Editing Hesperides (section)

=== The Eleventh Labour of Heracles ===
[[File:Herakles_Hesperides_Louvre_M11.jpg|thumb|Heracles in the Hesperides garden. Side A from an Attic red-figure pelike, 380–370 BC. From Cyrenaica.]]
[[File:Hercules Killing the Dragon in the Garden of the Hesperides, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.jpg|thumb|upright|''Hercules Killing the Dragon in the Garden of the Hesperides'' by [[Lorenzo dello Sciorino|Lorenzo Vaiani]]]]
[[File:Hercules In The Garden of The Hesperides by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini.jpg|thumb|upright|''Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides'' by [[Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini]]]]

After Heracles completed his first ten [[Labours of Hercules|Labours]], [[Eurystheus]] gave him two more claiming that neither the Hydra counted (because [[Iolaus]] helped Heracles) nor the Augean stables (either because he received payment for the job or because the rivers did the work). The first of these two additional Labours was to steal the apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles first caught the [[Old Man of the Sea]],<ref>Karl Kerenyi, ''The Heroes of the Greeks'', 1959, p.172, identifies him in this context as [[Nereus]]; as a shape-shifter he is often identified as [[Proteus]].</ref> the shape-shifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located. In some versions of the tale, Heracles went to the [[Caucasus]], where [[Prometheus]] was confined. The [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] directed him concerning his course through the land of the peoples in the farthest north and the perils to be encountered on his homeward march after slaying Geryon in the farthest west.

<blockquote>Follow this straight road; and, first of all, thou shalt come to the Boreades, where do thou beware the roaring hurricane, lest unawares it twist thee up and snatch thee away in wintry whirlwind.</blockquote>

As payment, Heracles freed Prometheus from his daily torture.<ref>[[Aeschylus]]. ''Prometheus Unbound, Fragment 109'' (from [[Galen]], ''Commentary on Hippocrates' Epidemics, 6.17.1''). Translated by Weir Smyth.</ref> This tale is more usually found in the position of the [[Erymanthian Boar]], since it is associated with [[Chiron]] choosing to forgo immortality and taking Prometheus' place.

Another story recounts how Heracles, either at the start or at the end of his task, meets [[Antaeus]], who was immortal as long as he touched his mother, [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], the earth. Heracles killed Antaeus by holding him aloft and crushing him in a bearhug.<ref>Apollodorus ii. 5; Hyginus, ''Fab.'' 31</ref> [[Herodotus]] claims that Heracles stopped in [[Egypt]], where [[Busiris (Greek mythology)|King Busiris]] decided to make him the yearly sacrifice, but Heracles burst out of his chains.

Finally making his way to the Garden of the Hesperides, Heracles tricked [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] into retrieving some of the golden apples for him, by offering to hold up the heavens for a little while (Atlas was able to take them as, in this version, he was the father or otherwise related to the Hesperides). This would have made this task – like the Hydra and Augean stables – void because he had received help. Upon his return, Atlas decided that he did not want to take the heavens back, and instead offered to deliver the apples himself, but Heracles tricked him again by agreeing to take his place on condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily so that Heracles could make his cloak more comfortable. Atlas agreed, but Heracles reneged and walked away, carrying the apples. According to an alternative version, Heracles slew [[Ladon (mythology)|Ladon]] instead and stole the apples.

There is another variation to the story where Heracles was the only person to steal the apples, other than [[Perseus]], although [[Athena]] later returned the apples to their rightful place in the garden. They are considered by some to be the same "apples of joy" that tempted [[Atalanta]], as opposed to the "[[Apple of Discord|apple of discord]]" used by [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] to start a beauty contest on Olympus (which caused "[[Trojan War|The Siege of Troy]]").

On [[Attica|Attic]] pottery, especially from the late fifth century, Heracles is depicted sitting in bliss in the Gardens of the Hesperides, attended by the maidens.