Editing Hesperides

{{Short description|Nymphs in Greek mythology}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:GardenHesperides BurneJones.jpg|thumb|''The Garden of the Hesperides'' by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], 1870–73]]
{{Greek deities (nymphs)}}

In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Hesperides''' ({{IPAc-en|h|ɛ|ˈ|s|p|ɛr|ɪ|d|iː|z|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Hesperides.wav}}; {{Langx|grc|Ἑσπερίδες}}, {{IPA|grc|hesperídes}}) are the [[nymph]]s of [[evening]] and golden light of [[sunset]]s, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the '''Atlantides''' ({{Langx|grc|Ἀτλαντίδες|Atlantídes}}) from their reputed father, [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]].<ref name=":0">[[Diodorus Siculus]]. ''Library, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.27.2]''</ref>

== Etymology ==
The name means ''originating from Hesperos'' (evening). ''Hesperos'', or ''Vesper'' in Latin, is the origin of the name [[Hesperus]], the evening star (i.e. the planet [[Venus]]) as well as having a shared root with the English word "west".

== Mythology ==
=== The nymphs of the evening ===
Ordinarily, the Hesperides number three, like the other Greek triads (the [[Charites|Three Graces]] and the [[Moirai|Three Fates]]). "Since the Hesperides themselves are mere symbols of the gifts the apples embody, they cannot be actors in a human drama. Their abstract, interchangeable names are a symptom of their impersonality", classicist [[Evelyn Byrd Harrison]] has observed.<ref>[[Evelyn Byrd Harrison]], "Hesperides and Heroes: A Note on the Three-Figure Reliefs", ''Hesperia'' '''33'''.1 (January 1964 pp. 76–82) pp 79–80.</ref>

They are sometimes portrayed as the evening daughters of Night ([[Nyx (mythology)|Nyx]]), either alone,<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.%20Th.%20215&lang=original 215]</ref> or with Darkness ([[Erebus]]),<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]. ''Fabulae,'' ''[http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html Preface];'' [[Cicero]]. ''[[De Natura Deorum]],'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0037%3Abook%3D3%3Asection%3D44 ''iii.44'']</ref> in accord with the way Eos in the farthermost east, in [[Colchis]], is the daughter of the titan [[Hyperion (mythology)|Hyperion]]. The Hesperides are also listed as the daughters of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]<ref>Hyginus, ''[[De Astronomica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.3.1 2.3.1] citing Pherecydes as the authority</ref> and [[Hesperis (mythology)|Hesperis]],<ref name=":02">[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#27.2 4.27.2]</ref> or of [[Phorcys]] and [[Ceto]],<ref>[[scholia]] in [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'', 4.1399</ref> or of [[Zeus]] and [[Themis]].<ref>[[scholia]] in [[Euripides]], ''[[Hippolytus (play)|Hippolytus]]'', 742</ref> In a Roman literary source, the nymphs are simply said to be the daughters of [[Hesperus]], embodiment of the "west".<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''ad [[Aeneid]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D4%3Acommline%3D484 iv.484].</ref>

[[File:Frederic Leighton - The Garden of the Hesperides.jpg|thumb|''The Garden of the Hesperides'' by [[Frederick, Lord Leighton]], 1892.|alt=|left]]

Nevertheless, among the names given to them, though never all at once, there were either three, four, or seven [[Hesperus|Hesperides]]. [[Apollonius of Rhodes]] gives the number of three with their names as [[Aegle (mythology)|Aigle]], [[Erytheia (mythology)|Erytheis]], and Hespere (or Hespera).<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'' 4.1396–1449</ref> [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] in his preface to the ''Fabulae'' names them as Aegle, Hesperie, and Aerica.<ref>[[Wilhelm Friedrich Rinck]] (1853). ''Die Religion der Hellenen: aus den Mythen, den Lehren der Philosophen und dem Kultus''. p. 352 [https://archive.org/details/diereligionderhe01rinc/page/352 <!-- quote=aegle Hesperie and Aerica. -->]</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALOQEtEjkUkC&q=Aegle,+Hesperie+and+Aerica&pg=PA87 |title=Faules (vol. I) |last=Higí |date=2011 |publisher=Fundació Bernat Metge |isbn=9788498591811 |language=ca}}</ref><ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]. ''Fabulae'', [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html Preface].</ref>{{efn|name=Aerica-adj|Aerica is an adjective, literally "aerial", not a name.}} In another source, they are named [[Aegle (mythology)|Aegle]], [[Arethusa (Greek myth)|Arethusa]], and Hesperethusa, the three daughters of Hesperus.<ref>Peter Parley (1839). ''Tales about the mythology of Greece and Rome'', p. 356</ref><ref>Charles N. Baldwin, Henry Howland Crapo (1825). ''A Universal Biographical Dictionary'', p. 414</ref>

