Atlant
An atlant (stress on the second syllable) is - according to Atlas , the titanic heavenly bearer from Greek mythology - in architecture an architectural support in the form of an often larger than life, muscular male figure that is attached to certain structural elements such as entablature instead of a column or to wear consoles.
In contrast to the caryatids, atlases have raised their arms and often also bent their upper bodies forwards in order to illustrate the carrying of the load on the shoulders. The use was limited in the architecture not the Greek or Roman antiquity , but also took place at later times as in the Renaissance , the Baroque , the Rococo , in classicism or even in the neo-Renaissance and Neo-Classicism of historicism in the 19th century with the Hallmarks of mannerism . Like the caryatid, the Atlant appears as a herm .
