The Garden of the Hesperides (Sir Frederic Leighton, 1892)
In the Greek view of the world, there was a tranquil garden of perpetual rosy twilight which was found at the sunset edge of all lands–so far west that the west came to an end. The garden was inhabited by three nymphs of peerless beauty whose special task was to tend an apple tree in the middle of the garden. The golden fruit of the tree would confer immortality upon anyone who ate one. But of course there was a catch.
This was the penultimate labor of Hercules: to bring back three of the apples of the Hesperides. The tree was in the private garden of Hera herself and the apple tree was a wedding gift from Mother Earth to the queen of the gods. Plucking the apples from the tree would bring instant death to any mortal, but the biggest problem of all was the garden’s true guardian, the dragon Ladon who was coiled around the apple tree. As you might imagine, Ladon was one of Echidna’s offspring. He is sometimes shown as a great python, other times as a more traditional dragon, and occasionally as a hundred-headed uber-dragon.
The Garden of Hesperides (Edward Burne-Jones, ca. 1870-1873)
Although dragons abound in Greek mythology, the snake-dragon curled around a sacred tree, seems to have arrived in Greek mythology from another canon altogether. Scholars believe Ladon’s original form was the Semitic serpent god Lotan, or the Hurrian/Hittite serpent Illuyanka. In fact, serpents/dragons wound around fruit trees are well-known in the three great monotheistic faiths of the present. In Greek mythology, Ladon only plays an active role in the story of Hercules 11th labor (and even then, the dragon’s role is curiously ambiguous).
Hercules and the Hesperides (Rubert Bunny, 1864 - 1947)
Hercules traveled through the Greek world having adventures, killing giants, and seeking the garden’s location. It was during his search for the Garden of the Hesperides that he slew the Caucasian Eagle and freed Prometheus (who, in gratitude, told him what to expect at the garden of the Hesperides). In order to obtain the apples, Hercules solicited the aid of the titan Atlas, who holds up the firmament. Hercules assumed the burden of the heavens while immortal Atlas collected the apples. When Atlas betrayed Hercules and left the strongman holding the heavens, Hercules pretended to accept his fate–but he asked to adjust his lionskin first. Once Atlas was holding the heavens again, Hercules picked up the apples and took them back to Eurystheus (who was rightly afraid of them, and gave them to Athena). The fate of the dragon is a bit unclear. In some versions Hercules kills him for good measure. For example, in the story of Jason and the golden fleece, Ladon’s corpse is spotted by the Argonauts—the creature’s body is still heaving and trembling years after death while the heartbroken nymphs sob. In other stories the dragon survives and, together with the nymphs, continues to look after the tree of life.
Because I can not resist, here are links to a very short and delightful comic strip consisting of a first, second, and third panel. The drawings contain mild nudity (which differs from that found in Lord Leighton’s painting above only in that the strip is contemporary). The creator, M.L. Peters, tried to add a feeling of fin de siècle illustration so as to give the comic punchline a deeper resonance, and I feel he succeeded admirably. Additionally I love anchovies.
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May 29, 2018 at 11:30 AM
Of Goddesses and Sunsets and Swots and Writers with Wandering Minds... | Fury Triad
[…] Illustration from a blog entry, The Garden of the Hesperides, on ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com. […]
January 4, 2020 at 3:31 PM
Stars 123
You obviously have no idea what you’re talking about. In Greek mythology, there was NOTHING special about the golden apples except their color. They did NOT grant “immortality,” that’s what ambrosia and nectar did.
January 4, 2020 at 4:55 PM
Wayne
Well, we can certainly determine that you are an INSOLENT lout with a personality which makes me NOT inclined to care much for you, but this doesn’t mean you are wrong. The only classical source I could find which ties the garden of the Hesperides, to immortality is Euripides’ 5th century play Hippolytus, which refers to “The apple-bearing Hesperian coast, of which the minstrels sing. Where the Lord of Okeanos (Oceanus) denies the voyager further sailing and fixes the solemn limit of Ouranos (Uranus) which Giant Atlas upholds. There the streams flow with ambrosia by Zeus’s bed of love and holy Gaia (Gaea), the giver of life, yield to the gods rich blessedness.”
But that only mentions ambrosia–the prime immortality-granting substance of classical myth. What about the apples themselves? Well, in ancient sources, Herakles (and, for that matter, Eurystheus) refuse to partake of the apples. Because of their numinous power, Herakles won’t even pick them, but delegates the task to the immortal Atlas. Once their role as McGuffin in the 11th labor is fulfilled, Athena returns the apples to the far west. It sounds like they are a lot more special than the golden apples which we buy at the store, but it doesn’t explicitly state that eating Hera’s beloved wedding gift apples leads to immortality. Maybe they just make really great pies.
Here is a link to a rather good back-and-forth discussion about the question. You might like, since it inclines toward your position, but the reserved scholarly tone might grate upon the ears of one such as yourself (obviously a fervent worshiper of the malignant goddess ERIS…who also makes use of golden apples to sow unhappiness and discord).
Sadly I too also sometimes pay homage to Eris (who certainly had a hand in designing the internet), which makes me note there are lots of modern sources which refer to the golden apples as fruits of immortality. Obeisance to Eris also makes me observe that classical mythology isn’t, you know, real. Greek myths lie not in the realm of science, but rather in the world of art. As a habitue of that golden realm, I have to say there is something divine and special about Hera’s apples which makes them not for mortals, doomed to die, but only for the ever-living gods.
April 29, 2020 at 3:44 AM
Ancient word of the day: Nymph – Content Catnip
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