|
In the eleventh labor, Herakles was ordered to bring
the golden apples of Hesperides, the same apples that goddess Hera had
received at her wedding as a gift from Gaia (Earth) and which now were
kept by Hesperides and the dragon Ladon, on the mount Atlas, in the
country of Hyperboreans.
Herakles not knowing where the gardens of Hesperides were, he asked the
help of the nymphs, who were dwelled by the river Epidamnus. The
nymphs advised him to take the answer from Nereus, the god of the
sea.
Herakles traveled through Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia and had many adventures
slaying Andaeus, Bousiris and Emathion and then
crossed to Asia, passing through Caucasus, where he unchained Prometheus
and went to the land of Hyperboreans, where he found the mount Atlas and
following the advise of Prometheus, he sent Atlas to bring
the apples and took his place in carrying the heavens in his shoulders.
When Atlas returned with the apples, he declined to take the heavens in
his shoulders again and said that he would carry himself the apples to
Eurystheus. Herakles then tricked Atlas and told him to carry for a
moment the heavens in order to adjust a pillow on his head. Instead he
took the apples and left.
When Herakles returned to Mykenae, Eurystheus gave him the apples as
present and in return Herakles offered them to the goddess Athena, who
returned them back to their former garden. |
