2007-01-10 05:08:39 · 13 answers · asked by angeloldgarcia 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
The Greeks didn't think the earth was flat - they knew it was a globe. Even people in Columbus' time didn't think the earth was flat - that's a myth. They only disagreed with Columbus in that they thought the arth was bigger than he did - and, as it turns out, they were right. :)
2007-01-10 06:00:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Greek God Holding Earth
2016-12-31 03:51:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Atlas Holding The World
2016-09-29 01:56:08 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The image you are referring to was first created in the mid 1500's by the Belgian cartographer Gerard Mercator, when he put it on the cover of his first book of world maps. He invented the Mercator projection method of map drawing, which was by far the most accurate style for navigation purposes of the time. It was well known that the Earth was round, it had been proved such by the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes in the third century BC, and never really doubted since. That many Europeans (other than peasants) believed otherwise is a myth.
Mercator named his book after the mythical philosopher King Atlas of Mauretania (the Atlas mountains are also named for him).
The other Atlas was a Titan who fought against the gods, and was sentenced by Zeus to bear the heavens upon his shoulders for eternity. His legend was later attributed to the mountains because of their name. If you look carefully at the image of Atlas holding the globe, you will see it is the heavens he is holding, not the Earth.
The book became incredibly popular, and the title of atlas came to be given to any book of maps.
2007-01-10 05:43:09 · answer #4 · answered by Diocletian 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Atlas wasn't a God actually, he was a Titan. Titans were the Generation before the Gods. The images seen today of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders are MODERN images. Though the story of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders was common in that time, there were very few images of it.
2007-01-10 09:42:24 · answer #5 · answered by vlfranklin1999 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"The origin of the term atlas is a common source of misconception, perhaps because there are two different mythical figures named 'Atlas' associated with astrology and mapmaking.
"King Atlas, a mythical King of Mauretania in Libya, was, according to legend, a wise philosopher, mathematician and astronomer who supposedly made the first celestial globe. It was this Atlas that Mercator was referring to when he first used the name 'Atlas', and he included a depiction of the King on the title-page.
However, the more widely known Atlas is a figure from Greek mythology. He is the son of the Titan Iapetus and Clymene (or Asia), brother of Prometheus. Atlas was punished by Zeus and made to bear the weight of the heavens and earth on his back. In his epic Odyssey, Homer refers to this Atlas as "one who knows the depths of the whole sea, and keeps the tall pillars who hold heaven and earth asunder".
In works of art, this Atlas is represented as carrying the heavens or the terrestrial globe on his shoulders. The earliest such depiction is the Farnese Atlas, now housed at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Napoli in Naples, Italy. This figure is frequently found on the cover or title-pages of atlases. This is particularly true of atlases published by Dutch publishers during the second half of the seventeenth century. The image became associated with Dutch merchants, and a statue of this figure adorns the front of the World Trade Center in Amsterdam.
The first publisher to associate the Titan Atlas with a group of maps was Lafreri, on the title-page to "Tavole Moderne Di Geografia De La Maggior Parte Del Mondo Di Diversi Autori ...". However, he did not use the word "atlas" in the title of his work."
2007-01-10 05:40:32 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
The ancient greeks never thought the Earth was flat they had enough proof that the earth was round. A flat-earth theory developed in renaissance Europe.
2007-01-10 17:58:57 · answer #7 · answered by RL2010 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He is holding up the heavens or sky, not the earth. The globe represents the cellesital spheres and is often marked with known constellations.
These are artist renderings of this God. None have been found of this God before the 2nd century.
2007-01-10 05:20:15 · answer #8 · answered by harrisnish 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The flat earth theory was published by the Catholic Church in their view of the cosmotology precisely to counter the learning of the greeks - one of the things early christianity did was burn all the ancient knowlege they could find... because it didn't fit in with the plans to subjucate mankind. A free mind is a dangerous thing...so they killed off the writings, of older free minds.
2007-01-10 05:38:53 · answer #9 · answered by Tom 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Greeks were much more advanced than Europe. Even in 500BC Pythagoras concluded that the Earth was round.
2007-01-10 05:22:27 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