In European architectural sculpture, an atlas is a support sculpted in the form of a man, which may take the place of a column, a pier or a pilaster. The Roman term for such a sculptural support is telamon.
Baroque atlas at St. Florian Monastery, Austria, by Leonhard Sattler
Atlantes depicting the Moors defeated by Charles V, Porta Nuova, Palermo
Beaux Arts atlantes on Rue Saint-Roch no. 45, Paris, by Bruno Pellissier, 1917
Sumerian façade of the Inanna Temple of Karaindash, Uruk, c.1413 BC, overall height: 211 cm, Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin, Germany
In Greek mythology, Telamon was the son of King Aeacus of Aegina, and Endeïs, a mountain nymph. The elder brother of Peleus, Telamon sailed alongside Jason as one of his Argonauts, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. In the Iliad, he was the father of Greek heroes Ajax the Great and Teucer by different mothers. Some accounts mention a third son of his, Trambelus. He and Peleus were also close friends of Heracles, assisting him on his expeditions against the Amazons and his assault on Troy.
Architectural Telamon / atlantides on the Wayne County, Ohio courthouse