Atlas -The Beaker Of The World

Long, long ago, Zeus, the king of ancient Greek Gods, was very angry with Atlas, one of the Titans (the children of heaven and earth). He was angry because Atlas had tried to fight with him. So Zeus ordered Atlas to for ever hold the Heaven and the Earth on his shoulder.

Atlas wanted to get rid of this tiresome job. He almost managed this when the Greek hero Hercules came to ask for his help. Hercules was supposed to get three apples (golden) that were guarded by the dragon in a garden. Atlas agreed to get the apples; if Hercules wold hold the heaven and earth on his shoulders, while he was gone.

When Atlas returned, he told Hercules to keep the job. Hercules agreed but he asked Atlas to hold world for just one minute while he found a shoulder pad for himself. As soon as Atlas lifted the world on to his shoulders, Hercules picked up the golden apple and ran away. Some stories say that thunder is Atlas shouting after Hercules to come back. Most pictures of Atlas shows carrying the world.

This is an ancient Greek story but today when we want to learn about the world, we look onto a book called an Atlas. Here we can see the shapes of countries. The rivers that flow in each country and where the continents are.