Regarding the similarity of Atlas and Thor
> Yes, at first glance there is no similarity. There is again no
> similarity if you dig second further. Thor is a Norse God of
> Thunder, I believe main defender of Asgard. While Atlas is the main
> hero of the Titans against Zeus and his brothers.
> But again see below .
> Probably chance resemblances but the chance resemblances may
> actually prove to be unbroken line of connections. You see with
> regards to Atlas we have -tl- there and that -tl- could be from or
> relative to -tr-.
The *-tl-s in Atlas seems to have been derived from the pre-Greek non-
Indo-European inhabitants of Greece, and is related to the word
Thalassa (earlier *thalatta) = Sea. Atlat/Altas seems to have been
originally a God of the Sea, associated with the Goddess Therassia
(Telassia), the patron Goddess of the Island of Thera. There also
seems to have been some connection here with the Tyrsenoi/Tyrrhenoi,
who emerged into history as the Etruscans. They called themselves
Rasena, and it has been suggested that the original ethnoym was
something like *Talasena/Tarasena.
The erruption at Thera (1628 BCE) generated a long-lived cloud that
could be seen from as far away as Knossos, and reached to "hold up
the sky" - hence the later story of Atlas as the Titan who held the
sky separate from the Earth.
Regards
John