Atlas Statue

In Greek Mythology, Atlas or Atlante (Ancient Greek for "carrier," "bear," "support") was a young titan condemned by Zeus to shoulder the pillars that support and separate earth and heaven. He was the son of Iapetus and the nymph Clymene (or Asia) and the brother of Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menecio. However that also makes him a son of Gaia and Ether or Uranus, although the text of the Preface somewhat corrupts this statement. He was the father of Hesperides, Mera, the Hyades, Calypso and the Pleiades. There is a famous sculpture of Atlas in New York, USA, in Rockefeller Center. Atlas supports the weight of the sky on his shoulders as punishment for defying Zeus.

The statue of Atlas ... a symbol of the Rockefeller Center, and a must when visiting this building! It lies at the foot of the building, and was familiar to me as it often appears in the series 30 Rock (whose name comes from the address of the building).