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Atlas was one of the older gods of Greece, known as the Titans. They had come to dominate the world and the cosmos after Cronos had usurped his father's throne as King of the Gods. The myth of Atlas is widely believed to have originated before the Hellenes or Greek made their home in Greece. Ancient sources report that he was originally a deity in the Pelasgian Pantheon, these were the original inhabitants of what is modern Greece. There is no one version of the birth of Atlas, but most agree that he was the son of the Titan Iapetus and his wife Clymeme, although some accounts claim that it was the Goddess Asia. Iapetus was the son of Uranus and Gaia and was one of the leading Titans. Atlas had many brothers and the best known of them was Prometheus. In most of the early accounts of his myth, he was married to Pleoine, a nymph. In nearly every account Atlas is portrayed as gigantic and strong, big even for a Titan. Despite his strength, the god was incredibly wise and intelligent. According to Homer ‘he was deep minded’ this was an epitaph that indicated he was far-seeing and possessed great knowledge<ref>Homer, Odyssey 4. 5</ref>. He and his wife had numerous children the best known, were the nymphs Hyades, Hyas, and the Pleiades. In some accounts, Atlas fathered the nymph Calypso, who is a character in the Odyssey.

==Atlas and the war of the gods==

When Zeus escaped being killed by his father Cronus, he began to fulfill a prophecy that he would become King of the Gods. When Zeus tried to claim the rulership of the cosmos, he began a ten-year war between him and his siblings and the older deities, the Titans. Atlas was to become the leader of the Titans in their war with Zeus and his allies, the future Olympians. For ten years, they battled each other in a cosmic conflict known as the Titanomachy, for the control of the world. Atlas was the greatest foe of Zeus, who greatly feared him. It appears that the son of Iapetus was a brilliant tactician and leader. During this war, it appears that Atlas fought against his brother Prometheus. However, Zeus was able to secure thunderbolts, from the Cyclopes and this helped him to defeat the Titans and to become the King of the Gods. The Titans were utterly defeated, and Zeus had Cronus and other Titans imprisoned in Tartus, an underworld realm, like the Christian idea of hell <ref>Hesiod, Theogony, iv</ref>. However, it seems that the greatest of the Olympians had special plans for Atlas whom he clearly hated and feared, on account of his great strength and wisdom.

==The punishment of Atlas==

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>.