Atlas
Atlante Farnese
Napoli, Archaeological Museum
The Farnese Atlas is a 2nd-century AD Roman marble sculpture of Atlas holding up a celestial globe. The sculpture is at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, in Italy.
The statue is dated around AD 150, during the Roman Empire and after the composition of the Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy,
The name Farnese Atlas reflects its acquisition by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in the early 16th century, and its subsequent exhibition in the Villa Farnese.
In Greek mythology, Atlas, Greek: Ἄτλας, was a Titan sentenced by Zeus to hold up the celestial heavens for eternity after the Titanomachy. Atlas also plays a role in the myths of two of the greatest Greek heroes: Hercules and Perseus.
According to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, Atlas stood at the ends of the earth in extreme west. Later, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa and was said to be the first King of Mauretania.
Atlas was said to have been skilled in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. In antiquity, he was credited with inventing the first celestial sphere. In some texts, he is even credited with the invention of astronomy itself.
Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia. He was a brother of Epimetheus and Prometheus. He had many children, mostly daughters, the Hesperides, the Hyades, the Pleiades, and the nymph Calypso who lived on the island Ogygia.
Atlas
Atlante Farnese
Napoli, Archaeological Museum
The Farnese Atlas is a 2nd-century AD Roman marble sculpture of Atlas holding up a celestial globe. The sculpture is at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, in Italy.
The statue is dated around AD 150, during the Roman Empire and after the composition of the Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy,
The name Farnese Atlas reflects its acquisition by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in the early 16th century, and its subsequent exhibition in the Villa Farnese.
In Greek mythology, Atlas, Greek: Ἄτλας, was a Titan sentenced by Zeus to hold up the celestial heavens for eternity after the Titanomachy. Atlas also plays a role in the myths of two of the greatest Greek heroes: Hercules and Perseus.
According to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, Atlas stood at the ends of the earth in extreme west. Later, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa and was said to be the first King of Mauretania.
Atlas was said to have been skilled in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. In antiquity, he was credited with inventing the first celestial sphere. In some texts, he is even credited with the invention of astronomy itself.
Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia. He was a brother of Epimetheus and Prometheus. He had many children, mostly daughters, the Hesperides, the Hyades, the Pleiades, and the nymph Calypso who lived on the island Ogygia.