In Greek mythology Atlas was the name of one of the Titans who rebelled against the gods. As a punishment, Zeus condemned him to stand for ever near the garden of Hesperides, located in Northwestern Africa, and to support the heavens on his shoulders. Subsequently, in Greek architecture the atlas were the figures of men used to sustain the entablature of a building. How come a collection of maps or any volume of plates was called an "atlas" then ? The geographers of the 16th century began to feature a picture of Atlas supporting the heavens at the front page of their collection of charts. And so did the Flemish mathematician and geographer Gerhardus Mercator-best known for his method of mapping the earth's surface known as the Mercator projection - on every single volume of maps. In time theword atlas was used for all books of maps.And the same word atlas spread to other European countries such as France, Spain , Portugal, Germany and even Russia. However, the Italian word atlante derived from the Greek Atlantes, the plural of Atlas.

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