In Greek mythology, Atlas was condemned to hold up the sky.
Atlas was a Titan who fought against Zeus and the Olympian gods during the Titanomachy, the divine war for control of the cosmos. After the Titans were defeated, Zeus assigned Atlas the enormous punishment of supporting the heavens at the western edge of the world. Ancient stories therefore portray him carrying the sky rather than carrying the Earth.
A famous episode occurs during Heracles’ eleventh labor, when Heracles sought the golden apples of the Hesperides. Atlas agreed to retrieve the apples while Heracles temporarily held the sky. Heracles then persuaded Atlas to take the burden back by asking him to resume it briefly while Heracles adjusted his position.
Modern images often show Atlas carrying a globe, which has encouraged the common mistake that the original myth involved carrying the Earth. The name Atlas later became associated with collections of maps, and the Atlantic Ocean is also linked etymologically with Atlas.