At Last a Quiz About Atlas

Answer: An elder Greek god who ruled before the Olympians

When Gerardus Mercator referred to his collection of maps as an "Atlas," it was with reference to King Atlas, a legendary king of Mauretania. Since then, the reference has been to the Titan Atlas. Atlas was the son of Iapetus and Clymene; his brother was Prometheus.

The notion that Atlas was made to carry the Earth on his shoulders is a misreading of ancient myth. Zeus condemned him to bear the weight of the whole heavens, which are often depicted in art as the sphere of the Universe.

Answer: Saturn

Atlas is a recently-discovered moon of Saturn, much smaller than many of the others. It was first seen in a photograph returned by Voyager in 1980. Its orbit is very near the A-ring of Saturn and it is sometimes referred to as a "shepherd" moon because it accompanies that ring.

Answer: At the top of the cervical spine

The atlas sits atop the spinal column and connects the spine to the skull. It is denominated C-1 (meaning first, or superior, cervical vertebra). It was named after the Titan Atlas because it holds up the head which is something like a globe.

Answer: Charles Atlas

Charles Atlas (1892-1972) was born Angelo Siciliano but legally changed his name to make it sound more American. He claimed that a story about a bully kicking sand in his face and taking his girlfriend was true and was what prompted him to develop an exercise system which turned him into a well-known bodybuilder. References to his famous advertisements occur in such diverse places as Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," the movie "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and an episode of Syfy Network's "Warehouse 13."

Answer: The United States

Astronaut John Glenn was blasted into space aboard the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7 by an Atlas rocket. About six hundred other U.S. space missions have been launched on members of the Atlas family.

Answer: Ayn Rand

"Atlas Shrugged" was Ayn Rand's fourth, last and longest novel, setting out, in a fictional context, her philosophy of Objectivism. The book was a bestseller but was very unpopular with many literary critics; it has enjoyed a sort of "cult following" ever since its release and has remained in print for half a century.

Answer: Africa

Located in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the Atlas Mountains divide the coastlands along the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea from the Sahara Desert. In some Berber languages, the word for mountain is "adras" which may relate to the name of this mountain range.

Answer: Roger Corman

The script for "Atlas" called for vast armies dressed like Greek soldiers of the Classic Age. The producer hired 500 Greek Army troops to play these parts, but only about 50 showed up for the filming. All of the battle scenes were shot in relative close-ups, to cover this deficiency. Corman himself also played the part of a Greek soldier.

Answer: All of these

For the same reasons, there have been tugboats, helicopters, railroad locomotives, fighter aircraft, motorbikes, diesel engines and model railroads named Atlas.

Answer: On Luna/the Moon

An impact crater is created when a high-velocity projectile collides with a surface, often leaving a circular dent. There are impact craters on Earth, for example Tabun-Khara-Obo in Mongolia. There are thousands of impact craters on Mars. There are no (apparent) impact craters on Io.