By the time Herakles reaches his 11th Labor, the atmosphere of the myths has changed profoundly. The earlier labors demanded courage, ingenuity, restraint, endurance, and the restoration of order against various forms of chaos. But now the hero approaches something altogether more mysterious, although it follows from his journey into the West and the “red lands” of Geryon in Labor 10. The task before him concerns not merely strength or perseverance, but wisdom itself.
The Journey Westward
The command given by King Eurystheus is deceptively simple: Herakles must retrieve the golden apples of the Hesperides. Yet these are no ordinary fruits. The apples belong to a sacred garden situated at the far western edge of the world, beyond the limits of ordinary geography, near the place where heaven and earth seem almost to meet.The apples are associated with Hera herself, queen of the gods, and guarded both by the Hesperides, whose name means “Daughters of the West.” The name is probably derived from “hespera,” meaning “evening” and by the great serpent-dragon Ladon, a sleepless guardian coiled around the sacred tree. Herakles is journeying into the night, and already the symbolism is immense.