[[Hesiod]] says that these "clear-voiced Hesperides",<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D270 275]</ref> daughters of Ceto and Phorcys, guarded the [[golden apple]]s beyond Ocean in the far west of the world, gives the number of the Hesperides as four, and their names as: Aigle (or Aegle, "dazzling light"), Erytheia (or Erytheis), Hesperia ("sunset glow") whose name refers to the colour of the setting sun, red, yellow, or gold; and lastly Arethusa.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on [[Virgil|Virgil's]] [[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+4.484&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053:boo=8:chapter=53&highlight=Arethusam 4.484] quoting [[Hesiod]]</ref> In addition, Hesperia, and Arethusa, the so-called "ox-eyed Hesperethusa".<ref>Hesiod, ''Homeric Hymns and Homerica'', edited and translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hesiod,_the_Homeric_Hymns_and_Homerica/Doubtful_Fragments]</ref> [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] gives the number of the Hesperides also as four, namely: Aigle, Erytheia, Hesperia (or Hesperie), and Arethusa<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Bibliotheca'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.5.11&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Arethusa 2.5.11]</ref> while [[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]] named them as Aegle, Hesperie, [[Medusa (Greek myth)|Medusa]], and Arethusa.<ref>Fulgentius, ''Expositio Virgilianae continentiae secundum philosophos moralis''{{full citation needed|date=June 2014}}</ref><ref>Ersch, Johann Samuel (1830). ''Allgemeine encyclopädie der wissenschaften und künste in alphabetischer folge von genannten schrifts bearbeitet und herausgegeben von J. S. Ersch und J. G. Gruber''. p. 148 [https://books.google.com/books?id=tTlYAAAAYAAJ&dq=fulgentius+medusa+arethusa&pg=PA148]</ref>  However, the historiographer [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]] in his account stated that they are seven in number with no information of their names.<ref name=":02"/> An ancient [[vase painting]] attests the following names as four: [[Asterope (Greek myth)|Asterope]], [[Chrysothemis]], Hygieia, and [[Lipara (mythology)|Lipara]]; on another seven names as [[Aiopis]], Antheia, [[Donakis]], [[Calypso (nymphs)|Calypso]], [[Mermesa]], [[Nelisa]], and [[Tara (mythology)|Tara]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Walters|first=Henry Beauchamp|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient02walt/page/92/mode/2up&#124;|title=History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman: Based on the Work of Samuel Birch|year=1905|volume=2|pages=92}}</ref> A [[Pyxis (vessel)|pyxis]] has [[Hippolyte (mythology)|Hippolyte]], Mapsaura, and [[Thetis]].<ref>Attic pyxis (red-figure) by [[Douris (vase painter)|Douris]], circa 470. London, British Museum: E. 772.</ref> [[Petrus Apianus]] attributed to these stars a mythical connection of their own. He believed that they were the seven Hesperides, nymph daughters of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] and [[Hesperis (mythology)|Hesperis]]. Their names were: Aegle, Erythea, Arethusa, Hestia, Hespera, Hesperusa, and Hespereia.<ref>Michael Grant, John Hazel (2002). ''Who's who in Classical Mythology'', p. 268 [https://books.google.com/books?id=IKRDEAeout8C&dq=Hespera,+Hesperusa+and+Hespereia&pg=PA268]</ref> A certain [[Crete (mythology)|Crete]], possible eponym of the [[Crete|island of Crete]], was also called one of the Hesperides.<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] s.v. [https://topostext.org/work/241 Krētē]; [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]], ''Polyhistor'', [https://topostext.org/work/747#11.5 11.5]. Translated by Arwen Apps</ref>

They are sometimes called the "Western Maidens", the "Daughters of Evening", or ''Erythrai'', and the "Sunset Goddesses", designations all apparently tied to their imagined location in the distant west. [[Hesperis (mythology)|Hesperis]] is appropriately the personification of the evening (as [[Eos]] is of the dawn) and the Evening Star is [[Hesperus]].

