ATLANTES
Eth.
ATLANTES (
Ἄτλαντες), a people in the interior of Libya, inhabiting one of the chain of oases formed by salt hills, which are described by Herodotus as extending along the N. of the Great Desert (
Sahara), ten days' journey W. of the
ATARANTES and in the vicinity of M.
ATLAS whence they derived their name. They were reported to abstain from using any living thing for food, and to see no visions in their sleep. (
Hdt. 4.184; Mela, 1.8.5;
Plin. Nat. 5.8; respecting the common confusion in the names see
ATARANTES) Herodotus adds, that they were the furthest (i. e. to the W.) of the people known to him as inhabiting the ridge of salt hills; but that the ridge itself extended as far as the pillars of Hercules, or even beyond them (4.185).
The attempts of Rennell, Heeren, and others to assign the exact position of the people, from the data supplied by Herodotus, cannot be considered satisfactory. (Rennell,
Geogr. of Herod, vol. ii. pp. 301, 311; Heeren,
Ideen, vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 243.)
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