On Unbelievable Stories

The story handed down about Atlas is that he bore the sky on his shoulders. This is impossible, since he too is beneath the sky. But rather, Atlas was a wise man and the first to observe astronomical phenomena. He predicted storms and the shifting of the winds and the rising and setting of stars. [*](We translate Festa's emendation to fill the lacuna in the text: μεταβολὰς 〈ἀνέμων καὶ ἐπιστολὰς〉 ἄστων.) Because of this, a myth was fabricated that he bore the world upon himself.