In addition to their tending of the garden, they have taken great pleasure in singing.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.%20Th.%20518&lang=original 518]; ''Orphic Fragments'', 17; [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/126 4.1399].</ref> [[Euripides]] calls them "minstrel maids"  as they possess the power of sweet song.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Herakles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Her.%20394&lang=original 394]</ref> The Hesperides could be [[hamadryad]] nymphs or [[epimeliad]]s as suggested by a passage in which they change into trees: ''"... Hespere became a poplar and Eretheis an elm, and Aegle a willow's sacred trunk ..."'' and in the same account, they are described figuratively or literally to have white arms and golden heads.<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/126 4.1422ff]</ref>

Erytheia ("the red one") is one of the Hesperides. The name was applied to an island close to the coast of southern [[Hispania]], which was the site of the original Punic colony of [[Cádiz|Gades]] (modern Cadiz). [[Pliny's Natural History]] (VI.36) records of the island of Gades:
{{quote|On the side which looks towards Spain, at about 100&nbsp;paces distance, is another long island, three miles wide, on which the original city of Gades stood. By Ephorus and Philistides it is called Erythia, by Timæus and Silenus Aphrodisias, and by the natives the ''Isle of Juno''.}}
The island was the home of [[Geryon]], who was overcome by [[Heracles]].
{| class="wikitable"
|+<big>Comparative table of Hesperides' parentage, number and names</big>
! rowspan="3" |Variables
! rowspan="3" |Item
! colspan="13" |Sources
|-
!Hesiod
!Euripides
! colspan="2" |Apollonius
! rowspan="2" |Cic.
! rowspan="2" |Apollod.
!Hyg.
!Serv.
! rowspan="2" |Fulg.
! rowspan="2" |Apianus
! colspan="3" rowspan="2" |''Vase Paintings''
|-
|''Theo.''
|''Sch. Hipp.''
|''Argo''
|''Sch.''
|''Fab.''
|''Aen.''
|-
| rowspan="6" |''Parents''
|Nyx
|{{yan}}
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|Nyx and Erebus
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|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
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|Zeus and Themis
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|{{yan}}
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|Phorcys and Ceto
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|{{yan}}
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|Atlas and Hesperis
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|{{yan}}
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|Hesperus
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|{{yan}}
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| rowspan="3" |''Number''
!3
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!4
|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
|{{yan}}
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!7
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| rowspan="26" |''Names''
|Aegle
|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
|{{yan}}
|{{yan}}
|{{yan}}
|{{yan}}
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|Erythea or
|{{yan}}
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|Erytheis / Eretheis or
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|{{yan}}
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|[[Erytheia (mythology)|Erythia]]
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|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
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|[[Asterope (Hesperid)|Hesperia]] or
|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
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|Hespere /
Hespera or
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|{{yan}}
|{{yan}}
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|Hesperusa
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|{{yan}}
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|Arethusa
|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
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|{{yan}}
|{{yan}}
|{{yan}}
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|[[Hestia (disambiguation)|Hestia]]
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|{{yan}}
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|Medusa
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| {{yan}}
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| Aerica{{efn|name=Aerica-adj}}
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| {{yan}}
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|[[Hippolyte]]
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|{{yan}}
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|Mapsaura
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| {{yan}}
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|[[Thetis]]
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|{{yan}}
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|Asterope
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|{{yan}}
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|[[Chrysothemis]]
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|{{yan}}
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|Hygieia
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|{{yan}}
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|Lipara
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|{{yan}}
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|Aiopis
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|{{yan}}
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|[[Antheia]]
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|{{yan}}
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|Donakis
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|{{yan}}
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|[[Calypso (nymphs)|Calypso]]
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|{{yan}}
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|[[Mermesa]]
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|{{yan}}
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|Nelisa
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|{{yan}}
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|Tara
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|{{yan}}
|}

