Atlas was one of the most famous Titans, the son of Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia (or, possibly, Clymene). He was the leader of the Titan rebellion against Zeus, and he got a fitting punishment after the end of the Titanomachy: he was condemned to eternally hold up the sky. Only once, and for a very brief period, he was bereaved of this burden by Heracles. Perseus, probably using Medusa’s head, turned him into the stony Atlas Mountains.