Atlas

Titan. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus by the Oceanid Clymene or Asia. He was the brother of Menoetius, Prometheus and Epimetheus.

When his brother Prometheus tried to persuade him not to go to war against the Olympians, he did not listen. Zeus punished Atlas by making the Titan carry the weight of the sky upon his shoulders.

See Creation, Theogony of Hesiod.

Atlas married Pleïone (Pleione), daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. He was the father of seven daughters known as the Pleiades: Electra, Taÿete (Tayete), Maia, Celaeno, Alcyone, Asterope (Sterope) and Merope. Only Merope had a mortal husband, Sisyphus, king of Corinth.

Atlas was also possibly the father of the Hesperides (Daughters of the Evening Star), the guardian of the golden apples in the garden of Hesperides. By Hesperis, Atlas was the father of Aegle, Arethusa, Erytheia, Hespere (Hespera), Hespereia, Hesperusa and Hestia. Others said that the Hesperides might have been daughters of Erebus and Nyx, or of Phorcys and Ceto, or of Zeus and Themis.

One story said that the hero Perseus, who was returning home with the head of Gorgon Medusa, turned the Titan into stone, more out of pity than hostility.

This tale would contradict Atlas encountering another hero, Heracles, who was a great grandson of Perseus. Heracles was performing the eleventh labour which involved fetching the golden apples of Hesperides. Atlas failed to trick Heracles into shouldering the burden of heaven. Read the Twelve Labours of Heracles.