=== Land of Hesperides ===
[[File:Byzantine - Circular Pyxis - Walters 7164 - View A.jpg|right|thumb|This circular Pyxis or box depicts two scenes. The one shown presents the Olympian gods feasting around a tripod table holding the golden Apple of the Hesperides.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://art.thewalters.org/detail/28991|title=Circular Pyxis|publisher=[[The Walters Art Museum]]}}</ref> The Walters Art Museum.]]
The Hesperides tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the [[Atlas Mountains]] in [[North Africa]] at the edge of the encircling [[Oceanus]] the [[world ocean]].<ref>A confusion of the Garden of the Hesperides with an equally idyllic [[Arcadia (utopia)|Arcadia]] is a modern one, conflating Sir [[Philip Sidney]]'s ''[[Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia]]'' and [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]]'s ''Hesperides'': both are viewed by Renaissance poets as oases of bliss, but they were not connected by the Greeks. The development of ''Arcadia'' as an imagined setting for [[pastoral]] is the contribution of [[Theocritus]] to [[Hellenistic]] culture: see [[Arcadia (utopia)]].</ref>

According to the Sicilian Greek poet [[Stesichorus]], in his poem the "Song of [[Geryon]]", and the Greek geographer [[Strabo]], in his book ''Geographika'' (volume III), the garden of the Hesperides is located in [[Tartessos]], a location placed in the south of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. The 1st-century AD Roman author [[Pliny the Elder]], in the fifth book of his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', places the garden in [[Lixus (ancient city)|Lixus]] (in modern-day [[Morocco]]), which he describes as the location of the combat between [[Antaeus]] and [[Hercules]];<ref>{{Cite book|title=Historia Naturalis - Book V|author=Pliny the Elder|translator=H. Rackham|pages=220–221|publisher=Harvard University Press|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D1|quote=Thirty-two miles distant from Julia Constantia is Lixos, which was made a Roman colony by Claudius Cæsar, and which has been the subject of such wondrous fables, related by the writers of antiquity. At this place, according to the story, was the palace of Antaeus; this was the scene of his combat with Hercules, and here were the gardens of the Hesperides. An arm of the sea flows into the land here, with a serpentine channel, and, from the nature of the locality, this is interpreted at the present day as having been what was really represented by the story of the dragon keeping guard there.}}</ref> later, in the sixth book of the work, he states that the Hesperides live on two islands in the [[Atlantic]].<ref>Ambühl, para. 1; [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0978.phi001.perseus-eng1:6.36 6.36].</ref>

[[Euesperides]] (in modern-day [[Benghazi]]) which was probably founded by people from [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]] or [[Barca (ancient city)|Barca]], from both of which it lies to the west, might have mythological associations with the garden of Hesperides.<ref>Ham, Anthony, ''Libya'', 2002, p.156</ref>

By [[Ancient Roman]] times, the garden of the Hesperides had lost its archaic place in religion and had dwindled to a poetic convention, in which form it was revived in [[Renaissance]] poetry, to refer both to the garden and to the nymphs that dwelt there.

=== The Garden of the Hesperides ===
[[File:Mosaico Trabajos Hércules (M.A.N. Madrid) 11.jpg|thumb|Detail of a third century AD Roman mosaic of the [[Labours of Hercules]] from [[Llíria]], [[Spain]] showing Heracles stealing the golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides|alt=|left]]

The Garden of the Hesperides is [[Hera]]'s orchard in the west, where either a single apple tree or a grove grows, producing [[golden apple]]s. According to the legend, when the marriage of Zeus and Hera took place, the different deities came with nuptial presents for the latter, and among them the goddess [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], with branches having golden apples growing on them as a wedding gift.<ref>Poet. Astron. ii. 3</ref> Hera, greatly admiring these, begged of Gaia to plant them in her gardens, which extended as far as Mount Atlas.

The Hesperides were given the task of tending to the grove, but occasionally picked apples from it themselves. Not trusting them, Hera also placed in the garden an immortal, never-sleeping, hundred-headed [[European dragon|dragon]] named [[Ladon (mythology)|Ladon]] as an additional safeguard.<ref name=":1">quoting [[Pherecydes of Syros|Pherecydes]], [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]. [https://topostext.org/work/207 ''Astronomica'' ''ii.3'']</ref> In the myth of the [[Judgement of Paris]], it was from the Garden that [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]], Goddess of Discord, obtained the [[Apple of Discord]], which led to the [[Trojan War]].<ref>[[Coluthus|Colluthus]]. ''[http://www.theoi.com/Text/Colluthus.html#15 Rape of Helen, 59ff].'' Translated by Mair, A. W. Loeb Classical Library Volume 219. London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1928</ref>

In later years it was thought that the "golden apples" might have actually been [[Orange (fruit)|oranges]], a fruit unknown to [[Europe]] and the [[Mediterranean]] before the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>[[Athenaeus]]. ''[[Deipnosophistae]], [https://topostext.org/work/218 3.83c]''</ref> Under this assumption, the [[Greek language|Greek]] [[botanical]] name chosen for all [[citrus]] species was ''Hesperidoeidē'' (Ἑσπεριδοειδῆ, "hesperidoids") and even today the Greek word for the orange fruit is πορτοκάλι (Portokáli)--after the country of [[Portugal]] in Iberia near where the Garden of the Hesperides grew.

