Hesperides1.0000_Reid
Hesperides.
Daughters of Nyx (Night) and Erebus (Darkness), the Hesperides were the guardians of a tree that produced golden apples. The tree grew in a garden located in the far west of the world, on the border of Oceanus; the Hesperides were thus called “Nymphs of the Setting Sun.” The tree, a wedding gift from Gaia to Hera, was protected by the dragon Ladon.
Later versions of the myth name Hesperis and Atlas or Ceto and Phorcys as the parents of the Hesperides and identify between three and seven sisters. Among the names given to them are Aigle, Erytheia, Arethusa, Hespere, and Hesperethusa.
The golden apples figure in several myths, among them the eleventh labor of Heracles and the race of Hippomenes (or Melanion) and Atalanta.