Hesperides. In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are the nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the Daughters of the Evening or Nymphs of the West.
They were also called the Atlantides from their reputed father, the Titan Atlas. The name means originating from Hesperos.
Hesperos, or Vesper in Latin, is the origin of the name Hesperus, the evening star as well as having a shared root with the English word west. Ordinarily, the Hesperides number three, like the other Greek triads.
Since the Hesperides themselves are mere symbols of the gifts the apples embody, they cannot be actors in a human drama. Their abstract, interchangeable names are a symptom of their impersonality, Evelyn Harrison has observed.
They are sometimes portrayed as the evening daughters of Night either alone, or with Darkness, in accord with the way Eos in the farthermost east, in Colchis, is the daughter of the titan Hyperion. The Hesperides are also listed as the daughters of Atlas, and Hesperis or of Phorcys and Ceto or of Zeus and Themis. In another source, the nymphs are said to be the daughters of Hesperus. Nevertheless, among the names given to them, though never all at once, there were either three, four, or seven Hesperides. Apollonius of Rhodes gives the number of three with their names as Aigle, Erytheis and Hespere. Hyginus in his preface to the Fabulae names them as Aegle, Hesperie and *aerica.
They were also called the Atlantides from their reputed father, the Titan Atlas. The name means originating from Hesperos.
Hesperos, or Vesper in Latin, is the origin of the name Hesperus, the evening star as well as having a shared root with the English word west. Ordinarily, the Hesperides number three, like the other Greek triads.
Since the Hesperides themselves are mere symbols of the gifts the apples embody, they cannot be actors in a human drama. Their abstract, interchangeable names are a symptom of their impersonality, Evelyn Harrison has observed.
They are sometimes portrayed as the evening daughters of Night either alone, or with Darkness, in accord with the way Eos in the farthermost east, in Colchis, is the daughter of the titan Hyperion. The Hesperides are also listed as the daughters of Atlas, and Hesperis or of Phorcys and Ceto or of Zeus and Themis. In another source, the nymphs are said to be the daughters of Hesperus. Nevertheless, among the names given to them, though never all at once, there were either three, four, or seven Hesperides. Apollonius of Rhodes gives the number of three with their names as Aigle, Erytheis and Hespere. Hyginus in his preface to the Fabulae names them as Aegle, Hesperie and *aerica.
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