=== The Eleventh Labour of Heracles ===
[[File:Herakles_Hesperides_Louvre_M11.jpg|thumb|Heracles in the Hesperides garden. Side A from an Attic red-figure pelike, 380–370 BC. From Cyrenaica.]]
[[File:Hercules Killing the Dragon in the Garden of the Hesperides, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.jpg|thumb|upright|''Hercules Killing the Dragon in the Garden of the Hesperides'' by [[Lorenzo dello Sciorino|Lorenzo Vaiani]]]]
[[File:Hercules In The Garden of The Hesperides by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini.jpg|thumb|upright|''Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides'' by [[Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini]]]]

After Heracles completed his first ten [[Labours of Hercules|Labours]], [[Eurystheus]] gave him two more claiming that neither the Hydra counted (because [[Iolaus]] helped Heracles) nor the Augean stables (either because he received payment for the job or because the rivers did the work). The first of these two additional Labours was to steal the apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles first caught the [[Old Man of the Sea]],<ref>Karl Kerenyi, ''The Heroes of the Greeks'', 1959, p.172, identifies him in this context as [[Nereus]]; as a shape-shifter he is often identified as [[Proteus]].</ref> the shape-shifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located. In some versions of the tale, Heracles went to the [[Caucasus]], where [[Prometheus]] was confined. The [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] directed him concerning his course through the land of the peoples in the farthest north and the perils to be encountered on his homeward march after slaying Geryon in the farthest west.

<blockquote>Follow this straight road; and, first of all, thou shalt come to the Boreades, where do thou beware the roaring hurricane, lest unawares it twist thee up and snatch thee away in wintry whirlwind.</blockquote>

As payment, Heracles freed Prometheus from his daily torture.<ref>[[Aeschylus]]. ''Prometheus Unbound, Fragment 109'' (from [[Galen]], ''Commentary on Hippocrates' Epidemics, 6.17.1''). Translated by Weir Smyth.</ref> This tale is more usually found in the position of the [[Erymanthian Boar]], since it is associated with [[Chiron]] choosing to forgo immortality and taking Prometheus' place.

Another story recounts how Heracles, either at the start or at the end of his task, meets [[Antaeus]], who was immortal as long as he touched his mother, [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], the earth. Heracles killed Antaeus by holding him aloft and crushing him in a bearhug.<ref>Apollodorus ii. 5; Hyginus, ''Fab.'' 31</ref> [[Herodotus]] claims that Heracles stopped in [[Egypt]], where [[Busiris (Greek mythology)|King Busiris]] decided to make him the yearly sacrifice, but Heracles burst out of his chains.

Finally making his way to the Garden of the Hesperides, Heracles tricked [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] into retrieving some of the golden apples for him, by offering to hold up the heavens for a little while (Atlas was able to take them as, in this version, he was the father or otherwise related to the Hesperides). This would have made this task – like the Hydra and Augean stables – void because he had received help. Upon his return, Atlas decided that he did not want to take the heavens back, and instead offered to deliver the apples himself, but Heracles tricked him again by agreeing to take his place on condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily so that Heracles could make his cloak more comfortable. Atlas agreed, but Heracles reneged and walked away, carrying the apples. According to an alternative version, Heracles slew [[Ladon (mythology)|Ladon]] instead and stole the apples.

There is another variation to the story where Heracles was the only person to steal the apples, other than [[Perseus]], although [[Athena]] later returned the apples to their rightful place in the garden. They are considered by some to be the same "apples of joy" that tempted [[Atalanta]], as opposed to the "[[Apple of Discord|apple of discord]]" used by [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] to start a beauty contest on Olympus (which caused "[[Trojan War|The Siege of Troy]]").

