The myth of Atlas, the doomed titan

The myth of Atlas tells us about one of the 12 titans of Greek mythology. These were a race of gods who would have ruled during the early ages of man. They reigned over an ideal world, in which human beings were totally pure and immortal.

The titans were the predecessors of the 12 Olympian gods. The latter, led by Zeus, fought against them and overthrew them in the War of the Titans, also known as the Titanomachy. Upon being defeated, most of the titans were imprisoned in the deepest region of the underworld.

The myth of Atlas says that this titan was precisely one of the victims of that fabulous war, in which those of his lineage were defeated forever. This character is also known as “Atalante”, a word that appears to come from a root meaning ‘to hold’ or ‘to bear’.

The Fall of the Titans, Rubens

The myth of Atlas

According to the myth of Atlas, this titan was the son of Iapetus, also a titan, son of Uranus (god of thunder) and Gaia (the earth goddess); and the nymph Clymene, one of the 3,000 oceanids. His brothers were Epimetheus, Menoetius and the famous Prometheus..

Atlas married Hesperis, a minor goddess who was guardian of daytime. She reigned from the first hour of dawn until the first hour of dusk. She and Atlas gave birth to the Hesperides, nymphs who were called “goddesses of the sunset.”. Later, they would be tasked with a magical mission.

The myth of Atlas indicates that during his youth, this titan reigned in the area of ​​Arcadia a place where one of the great treasures for the Greeks was: a garden that belonged to Hera (goddess of marriage). When Hera celebrated her wedding to Zeus, the goddess Gaia gave her some beautiful branches with golden apples.

With those branches, the goddess Hera He planted his garden and there all the trees produced golden fruits.. Furthermore, whoever tasted these fruits obtained immortality. The goddess commissioned the Hesperides to take care of her garden. For this reason, it began to be called the garden of the Hesperides or the “nymphs of the evening.”

Atlas and Hercules

According to the myth of Atlas, it was precisely this titan who led the fight against the Olympian gods. When the latter defeated them, Atlas was condemned to carry the sky on his shoulders.. He had to fulfill that task, right near where his kingdom used to be: near the garden of the Hesperides.

It is said that he was carrying out his tiring work when Hercules suddenly appeared. This hero was carrying out the 12 jobs that had been imposed on him and one of them was to obtain some apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Since Atlas was the father of these nymphs, Hercules asked for his help to complete his mission.

The hero offered to hold the sky with his shoulders, while Atlas went to gather the golden fruits of the garden.. Altas accepted and carried out the task, just as he had promised. However, upon returning, the titan decided that he no longer wanted to carry such a weight anymore. He wanted to leave Hercules doing his job.

Hercules

The misfortune of Atlas

Hercules decided to trick the titan to get rid of his burden. He pretended that he agreed to take his place carrying the sky, but asked him to give him a moment before doing so to fix the cape he was wearing, since it made him uncomfortable. Atlas naively accepted the deal. When he had the sky on his shoulders again, Hercules took the opportunity to escape.

Some time later he had a visit from another of the great mythological heroes: Perseus. He came to the Titan, requesting his hospitality and announcing that he was the son of Zeus. However, the myth of Atlas says that he distrusted the visitor, because he remembered an old prophecy made by the goddess Themis. This said that one of Zeus’s sons would steal everything from him, including the garden of the Hesperides.

Remembering the prophecy, Atlas denied Perseus his hospitality. Faced with this rejection, the latter took out the head of Medusa, which he was carrying in a sack, and put it in front of the titan’s eyes. At that moment, Atlas was turned into a gigantic stone, which from then on would be known as the Atlas Mountains..

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