Atlas

Atlas personified the quality of endurance. He was the son of Iapetus and Clymene (or Asia), and brother of Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. Atlas was the god who instructed mankind in the art of astronomy, a tool which was used by sailors in navigation and farmers in measuring the seasons.   Atlas was one of the Titans who took part in their war against Zeus, for which as a punishment he was condemned to stand at the western edge of the Earth (Gaea) and hold up Heaven (Uranus) on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. According to other version, Atlas was said to have been appointed guardian of the pillars which held earth and sky apart.  

Atlas is said to have been the father of the Pleiades by Pleione or by Hesperis, of the Hyades and Hesperides by Aethra, and of Oenomaus and Maea by Sterope.

                                          Hercules encountered the Atlas during his quest for the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. Hercules agreed to take the heavens upon his shoulders while Atlas fetched the apples. In some versions, Heracles built the two Pillars to hold the sky away from the earth, freed Atlas. 
                              According to other version Perseus came to Atlas to ask for shelter, which he refused, whereupon Perseus by means of the head of Medusa changed him into mount Atlas, on which heaven rested with all its stars. In some version Atlas is represent as a powerful king, who possessed great knowledge of the courses of the stars, and who was the first who taught men that heaven had the form of a globe.

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