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[Manabanana]

Despite a solid hour of searching on Google I can't even find a picture of it! I'm talking about that classic sculpture of Atlas holding the earth on his shoulders, not the one in Rockafeller Center. I checked Wikipedia, but I can only find the story of Atlas. Can anyone help me out?

 

[Matlock]

Lee Lawrie and Rene Chamberlain collaborated on it.

 

[Manabanana]

Lee Lawrie and Rene Chamberlain collaborated on it.

No man, NOT the one in front of Rockafeller.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Now I'm not sure of this, but I have a vague memory of hearing somewhere that it is not in fact Atlas holding the globe in the classic statue.

Maybe that's why your search is proving fruitless.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Assuming this is the one you mean, it's Hercules.

 

[Hooker]

Dudes, know your history... it ATLAS!!

 

[Crispy]

Didn't Hercules carry it for a short while because of something Atlas made up? I'm pretty sure he did and then the statue depicts that story.

 

[Manabanana]

I did a little more research on it, and that sculpture you posted was used in filming some 1960s TV show called "The Prisoner." I think all the modern incarnations of the statue created some false memory that lead me to believe I'd know it when I see it.

http://www.cosmopolis.com/star-myths/atlas-farnese.html

That's the closest I got to finding it. Thanks a bunch for your help.

 

[Manabanana]

Dudes, know your history... it ATLAS!!

As part of his Twelve Labors, the hero Heracles tricked Atlas into retrieving some of the golden apples of the Hesperides for him by offering to hold the heavens for a little while. Upon his return with the apples, Atlas decided not to take the heavens back from Heracles. Heracles tricked him again by agreeing to take his place if he would only take the sky again for a few minutes so Heracles could rearrange his cloak as padding on his shoulders. Atlas agreed and Heracles left.

- from Wikipedia

 

[Hooker]

Yeah, I know. couldn't be bothered to write it down myself

 

[Mama Smurf]

All I know is there's a programme in the UK called QI where they ask questions everyone thinks they know the answer to, like "Who carried the globe on his shoulders?", and then dispell the myth. And Atlas was definitely one of them. I don't remember the reason or anything, but the obvious answer is Atlus, and the obvious one on that show is always the wrong one.