Paris, being a human male, was overwhelmed with the beauty of all the goddesses and very confused about his decision. Knowing better than to actually make this particular decision, considering its obvious consequences, Zeus called upon Hermes to escort the three goddesses to Troy to meet with Paris, the mortal prince of the city. Zeus, was called in to mediate the decision regarding the fairest goddess. Ancient Greek goddesses are far better known for their vanity than their modesty. Aphrodite, Hera and Athena all immediately claimed the apple. That cunning move was the equivalent of throwing raw meat into a lion’s den. The goddess of discord tossed a beautiful golden apple, which turned out to be the apple of discord, amongst the goddesses who were guests at the wedding. Eris was bitter about being left off the event list so she showed up uninvited with a scheme to cause trouble. Thetis was a coveted bachelorette goddess and her wedding was going to be quite the event. Judgement of ParisĪll the gods and goddesses were sent an invitation to attend the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, except for the goddess of discord, Eris, who wasn’t invited or welcome. Hera was given the original apple branches by Gaia, the primordial deity and mother of all life, for her wedding gift when she married Zeus. The consumption of a golden apple from this special orchard results in immortality. Hera’s golden apple orchard is the Garden of the Hesperides in the mythology. However, most mythologists agree the garden was probably somewhere west of the river of Oceanus, around ancient Phoenicia on the northern coast of Africa. Ladon is the name of a river in Arcadia as well as of the dragon of the myths, so the garden may have been in that region of Greece.

There are other proposed locations as well. One location locals claim to be the setting for the magical garden is the site of the ancient Roman city of Lixus, which is located in a town called Larache in Morocco today. Sometimes they were referred to as the Daughters of the Evening or the Nymphs of the West. It seems that they were certainly the offspring of one important deity or another, but Greek mythology is complex and their definitive parentage remains an ongoing mystery for the mythologists to solve.ĭespite the inconclusive parentage and varying number of nymphs, we do know that they stayed in Hera’s garden amongst the golden apple orchards. Zeus and Atlas have been mentioned as being their possible father, too. They have also been called the children of Nyx, the goddess of night, and Erubus, the god of darkness. Some stories say they are the daughters of Hesperus. The mythology isn’t completely clear on the bloodline of the nymphs. Because the sun sets in the west, it is assumed that they were in the far west, and their home was an island sometimes called Hesperia, meaning evening, and otherwise called Erytheia, which means red, the color of the setting sun.

The precise location of the Hesperides has never been determined. In addition, it is the name for the planet Venus as it appears in the nighttime sky, also known as the evening star. The name Hesperides – and the name of their father in some of the myths, Hesperus – is derived from the Latin word hesperos, meaning evening. However, despite the other ambiguities, it is generally agreed that they were beautiful and had wonderful sweet voices. Most sources say there were between four and seven nymphs that stayed in the garden of Hesperides. There is an ongoing debate as to the parentage of the Hesperides, as well as exactly how many there were.

Les hesperides