by Janet Grischy

Created on: September 04, 2008

The Hesperides were the daughters of Hesper, the evening star. Their names were Aegle, meaning radiance; Erytheia, translated as red; Hespere, evening; and Arethusa, war-swift. This is according to Apollodorus, a Greek scholar from around 150 B.C.E, who recorded all he could find of Greek mythology. Other writers say there were three Hesperides, or seven. All sang sweetly. They kept a garden for their father, containing a tree where the golden apples of the sun were grown. Anyone who ate this fruit gained eternal youth and immortality.

In another version of the myth, The Hesperides were the daughter of Atlas, the enormous Titan who stood at the Gates of Hercules, probably in Morocco on modern maps, holding up the weight of heaven on his shoulders. In this story, Hesperis is the maidens' mother, and an unsleeping hundred-headed dragon named Ladon helps them guard the marvelous tree. Some writers say the dragon kept the sisters from eating the fruit themselves.

Hesiod says they are the daughters of Nyx, night. Hyginus apparently wrote they were the daughters of Nix and her brother Erebus, darkness. These were two of the primordial gods. Servius wrote that the Hesperides came of the union of Zeus and Themis, the goddess of divine order. Of course, these myths were oral tales for centuries before they were written down; they vary. In any case, the Hesperides were the goddesses of evening, and responsible for its glow, which reflected the shine of the golden apples hanging in their garden in the west.

The hero Hercules was assigned twelve labors, to atone for killing his own children while insane. He had to fulfill the commands of Eurystheus, his cousin. His eleventh labor was to steal the apples of the Hesperides. Once he found heaven-bearing Atlas, Hercules offered to carry the burden a while if Atlas would bring him the golden apples. Atlas consented, but when he came back with the apples, offered to carry them to Eurystheus himself. Hercules agreed, but asked Atlas to hold up the sky for a moment while he adjusted his cloak to pad his shoulders. Atlas consented, and once he was again holding up heaven, Hercules went off with the apples. Some authors say he killed the tree-guarding dragon, too. Athena, wisdom, returned the apples to the garden.

Perseus visited the garden of the Hesperides as well. He brought with him a bag containing the severed head of Medusa, she whose visage turned anyone who saw it to stone. When giant Atlas refused to give Perseus any apples, Perseus showed him the head of Medusa. The mountains of Morocco, where this happened, are still called the Atlas Range.

The Hesperides lived in a kind of Eden. In some stories a man came and took their apples. Sometimes the dragon that helped guard the sacred tree is described in such a way that it resembles a giant serpent. So, transformed slightly, this beautiful myth almost becomes another charming story of humanity's fall.

http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Hesperides.html
http: //homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/HESPERIDES.html
Bullfi nch's Greek and Roman Mythology by Thomas Bullfinch ISBN 9780486411071

Learn more about this author, Janet Grischy.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.