Hesperides is the plural of Hesperis and represents the multiple nymphs of Hera’s garden. The Hesperides guarded Hera’s apple trees in the Garden of the Hesperides, but they shared the task with Ladon, a dragon with a hundred heads who never slept. This was Hera’s backup plan, as even the nymphs could not be trusted to keep any of the magical apples for themselves.
There is an ongoing debate about the parentage of the Hesperides, as well as exactly how many there were. Most sources say that there were between four and seven nymphs who stayed in the Garden of the Hesperides. However, despite the other ambiguities, it is generally agreed that they were beautiful and had wonderful, sweet voices.
The name Hesperides—and the name of their father in some of the myths, Hesperus—is derived from the Latin word hesperos, meaning evening. It is also the name of the planet Venus as it appears in the night sky, also known as the evening star.
The exact location of the Hesperides has never been determined. Because the sun sets in the west, it is assumed that they were in the far west, and their home was an island sometimes called Hesperia, meaning evening, and also called Erytheia, meaning red, the color of the setting sun.
Family of the Hesperides
Mythology is not entirely clear on the bloodline of the nymphs. Some stories say they are the daughters of Hesperus. They have also been called the children of Nyx, the goddess of night, and Erubus, the god of darkness. Zeus and Atlas have also been mentioned as their possible father. It seems that they were certainly the offspring of one important deity or another, but Greek mythology is complex and their definitive kinship remains a mystery for mythologists to solve.
Origin
Despite their unresolved parentage and varying number of nymphs, we know that they lived in Hera’s garden among the golden apple trees. They were sometimes known as the Daughters of the Evening or the Nymphs of the West.
One of the locations that locals claim to be the setting for the magical garden is the site of the ancient Roman city of Lixus, which is located in a town called Larache in Morocco today. There are also other proposed locations. Ladon is the name of a river in Arcadia, as well as the dragon of myth, so the garden may have been in that region of Greece. However, most mythologists agree that the garden was probably somewhere west of the River Oceanus, around ancient Phoenicia on the north coast of Africa.
Myths of the Hesperides
Hera’s orchard of golden apples is the Garden of the Hesperides in mythology. Eating a golden apple from this special orchard results in immortality. Hera received the original apple branches from Gaia, the primordial deity and mother of all life, as a wedding gift when she married Zeus.
Judgment of Paris
All the gods and goddesses were sent an invitation to attend the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, except for the goddess of discord, Eris, who was neither invited nor welcome. Thetis was a coveted unmarried goddess, and her wedding was to be quite an event. Everyone who mattered was present. Eris was bitter about being excluded from the guest list, so she showed up uninvited with a plan to cause trouble.
The goddess of discord threw a beautiful golden apple, which turned out to be the apple of discord, among the goddesses who were invited to the wedding. The apple was labeled “to the fairest.” That clever move was the equivalent of throwing raw meat into a lion’s den. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena immediately claimed the apple. The ancient Greek goddesses are much better known for their vanity than for their modesty.
Zeus was called upon to mediate the decision regarding the most beautiful goddess. Knowing that it was best not to make this particular decision, considering its obvious consequences, Zeus asked Hermes to escort the three goddesses to Troy to meet Paris, the mortal prince of the city. He would decide the matter.
Paris, being a mortal man, was overwhelmed by the beauty of all the goddesses and very confused about his decision. Each of the goddesses offered him a gift, hoping to influence his choice. Hera offered him power, while Athena offered him wisdom. Both gifts sounded tempting, especially to a mortal with minimal status and possibly limited intelligence when compared to a god.
But Aphrodite offered him the choice of a beautiful wife named Helen. In fact, she was the most beautiful woman on earth. Paris chose Aphrodite, and she got the apple. The problem was that Helen, also known as Helen of Troy, was already married. And so was Paris, by the way, to a nymph named Oenone.
Since he didn’t accept the gift of power or wisdom, he clearly lacked both and went after Helen anyway. Her abduction by Paris was the catalyst that started the Trojan War and the subsequent fall of the city.
