HESPERIDES

( (Greek: "Daughters of Evening"), ) singular Hesperis, in Greek mythology, clear-voiced maidens who guarded the tree bearing golden apples that Gaea gave to Hera at her marriage to Zeus. According to Hesiod, they were the daughters of Erebus and Night; in other accounts, their parents were Atlas and Hesperis or Phorcys and Ceto. They were usually three in number, Aegle, Erytheia, and Hespere (or Hesperethusa), but by some accounts were as many as seven. They were said to live among the Hyperboreans. The golden apples were also guarded by the dragon Ladon, the offspring of Phorcys and Ceto. As Ladon is the name of an Arcadian river, Arcadia was possibly the original site of the garden. Heracles later either stole the apples or had Atlas get them for him. The golden apples that Aphrodite gave to Hippomenes before his race with Atalanta were from the garden of the Hesperides.