Atlas Held Up the Sky, Not the Earth
An atlas is a book of maps. It is named after the Titan Atlas, who in Greek myth held up the heavens rather than the globe.
An atlas is a bound collection of maps. The name came from a picture: the cartographer Gerardus Mercator put an image of the Titan Atlas on the title page of his map collection in 1595, and the word followed. In the myth Atlas holds up the sky, not the Earth — the familiar image of a man carrying a globe is a later invention. The first vertebra in the neck is also called the atlas, because it holds up the head.
- A book of maps. *A road atlas.*
- A collection of illustrations. *An anatomical atlas.*
- The first neck vertebra. *The atlas supports the skull.*
- Atlas Mountains — a range in north-west Africa. *The Atlas Mountains.*
- Atlantic — named from the same figure. *The Atlantic Ocean.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | atlas | A world atlas. |
| Plural | atlases | Old atlases. |
| Anatomical | atlas | The atlas vertebra. |
| Related | Atlantic | The Atlantic. |
| Greek | Atlas | The Titan. |
- Look it up in the road atlas.Maps.
- The atlas vertebra allows the head to nod.Anatomy.
- Mercator put Atlas on his title page in 1595.History.
Things named after Atlas
- Atlas — the book of maps, from Mercator's frontispiece
- Atlantic Ocean — the sea beyond the Atlas Mountains
- Atlas Mountains — where the Titan was said to stand
- Atlas vertebra — the bone that supports the head
- Atlantis — the island of Atlas, in Plato's story
From Greek *Atlas*, the Titan condemned to hold up the sky. Mercator's 1595 collection of maps carried his image, and the word became the name for the genre.
Did Atlas hold up the Earth?
No. In Greek myth he holds up the sky. The globe on his shoulders is a later artistic convention.
Why is a neck bone called the atlas?
Because it carries the head, as the Titan carried the heavens. The vertebra below it is the axis.