 1.2

parent: Iapetus “to Iapetus and Asia was born Atlas”
parent: Asia “to Iapetus and Asia was born Atlas”

Apollodorus, Library 2.5

with Heracles (Atlas exchanged burdens with Hercules.) “But when Atlas had received three apples from the Hesperides, he came to Hercules, and not wishing to support the sphere he said that he would himself carry the apples to Eurystheus, and bade Hercules hold up the sky in his stead.”

Apollodorus, Library 3.10

child: Alcyone “Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters called the Pleiades, born to them at Cyllene in Arcadia , to wit: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia.”
child: Merope “Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters called the Pleiades, born to them at Cyllene in Arcadia , to wit: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia.”
child: Celaeno “Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters called the Pleiades, born to them at Cyllene in Arcadia , to wit: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia.”
child: Electra “Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters called the Pleiades, born to them at Cyllene in Arcadia , to wit: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia.”
child: Sterope (Pleiad) “Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters called the Pleiades, born to them at Cyllene in Arcadia , to wit: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia.”
child: Taygete “Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters called the Pleiades, born to them at Cyllene in Arcadia , to wit: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia.”
child: Maia “Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters called the Pleiades, born to them at Cyllene in Arcadia , to wit: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia.”

Hesiod, Theogony 453-561

parent: Clymene “And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas”
parent: Iapetus “Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled mad Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas”
siblings with Menoetius “And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus”
siblings with Prometheus “And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus”
siblings with Epimetheus “And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus”
with Zeus (Zeus assigned Atlas his burden.) “And Atlas through hard constraint upholds the wide heaven with unwearying head and arms, standing at the borders of the earth before the clear-voiced Hesperides; for this lot wise Zeus assigned to him.”

Hesiod, Theogony 869-975

parent: Maia “Maia, the daughter of Atlas”

Apollodorus, Epitome 7

child: Calypso (parent->child) “There Calypso, daughter of Atlas, received him”

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Extracted from the original text of Greek Mythology. Made with Rho MD.