King Atlas

 

◙ King Atlas was king of Mauretania, an area that equates to modern day Morocco. Atlas was highly skilled in mathematics, astronomy and philosophy. To make sense of the Perseus/Atlas myth it is often suggested it was the king who was visited by the hero, rather than the Titan.

 

◙ The existence of King Atlas also brings about the confusion as to whether Atlas holds the sky or the earth upon his shoulder. In the 16th Century, the Flemish cartographer, Gerardus Mercator named his collection of maps after the Mauretanian king, but the image of the Greek Titan was the one used to illustrate the work; the Titan holding the terrestrial globe.

 

◙ The confusing timeline of Atlas has been explained in part by the fact that there was more than one Atlas mentioned in ancient sources. There was an Atlas who was a son of Poseidon, but more famously there was a legendary king Atlas as well.