a large
range of mountains extending 1,500 miles through three countries of northwestern Africa (
Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). This
range is made up of several chains of mountains, the most rugged and tallest being in
Morocco, with one peak around 14,000 feet high (4,267 m). The mountains were named after
Atlas, the Greek
god (famous for his strength).
Atlas was one of the
Titans, a
group of gods who fought an unsuccessful
war against the gods of Olympus (a mountain in Greece believed to be the
home of the
major Greek gods, including
Zeus, the
king of the gods). To punish
Atlas for his part in this
war,
Zeus condemned him to
hold the sky upon his
shoulders for eternity. The Atlas Mountains are where
Atlas was believed to have stood and are themselves mythically regarded as supporting the sky.