Perseus & Atlas

Perseus, after killing Medusa, went on a journey. One night he arrived at the home of King Atlas, and asked for lodging for the night, claiming that he was Jupiter's son, which was not a wise move considering that Atlas had heard that a son of his would one day steal his golden apples, and kicks him out.

Understandably, Perseus is outraged an as a punishment shows Atlas the Gorgon's head. Atlas is turned into a mountain, and the gods make him carry the sky.

I wonder how they sky was supported before Atlas came along. Did the Greeks just believe that it just supported itself yet got considerably weaker as time went on, and needed a place to rest? I have to admit, those Greeks had a pretty clever way of answering their own questions, and I like the way all those myths relate to won other, like one long, cleverly woven, tale (mind, I don't say I think they were right, just that they were very clever).

Again, I don't like the way those heroes/gods treated anyone who displeased them. They punished people waaaaaaay to harshly. I can think of plenty of people who haven't always been as nice as they could be to me, yet I've never had the urge to turn them into chopsticks (or at least I've always resisted it). Did they think that because they were of more value than humans, people who offended them should be punished more harshly?