Drakon Hesperios

🐉 creatureΔράκων Ἑσπέριος

serpents,guardian

The immortal serpent that never slept, coiled around the tree of golden apples in the garden of the ‌‌‍‌‌‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍Hesperides at the western edge of the world.

The Myth of Drakon Hesperios

At the far western edge of the world, beyond Ocean, lay the garden of the Hesperides where golden apple trees grew as a wedding gift from Gaia to Hera.‌‌‍‌‌‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍ To guard them, an immense serpent — Ladon in many sources, though some traditions call him simply the dragon of the west — was set to coil eternally around the tree. Unlike mortal creatures, the serpent never slept. Its many heads (the number varies: one, a hundred, and other figures appear in different texts) kept constant vigil. Heracles' eleventh labour required him to obtain these apples. In one version he slew the serpent; in another he persuaded Atlas to fetch them while Heracles held up the sky; in another he simply bypassed it. The serpent's body was later placed among the stars as the constellation Draco.

Parents

Typhon,Echidna (some sources)

Symbols

golden appleswestern gardenstars

Fun Fact

The constellation Draco is said to represent this guardian serpent, placed among the stars by Hera after Heracles completed his labour — a celestial memorial to a failed guardian.

Explore Further

Ladon

🐉 creature

Hundred-headed dragon of the Hesperides

Ladon was the serpent-dragon with a hundred heads who guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, never sleeping, each head speaking in a different voice.

Ladon

🐉 creature

guardian, treasure

The hundred-headed serpent-dragon that guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, slain or tricked by Heracles during his eleventh labour.

draconian

Colchian Dragon

🐉 creature

Sleepless guardian of the Golden Fleece

The Colchian Dragon was an enormous, ever-wakeful serpent that guarded the Golden Fleece in the sacred grove of Ares in Colchis.

dragondraconian

Drakon Kholkikos

🐉 creature

dragons

The ever-wakeful dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece in the sacred grove of Ares at Colchis

Ophis

🐉 creature

serpents

The great cosmic serpent in Orphic tradition that encircled the primordial egg at the dawn of creation

ophiologyophidian

Python

🐉 creature

Serpent of Delphi slain by Apollo

Python was the enormous serpent that guarded the oracle at Delphi before Apollo arrived, slew it, and claimed the site for his own.

pythonPythianPythia

Sybaris

🐉 creature

monsters

A monstrous serpent-dragon that terrorised the region around Delphi until slain by a young hero

sybarite

Drakon Ismenios

🐉 creature

dragons

A sacred dragon of Ares that guarded the spring of Ismene near Thebes

Hydra

🐉 creature

Multi-headed serpent of Lerna

A monstrous water serpent with multiple heads that grew two more whenever one was cut off. Slaying the Hydra was Heracles's second labor.

hydra

Lernaean Hydra

🐉 creature

Many-headed water serpent

The Hydra was a gigantic water serpent with multiple heads — when one was severed, two more grew in its place, making it seemingly impossible to kill.

hydrahydranthydraulic

Delphyne

🐉 creature

dragons

A she-dragon who guarded Zeus's severed sinews in the Corycian Cave

Cerastes

🐉 creature

serpents

A horned serpent of the Libyan desert that buried itself in sand to ambush prey