Hesperides

In Greek mythology, the maidens who tended a tree bearing the golden apples of immortality, a wedding present to the goddess Hera from Gaia, mother of the Earth. Their garden was guarded by Ladon, a 100-headed dragon. The apples were taken by the hero Heracles as one of his 12 labours, but returned by the goddess Athena.

Traditions vary concerning their numbers (usually three), parentage, and setting. The Athenian scholar Apollodorus placed their garden near Mount Atlas, but Hesiod later described them on the Islands of the Blessed (also known as the Hesperides) far to the west on the borders of the ocean. Their father was represented as either Hesperus, the evening star, or the Titan Atlas who held up the heavens.