His own wife had the opportunity to save him when he was wounded in battle, but she was still angry at being abandoned by Helen and decided not to. A few days later, Oenone changed her mind, but it was too late, as Paris had died from his war wounds. When she found him dead, she hanged herself.
11th Labor of Heracles
Hera, the supreme goddess and wife of Zeus, did not care about her husband’s son Heracles from the moment he was born. His mother was the human lover of Alcmene. Heracles was conceived during one of her husband’s numerous affairs. She routinely strove to create problems for her mortal stepson, and many myths speak of her passion for doing so. One of the most astonishing is the myth of the labors of Heracles.
The powerful Hera drove Heracles mad. In a state of rage and confusion, he killed his own wife and children. When he regained his senses, he was horrified by what he had done and turned to the god Apollo for help. Apollo told him that he would have to perform 12 nearly impossible labors and serve King Eurystheus for redemption. Heracles’ struggle embodies a Greek idea called pathos, which essentially means that virtuous suffering and struggle will lead to fame and, inevitably, immortality for Heracles.
After many years of suffering through the first 10 labors, he arrived at the 11th Labor of his journey. This feat was to steal the apples of the Hesperides. Eurystheus told Heracles to bring him the golden apples from Hera’s garden.
He embarked on the mission to steal the apples, but the initial problem was the hidden location of the garden. Heracles encountered a son of the god Ares, Kyknos, and challenged him to a fight in exchange for directions to the garden. Hercules won the fight in a few rounds, only to discover that Kyknos did not actually know where the garden of the Hesperides was.
He then met Antaeus, the son of the powerful Poseidon. Again, he demanded a fight, which he won, but Antaeus also had no information. Heracles encountered Busiris, another of Poseidon’s sons. He was captured and taken to the altar of human sacrifice. Hercules narrowly escaped and killed Busiris. He then continued his journey to find the garden.
Just as despair began to set in, Heracles made his way to Mount Caucasus, where he found the Titan Prometheus, Atlas’ brother, chained to a rock. Prometheus had stolen the secret of fire from Zeus and given it to man. His punishment for this act of treason was to be chained to the mountain, where every day a giant eagle came to eat his liver. Every night, his liver would regenerate, and he would survive. Thus, he was bound to this torture for all eternity. Thirty years had passed when Heracles appeared and killed the eagle.
Prometheus was grateful, but unfortunately he did not know the location of the Garden of the Hesperides either. However, he thought that his brother Atlas might be able to find the apples. Since Atlas was tired of holding up the world and the sky, he would probably agree to get the apples if he could pass on his heavy burden of holding up the world to Heracles. That worked out quite well: Atlas went to fetch the apples and left Heracles in his place, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
When Atlas returned with the golden apples of immortality, he told Heracles that he would take them to King Eurystheus, and that Heracles could remain standing holding up the world. Heracles agreed, but asked if Atlas would hold up the world for a moment so that he could put some padding on his shoulders to help bear the weight. Understanding the intense burden, Atlas dropped the apples and took back the world. The cunning plan accomplished, Heracles fled with the apples and took them back to the king.
In the end, since the apples belonged to the gods, they could not be kept by the king. Athena immediately appeared to correct the situation and took the apples back to the Garden of the Hesperides. All of Heracles’ work was undone in a matter of moments.
Modern Influence
The Garden of Eden and its forbidden fruits are reminiscent of the Garden of the Hesperides and the magical apples. The golden apples in Hera’s garden gave the gift of immortality, while the forbidden apple of Adam and Eve gave wisdom but also represented temptation.
We compare apples and oranges, and we call New York City the Big Apple. Snow White bites a poisoned apple after being tempted by her evil stepmother. Adam’s apple is the name given to the projection on a man’s throat, as the forbidden apple is believed to be stuck there. Interestingly, Apple Inc. uses the iconic apple to tempt us with the wisdom we gain from using their products. The symbol of the tempting and magical apple is as modern as it is ancient.
