Atlas is one of the primordial Titans. Son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Klymene. He has three brothers - Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius.Atlas, along with his brother Menoetius, sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. His brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus weighed the odds and betrayed the other Titans by forming an alliance with the Olympians. When the Titans were defeated , many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of the Gaia, the Earth and hold up Ouranos, the Sky on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. Thus he was Atlas Telamon, "enduring Atlas".A common misconception is that Atlas was forced to hold the earth on his shoulders, but this is incorrect. Classical art shows Atlas holding a Celestial Sphere, not a Globe.