On [[Attica|Attic]] pottery, especially from the late fifth century, Heracles is depicted sitting in bliss in the Gardens of the Hesperides, attended by the maidens.

=== Argonauts' encounter ===
After the hero Heracles killed Ladon and stole the golden apples, the [[Argonauts]] during their journey, came to the Hesperian plain the next day. The band of heroes asked for the mercy of the Hesperides to guide them to a source of water in order to replenish their thirst. The goddesses pitying the young men, directed them to a spring created by Heracles who likewise longing for a draught while wandering the land, smote a rock near [[Lake Tritonis|Lake Triton]] after which the water gushed out. The following passage recounts this meeting of the Argonauts and the nymphs:<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]]. ''[[Argonautica]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/126 4.1393ff].</ref>

<blockquote>Then, like raging hounds, they [i.e. Argonauts] rushed to search for a spring; for besides their suffering and anguish, a parching thirst lay upon them, and not in vain did they wander; but they came to the sacred plain where Ladon, the serpent of the land, till yesterday kept watch over the golden apples in the garden of Atlas; and all around the nymphs, the Hesperides, were busied, chanting their lovely song. But at that time, stricken by Heracles, he lay fallen by the trunk of the apple-tree; only the tip of his tail was still writhing; but from his head down his dark spine he lay lifeless; and where the arrows had left in his blood the bitter gall of the Lernaean hydra, flies withered and died over the festering wounds. And close at hand the Hesperides, their white arms flung over their golden heads, lamented shrilly; and the heroes drew near suddenly; but the maidens, at their quick approach, at once became dust and earth where they stood. Orpheus marked the divine portent, and for his comrades addressed them in prayer: "O divine ones, fair and kind, be gracious, O queens, whether ye be numbered among the heavenly goddesses, or those beneath the earth, or be called the Solitary nymphs; come, O nymphs, sacred race of Oceanus, appear manifest to our longing eyes and show us some spring of water from the rock or some sacred flow gushing from the earth, goddesses, wherewith we may quench the thirst that burns us unceasingly. And if ever again we return in our voyaging to the Achaean land, then to you among the first of goddesses with willing hearts will we bring countless gifts, libations and banquets.</blockquote>
<blockquote>So he spake, beseeching them with plaintive voice; and they from their station near pitied their pain; and lo! First of all they caused grass to spring from the earth; and above the grass rose up tall shoots, and then flourishing saplings grew standing upright far above the earth. Hespere became a poplar and Eretheis an elm, and Aegle a willow's sacred trunk. And forth from these trees their forms looked out, as clear as they were before, a marvel exceeding great, and Aegle spake with gentle words answering their longing looks: "Surely there has come hither a mighty succour to your toils, that most accursed man, who robbed our guardian serpent of life and plucked the golden apples of the goddesses and is gone; and has left bitter grief for us. For yesterday came a man most fell in wanton violence, most grim in form; and his eyes flashed beneath his scowling brow; a ruthless wretch; and he was clad in the skin of a monstrous lion of raw hide, untanned; and he bare a sturdy bow of olive, and a bow, wherewith he shot and killed this monster here. So he too came, as one traversing the land on foot, parched with thirst; and he rushed wildly through this spot, searching for water, but nowhere was he like to see it. Now here stood a rock near the Tritonian lake; and of his own device, or by the prompting of some god, he smote it below with his foot; and the water gushed out in full flow. And he, leaning both his hands and chest upon the ground, drank a huge draught from the rifted rock, until, stooping like a beast of the field, he had satisfied his mighty maw.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Thus she spake; and they gladly with joyful steps ran to the spot where Aegle had pointed out to them the spring, until they reached it. And as when earth-burrowing ants gather in swarms round a narrow cleft, or when flies lighting upon a tiny drop of sweet honey cluster round with insatiate eagerness; so at that time, huddled together, the Minyae thronged about the spring from the rock. And thus with wet lips one cried to another in his delight: "Strange! In very truth Heracles, though far away, has saved his comrades, fordone with thirst. Would that we might find him on his way as we pass through the mainland!</blockquote>

