Geographical Atlas

- a collection of maps, usually relea sed in book form, and now also in the form of multimedia (eg atla ses on CD-ROM). The name refers to the mythological Atlas as Atla s, who bore on their shoulders the Earth - its image was often pl aced on the title pages of atlases. The use of this term dates back to the sixteenth century, when it appeared in the title of the work of Mercator Atlas sive Cosmographicae (or Atlas Describing the World) from the years 1585-1595. The earliest atlas of the Geography of Ptolemy, dating from about 150 of