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Zeus did not consign Atlas to Tartarus, but kept him apart, possibly because he knew that he was still a danger and could threaten him and the other Olympians. This fear was probably justified given the great strength of the deity and his cleverness. It was believed that the son of Iapetus would try and rescue the other Titans and begin the war again. Zeus wanted to ensure that he was no longer a threat to his rule and that of the Olympians, named after the new home of the Gods, on Mount Olympus. Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the very edge of the Earth. Knowing Atlas great strength, he forced the Titan to hold up the sky and the heavens, which was placed on his shoulders by the King of the Olympians <ref>Hesiod, Theogony, 8</ref>. This punishment was to last for all eternity, and in one account Zeus freed some of the Titans, but Atlas was not given a reprieve, Naturally, holding up the heavens was very hard work and Atlas is often shown under great stress trying to keep the sky upright. It was believed that the defeated Titan held up the world in what is known modern Morocco. In the ancient world, this was the westernmost edge of the world, according to the poet Hesiod < ref>Hesiod, Theogony, 8</ref>. There is a widespread misconception that the Titan was sentenced to hold the earth up. This is because many Roman and Greek depictions of the Titan have him holding up a sphere. To the ancient, the sky and the heavens were conceived of as a huge sphere, which later ages interpreted as the globe. People, especially in the Renaissance, believed that the Titan was holding the earth on his broad shoulders. Most Greeks were pre-scientific people and they understood the myth as indicating why the heavens were able to stay fixed above the earth without any supports <ref>. Graves, Robert Greek Myths (Pelican: London, 1997), p 116</ref>.

==Atlas and the Greek heroes==