=== Variation of the myth ===
According to Diodorus' account, the Hesperides did not have the golden apples. Instead they possessed flocks of sheep which excelled in beauty and were therefore called for their beauty, as the poets might do, "golden apples",<ref name=":2">The word μῆλον means both "sheep" and "apple"</ref> just as Aphroditê is called "golden" because of her loveliness. Others also say that it was because the sheep had a peculiar colour like gold that they got this designation. This version further states that Dracon ("dragon") was the name of the shepherd of the sheep, a man who excelled in strength of body and courage, who guarded the sheep and slew any who might dare to carry them off.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]]. ''Library, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.26.2-3]''</ref>

== In the Renaissance ==
With the revival of classical [[allusion]]s in the Renaissance, the Hesperides returned to their prominent position, and the garden itself took on the name of its nymphs: [[Robert Greene (16th century)|Robert Greene]] wrote of "The fearful Dragon... that watched the garden called Hesperides".<ref>R. Greene, ''[[Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay]]'' (published 1594)</ref>  Shakespeare inserted the comically insistent rhyme "is not Love a Hercules, Still climbing trees in the Hesperides" in ''[[Love's Labours Lost]]'' (iv.iii) and [[John Milton]] mentioned the "ladies of the Hesperides" in ''[[Paradise Regained]]'' (ii.357). ''Hesperides'' (published 1647) was the title of a collection of pastoral and religious verse by the Royalist poet [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]].

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed-hover">
File:Albert Herter - Garden of Hesperides.jpg|''Garden of Hesperides'' by [[Albert Herter]]
File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Herkules raubt die Äpfel der Hesperiden (Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum).jpg|''Hercules steals the Apples of the Hesperides'' by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]]
File:Hercules and the Hesperides by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini.jpg|''Hercules and the Hesperides'' by [[Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini]]
File:Hesperides, Dance around the Golden Tree by Edward Calvert.jpg|''Hesperides, Dance around the Golden Tree'' by [[Edward Calvert (painter)|Edward Calvert]]
File:Huerto de las Hespérides.jpg|''Huerto de las Hespérides, 1909 by [[Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre]]''
File:The Garden of Hesperides by Ricciardo Meacci.jpg|''The Garden of Hesperides'' by [[Ricciardo Meacci]], 1894
File:William Etty - Hesperus, 1844.jpg|''Hesperus'' by William Etty
File:Turner, Joseph Mallord William - The Goddess of Discord Choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides - c. 1806.jpg|''The Goddess of Discord Choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides - c. 1806'' by [[J. M. W. Turner]]
File:Singer Sargent, John - Atlas and the Hesperides - 1925.jpg|''Atlas and the Hesperides'' by [[John Singer Sargent]]
File:Hesperides, sive, De malorvm avreorvm cvltvra et vsv libri quatuor (Page 11) BHL273076.jpg|''Hesperides and Heracles from the book 'De malorvm avreorvm cvltvra et vsv libri quatuor'  by  [[Giovanni Baptista Ferrari]]''
File:Rudolf Jettmar - Hercule et les Hesperides.jpg|''Hercule et les Hesperides'' by [[Rudolf Jettmar]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Apples of the Hesperides]]
* [[Avalon]]
* [[Cedar Forest]]
* [[Fortunate Isles]]
* [[Garden of Eden]]
* [[Golden apple]]
* [[Immortality]]
* [[Hesperis (mythology)|Hesperis]] or [[Hesperius]]
* [[Hesperos]] or [[Hesperus]]
* [[Hesperium]]
* [[Paradise]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist|25em}}

== General references ==
* Ambühl, Annemarie, "Hesperides", in ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 6'', Hat &ndash; Jus, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2005. {{ISBN|9004122699}}.
* Grimal, Pierre, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iOx6de8LUNAC ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology''], Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, {{ISBN|978-0-631-20102-1}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iOx6de8LUNAC&q=Hesperides "Hesperides" p. 213]
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]] (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D11%3Aentry%3Dhesperides-bio-1 "Hespe'rides"]. ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London.

== External links ==
{{commons category|Hesperides (mythology)}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Hesperides |volume=13 |short=x}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040511071123/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.asp?venue=7&id=137 ''The Garden of the Hesperides''] in the [[Lady Lever Art Gallery]]
* [http://www.gardenvisit.com/book/history_of_garden_design_and_gardening/chapter_1_gardening_in_the_ancient_world/gardens_of_hesperides JC Loudon on the Gardens of Hesperides, ''History of Garden Design and Gardening'' (1835)]

{{Labours of Heracles}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Metamorphoses in Greek mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hesperides| ]]