Hesperides

The Hesperides in Greek mythology were the nymphs of the evening who tended the garden of golden apples at the western edge of the world. Their garden is the goal of Heracles’ eleventh labour, and the sources disagree about whose daughters they were and how many of them there were.

Parentage and Names

Hesiod says that Night, without sleeping with anyone, bore the Hesperides, who look after the golden apples and the trees that bear them beyond famous Ocean (Hesiod, Theogony 213–216). In the same poem the Gorgons and the “clear-voiced Hesperides” live beyond Ocean, at the edge toward Night, and Atlas holds up the sky near them (Theogony 274–276, 517–520). Diodorus Siculus has a different account: Atlas married Hesperis, daughter of his brother Hesperus, and their seven daughters were called Atlantides after their father and Hesperides after their mother (Diodorus Siculus 4.27.2). Apollodorus calls them the guardians of the apples with the names Aegle, Erytheia, Hesperia and Arethusa (Library 2.5.11). In Apollonius of Rhodes there are three, Hespere, Erytheis and Aegle, whom the Argonauts find mourning the dead serpent (Argonautica 4.1406–1407, 4.1427–1428). When Orpheus prayed to them, they turned into a poplar, an elm and a willow, then took their own shape again, and Aegle told the thirsty heroes how a fierce man in a lion’s skin had killed the serpent the day before, carried off the apples, and struck a spring of water from a rock near Lake Tritonis (Argonautica 4.1408–1449).

The Garden

Hesiod places the apples beyond Ocean, at the limits of the earth, where a monstrous serpent born of Ceto and Phorcys guards them (Theogony 333–336). Apollonius calls the serpent Ladon, a creature of the earth, and puts the garden in the land of Atlas (Argonautica 4.1396–1399). Apollodorus says that Earth gave the apples to Zeus after his marriage to Hera and that an immortal hundred-headed dragon, offspring of Typhon and Echidna, guarded them together with the Hesperides. He insists that the apples were not in Libya, as some said, but on Atlas among the Hyperboreans (Library 2.5.11). Hyginus, citing Pherecydes, says that Hera admired the golden apples Earth brought as a wedding gift and asked to plant them in her own gardens, which reached as far as Mount Atlas; because the daughters of Atlas kept picking the fruit, she set the serpent there as guard, and after Heracles killed it she placed it among the stars (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.3). Diodorus reports that writers disagreed about the apples themselves: some said they were real golden fruit in gardens in Libya, others that the “golden apples” were beautiful golden-coloured sheep (Diodorus Siculus 4.26.2–3).

Heracles and the Apples

Eurystheus did not count the labours of the Hydra and of the stables of Augeas, and so set Heracles an eleventh labour: to fetch golden apples from the Hesperides (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.11). Heracles did not know the way. He seized the sea-god Nereus as he slept and held him through all his transformations until Nereus told him where the apples and the Hesperides were. On his way he freed Prometheus, who advised him not to take the apples himself but to send Atlas, after relieving Atlas of the sky. Atlas brought three apples from the Hesperides and offered to carry them to Eurystheus himself; Heracles pretended to agree, asked Atlas to hold up the sky for a moment while he put a pad on his head, and when Atlas did so, picked up the apples and left. Apollodorus adds that some say he killed the guardian serpent and picked the apples himself. Eurystheus gave the apples back to Heracles, and Athena returned them to their place, since it was not lawful for them to be set down anywhere else (Library 2.5.11). Diodorus writes that Heracles killed the guardian, and that the Hesperides were also said to have been kidnapped by pirates sent by Busiris, whom Heracles then killed and, returning the girls to Atlas, earned his gratitude (Diodorus Siculus 4.26.4, 4.27.3–4).

The Apple of Strife

The apple that started the quarrel behind the Trojan War is a different apple. Strife threw it as a prize of beauty among Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, and Zeus sent Hermes to take them to Paris on Mount Ida to be judged. Hera promised him kingship over all men, Athena victory in war and Aphrodite marriage to Helen, and Paris chose Aphrodite (Apollodorus, Epitome 3.2). Apollodorus does not say where the apple came from or connect it with the garden of the Hesperides.

Hesperides Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 213–216, 274–276, 333–336, 517–520; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.1396–1449; Apollodorus, Library 2.5.11 and Epitome 3.2; Diodorus Siculus 4.26.2–4, 4.27.1–4; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.3.

See Also: Atlas, Nyx, Hera, Ladon, Eris, Trojan War, Paris, Labours of Heracles, Heracles, Eurystheus, Prometheus, Nereus