Inclusive Anatomy
Historical Timeline
The term atlas first appeared in printed anatomical literature in Giorgio Valla’s De Humani Corporis Partibus, where it referred to the seventh cervical vertebra.[1,2]
1522
Berengario di Carpi
Berengario di Carpi redefined the atlas as referring to the first cervical vertebra (C1) in Isagogae Breves (A Short Introduction to Anatomy), establishing the definition used today.[1]
70 CE
77 CE
Pliny The Elder
Roman author Pliny the Elder first used the term atlas as an anatomical descriptor in Natural History, referring to a structure in the spine of hyenas.[1]
2nd Century CE
Julius Pollux
Julius Pollux used the term atlas in Onomasticon to describe a vertebra in humans, though he applied it to vertebra C7 rather than C1.[1] The text was later published in 1502.
1501
Giorgio Valla
Present
Eponym:
Vertebra C1 is commonly known as the atlas, named after the Titan Atlas of Greek mythology, who was condemned to bear the heavens upon his shoulders.[1] The term reflects the vertebra’s role in supporting the weight of the head.
The earliest anatomical usage of the term atlas appeared in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (77 CE), where it described a structure in the spine of animals and was also referred to as the “Atlantian knot” or “joint of the spine.”[1] Julius Pollux later applied the term to human anatomy in Onomasticon, though he associated it with vertebra C7.[1]
Pollux’s Onomasticon was unknown to Western and Arabic scholars until its publication in 1502.[1] The appearance of the term atlas in Giorgio Valla’s 1501 work suggests the use of an earlier manuscript copy.[1,2] Following Berengario di Carpi’s reclassification of the atlas as vertebra C1 in 1522, the term was widely adopted by anatomists, and this definition has remained in use.[1,2]
Scientific Contributions:
Early Renaissance anatomists played a central role in establishing the modern anatomical concept of the atlas. Giorgio Valla’s early printed anatomical descriptions introduced the term into anatomical literature, although it was initially applied to a different cervical vertebra.[1]
Pliny the Elder - Image Obtained From: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Berengario di Carpi’s anatomical investigations in the early 16th century provided the first clear identification of the atlas as the first cervical vertebra (C1).[1,2] Through systematic human dissection and anatomical illustration, he clarified the structural characteristics of this vertebra, including its ring-like morphology and articulations with the skull and axis.[2]
Subsequent anatomical scholarship adopted Berengario’s classification, and the term “atlas” became firmly established in anatomical nomenclature.[1,2] Later advances in comparative anatomy, biomechanics, and radiologic imaging further confirmed the atlas’s specialized structural role in supporting the skull and enabling atlanto-occipital motion, reinforcing the anatomical framework first defined during the Renaissance period.
References
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Jackowe DJ, Biener MG. Atlas and talus. J Anat. 2022;240(6):1174-1178. doi:10.1111/joa.13613
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Singer C. The strange histories of some anatomical terms. Med Hist. 1959;3(1):1-7. doi: 10.1017/s0025727300024200
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