Atlas
Atlas names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Atlas in Grecian mythology
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
in Grecian mythology, one of the Titans. He was the son of Japetus and Clymene, and married Pleione, daughter of Oceanus. The details of the myth vary greatly. According to Hesiod, Atlas took part in the Titan War. The victorious Zeus condemned him to stand at the western extremity of the earth, and support the sky on his shoulders and hands. Hawthorne retells the story in The Wonder Book. While searching for the golden apples of the Hesperides, Hercules came to Atlas, who offered to get the apples if Hercules would only relieve him of his burden. This Hercules agreed to do. But Atlas, although he brought the apples, as he had promised, was unwilling to resume his task. Hercules cunningly appeared to submit; but he asked Atlas to hold the sky just a minute, that he might assume a more comfortable position. Atlas innocently consented. Hercules seized his golden apples and escaped. Another story is that Atlas was a rich king, living in that part of the earth where the sun goes down. He was larger than all other men. Perseus, after the slaughter of Medusa, paused for rest and food in the kingdom of Atlas. The king, fearing that he would be robbed of the golden apples in his garden, which were his special pride, refused to receive the guest. Perseus, turning away his own face, held up the Gorgon's head, which he carried with him. This possessed the same power in death that it had had in life, and Atlas was changed into stone. His beard and hair became forests; his shoulders, huge cliffs; his head a summit. Upon the mountain thus formed from his great bulk, it pleased the gods to rest the sky. The myth is connected in name, at least, with a mass of mountains in northwestern Africa, now included in Morocco. The altitude of the highest peak is 14,600 feet, fully sufficient to suggest the legend. Among the later writers, the Titan Atlas was represented as endowed with wisdom. He was especially learned in the subject of astronomy. The Pleiades, sometimes called Atlantides, were his daughters. The word atlas in anatomy designates the first vertebra of the neck, which supports the head. The name is, of course, derived from the old legend of Atlas supporting the sky. Our use of the term atlas to designate a volume of maps sprang from the customary employment of a figure of Atlas crouching beneath his burden to adorn the margin of a map or to fill in a blank space.
Atlas a mountain chain in northwestern Africa
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a mountain chain in northwestern Africa. It runs from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, traversing Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis. The system consists in the main of two mountain folds. The little Atlas is nearest the sea coast; the great Atlas borders the Sahara. The two folds are separated in places by sandy plains, a hundred miles wide, and again they knot together. The highest peak of the little Atlas rises to a height of 7,611 feet; the highest peaks of the great Atlas are from 11,000 to 14,600 feet high. The range reaches its greatest altitude in Morocco. The mountain folds are composed chiefly of limestones, clays, schists, and gneiss. There are veins of copper, iron, silver, and lead. The Atlas region is not particularly deficient in moisture. There are sections of great fertility. The mountains are covered for the most part with forests of oak, pine, poplar, and wild olives. Grasses, shrubs, and flowering plants abound. The loftiest summits rise above the timber line, and, though in a sub-tropical latitude, they are seldom without a covering of snow. Numerous rivers rise in the mountains, but all are short. Those on one side reach the Atlantic or the Mediterranean. Streams on the other side are lost in the sands of the Sahara. Springs reappearing give rise here and there to an oasis. The range is by no means formidable to travelers. Caravans, following well known lines of travel, wind through rocky defiles. The French coast is well provided with railways. Several long spurs reach up into the more populous interior, but no line (1910) has as yet crossed the main range into southern Algeria. See Algeria ; Morocco ; Fez
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an extensive mountain system in north Africa, starting near Cape Nun, on the Atlantic Ocean, traversing Morocco, Algiers and Tunis, and terminating on the coast of the Mediterranean; divided generally into two parallel ranges, running W. to E., the Greater Atlas lying toward the Sahara, and the Lesser Atlas toward the Mediterranean. The principal chain is about 1,500 miles long, and the principal peaks rise above or approach the line of perpetual congelation. The highest elevations are almost 15,000 feet, many other peaks averaging 11,000 feet. Silver, antimony, lead, copper, iron, etc., are among the minerals. The vegetation is chiefly European in character, except on the low grounds and next the desert.
Atlas in Greek mythology
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in Greek mythology, the name of a Titan, whom Zeus condemned to bear the vault of heaven. The same name is given to a collection of maps and ATLAS charts, and was first used by Gerard Mercator in the 16th century, the figure of Atlas bearing the globe being given on the title-pages of such works.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The myth stands as Aiton's told it in 1910 — Hesiod and Ovid are still the sources, and nothing has been discovered to alter them. The geography has been corrected in detail: the 14,600-foot summit quoted by Aiton's and the "almost 15,000 feet" of Collier's in 1921 are both too generous, since Jbel Toubkal, the highest peak in the range and in North Africa, measures 4,167 metres (13,671 feet). Since the 1960s the Atlas has been understood as a product of plate tectonics, thrown up by the slow collision of Africa with Europe — the same collision that makes the range seismically dangerous, as the earthquake of 8 September 2023 in the High Atlas south of Marrakesh showed, killing some 2,900 people. Aiton's noted that as of 1910 no railway had yet crossed the main range into southern Algeria; roads such as the Tizi n'Tichka pass now carry traffic over the High Atlas, but no railway crosses it to this day.
Written for this edition, 2026.