Garden of the Hesperides
placeThe Garden of the Hesperides was a paradise at the far western edge of the world where golden apples grew on trees tended by nymphs and guarded by a dragon.
The Myth
The garden was Hera's private paradise, a wedding gift from Gaia. Golden apple trees grew there, tended by the Hesperides nymphs and guarded by the hundred-headed dragon Ladon. The garden lay near where Atlas held up the sky. Heracles stole the apples for his eleventh labour. The golden apples were also the catalyst for the Trojan War when Eris threw one inscribed "for the fairest" among the goddesses. The garden became the prototype for all paradise gardens in Western imagination.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Greek word for the Hesperides' apples — melon — also means "sheep," leading some scholars to suggest the Golden Fleece and Golden Apples were originally the same myth.
Explore Further
Atlas
titanThe Titan who was condemned to hold the celestial sphere on his shoulders for eternity. His name...
Eris
conceptThe goddess of strife and discord who threw the golden apple that started the chain of events...
Gaia
primordialGaia was the primordial Earth goddess, the first being to emerge after Chaos — mother of the...
Hera
godQueen of the Olympian gods and goddess of marriage. Known for her jealous rages against Zeus's...
Heracles
heroThe greatest hero of Greek mythology, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Famous for his...
Hesperides
nymphThe Hesperides tended golden apple trees at the western edge of the world.