Atlas of Mauretania
Atlas was a legendary king of Mauretania, the land of the Mauri in antiquity roughly corresponding with modern Maghreb.
King Atlas was said to have been skilled in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. In antiquity, he was credited with inventing the first celestial globe. In some medieval texts, he is even credited with the invention of astronomy itself.[1]
Atlas refused Perseus hospitality after the hero had killed Medusa, and the hero turned him to stone.[2]
"Atlas" in its modern meaning is derived from a work of the 16th Century Gerardus Mercator which was devoted to King Atlas as "the Father of Geography".
See also
- Atlas, the Greek titan who carried the Celestial Sphere
References
- ^ For example, in the Annales Cambriae (B Text).
- ^ William Godwin (1876). "Lives of the Necromancers". p. 39.
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