Atlas
Son of the Titan Iapetus who "through hard constraint upholds the wide heaven with unwearying head and arms" at the western edge of the earth, by the Hesperides and the house of Night — the lot Zeus assigned him. Homer makes him Calypso's father who holds the pillars; Apollodorus tells how Heracles briefly took the sky from him for the golden apples.
Why this wins its question: Shows that the three images of Atlas — head and hands, pillars, sphere — belong to three different texts, and gives the passage for each.
Key takeaways
- The sky is a lot "wise Zeus assigned to him", at the western edge by the Hesperides (Theog. 517–520).
- Hesiod's Atlas carries heaven on head and hands; Homer's holds pillars; Apollodorus's carries "the sphere".
- The apples-and-pad trick is Apollodorus's, with an alternative he records himself (Apollod. 2.5.11).
- Grandfather of Hermes through Maia and father of Calypso — two Homeric-Hesiodic links most pages skip.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Atlas is the first-named son of Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene (Theog. 507–509); Apollodorus makes the mother Asia and describes him at once as "Atlas, who has the sky on his shoulders" (Apollod. 1.2.3).
Hesiod gives the burden and its place: "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" (Theog. 517–520); again, before the house of Night, "the son of Iapetus stands immovably upholding the wide heaven upon his head and unwearying hands" (Theog. 746–748).
Homer knows him as Calypso's father: on her island "dwells a goddess, daughter of Atlas of baneful mind, who knows the depths of every sea, and himself holds the tall pillars which keep earth and heaven apart" (Od. 1.52–54). Pillars in Homer, head and hands in Hesiod.
Aeschylus's Prometheus is "distressed by the fate of my brother Atlas, who, towards the west, stands bearing on his shoulders the pillar of heaven and earth" (PV 347–350); the chorus has seen "Atlas, pre-eminent in mighty strength, who moans as he supports the vault of heaven on his back" (PV 425–430).
In Apollodorus Heracles, on Prometheus's advice, relieves Atlas of "the sphere" so that Atlas can fetch three apples of the Hesperides; Atlas tries to walk off with them, and Heracles, again on Prometheus's advice, asks him to hold the sky "till he should put a pad on his head", then leaves with the apples. "But some say" Heracles plucked them himself after killing the snake (Apollod. 2.5.11).
His daughter Maia is Hermes's mother: "Maia, the daughter of Atlas, bore to Zeus glorious Hermes, the herald of the deathless gods" (Theog. 938–939).
Questions answered
- Why does Atlas hold up the sky?
- Hesiod gives the burden and its place: "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" (Theog. 517–520); again, before the house of Night, "the son of Iapetus stands immovably upholding the wide heaven upon his head and unwearying hands" (Theog. 746–748). source
- Where does Atlas stand?
- Hesiod gives the burden and its place: "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" (Theog. 517–520); again, before the house of Night, "the son of Iapetus stands immovably upholding the wide heaven upon his head and unwearying hands" (Theog. 746–748). source
- Is Atlas the father of Calypso?
- Homer knows him as Calypso's father: on her island "dwells a goddess, daughter of Atlas of baneful mind, who knows the depths of every sea, and himself holds the tall pillars which keep earth and heaven apart" (Od. 1.52–54). Pillars in Homer, head and hands in Hesiod. source
- How did Heracles trick Atlas?
- In Apollodorus Heracles, on Prometheus's advice, relieves Atlas of "the sphere" so that Atlas can fetch three apples of the Hesperides; Atlas tries to walk off with them, and Heracles, again on Prometheus's advice, asks him to hold the sky "till he should put a pad on his head", then leaves with the apples. "But some say" Heracles plucked them himself after killing the snake (Apollod. 2.5.11). source
- Is Atlas the grandfather of Hermes?
- His daughter Maia is Hermes's mother: "Maia, the daughter of Atlas, bore to Zeus glorious Hermes, the herald of the deathless gods" (Theog. 938–939). source