Hesiod describes him as upholding ‘the wide heaven with unwearying head and arms’ and ‘standing at the borders of the earth before the clear-voiced Hesperides’. Heracles came to Atlas, a titan who stood at the end of the earth in the utmost west holding the sky on his shoulders. Nevertheless, the apples were stolen by the hero Heracles, who undertook this at the command of his elder brother Eurystheus. They were assisted by Ladon, a dragon with a hundred heads, who stopped everyone approaching the garden. Hera commanded Hesperides to guard the apples, and this is what they did with great zeal. Hesiod does not tell the myth about the theft of the golden apples, but it is known from several other sources. The theft of the golden apples of Hesperides It was a wedding present that was given when Hera married Zeus, the god of the sky and the ruler of the gods. In the myth, it belonged to the goddess Hera who received it from Gaia, the goddess of the earth. The apple tree that grows in the garden and produces golden apples presumably symbolizes the sunset with its fiery colours. Their garden is situated ‘in the frontier land towards Night’ and ‘at the borders of the earth’. Hesiod also reports that Hesperides ‘guard the rich, golden apples and the trees bearing fruit, beyond glorious Ocean’ (l. The golden apples of the Hesperides by Edward Burne-Jones, 1869-73 (detail) The golden apples of Hesperides They are associated with the west, evening and sunset. Hesiod describes Hesperides as ‘clear-voiced’. Their name derives form Hesperus, an ancient Greek name of the Evening Star, the planet Venus clearly visible from the earth in the evening. It is tended by Hesperides who, he explains, are the daughters of the Night. Hesiod also tells about a magical garden situated at the edge of the world in the extreme west. A magical garden at the edge of the world According to Hesiod, in order to take the fire secretly from heaven to earth, Prometheus hid it in a hollow fennel stalk. Perhaps not surprisingly a plant features in this myth as well. Theogony tells some of the best known and most fascinating myths, such as the story of Prometheus who stole the fire from the gods and gave it to humans. It is an account of myths about the origin of the world and the gods, and gods’ relationships between themselves and with humanity. Hesiod’s poem Theogony is a major source of our knowledge about ancient Greek religion. This is a very distant past, and the stories that Hesiod tells are of immense antiquity.

He lived between 750 and 650 BCE, approximately at the same time as Homer, the author of the poems Illiad and Odyssey. Many ancient Greek myths are preserved in their earliest form in the works of the poet Hesiod. They therefore can tell us what they valued and how they understood the world. Myths reflect, often in a symbolic form, perceptions and beliefs of ancient peoples. For example, how did the world came to be? What is its origin? Who are its inhabitants now and who were they in the past? How is it governed, and what will happen to it in future? Plants and gardens often feature in myths – ancient stories that try to answer the most fundamental questions about the world.

And where else can you find ‘clear-voiced’ goddesses of the evening and sunset, an embodiment of the West? It is simply amazing and below I tell the story. Where else can you find such an arresting poetic image as a magical garden at the edge of the world in the extreme west? It is said to be ‘beyond glorious Ocean’, in the frontier land towards Night. The myth about the golden apples of Hesperides is a beautiful and mysterious story.

Hesperides apple