Which ocean is named after Atlas, a Titan in Greek mythology?

The Atlantic Ocean is named after Atlas, a Titan in Greek mythology.

Ancient Greek writers associated the waters beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the modern Strait of Gibraltar, with the Atlas Mountains of northwestern Africa. The name ultimately became linked to Atlas, the mythological figure condemned to support the heavens. Early Greek sailors also imagined this ocean as part of Oceanus, the vast world-encircling waterway of myth.

The name appears in ancient sources, including writings connected with Stesichorus in the sixth century BC and Herodotus in the fifth century BC. Medieval maps and atlases later reinforced the association between Atlas and geographic knowledge.

The Atlantic is the world’s second-largest oceanic division, separating the Americas from Europe and Africa. It is sometimes confused with the Mediterranean or the Arctic Ocean, but those are separate connected seas or oceanic regions rather than the source of the name.