The Apple had a bad rap even before the Book of Genesis. On Mt. Atlas, the golden apples grew, guarded by the daughters of Atlas, the Hesperides, who were pilfering the apples while Dad groaned under the weight of the world. Heracles (Hercules), on his 11th labour, agreed to shoulder the burden while Atlas plucked the apples from the tree. He then conned Atlas into taking up the slack again, and made off with the forbidden fruit. He was a pathological liar, that Heracles!
‘She’s apples’…the garden painted by Albert Herter (1898)
Ironically, Heracles ended up presenting the treasured apples to Athene, who gave them back to the nymphs, since they were Mother Earth’s gift to Hera. The Hesperides were a lot more circumspect about scrumping from then on.
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