Hespĕria, a large island of Africa, once the residence of the Amazons. Diodorus, bk. 3.——A name common to both Italy and Spain. It is derived from Hesper or Vesper, the setting sun, or the evening, whence the Greeks called Italy Hesperia, because it was situate at the setting sun, or in the west. The same name, for similar reasons, was applied to Spain by the Latins. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 634, &c.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 34, li. 4; bk. 1, ode 27, li. 28.—Silius Italicus, bk. 7, li. 15.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 258.——A daughter of the Cebrenus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 759.
Hespĕrĭdes, three celebrated nymphs, daughters of Hesperus. Apollodorus mentions four, Ægle, Erythia, Vesta, and Arethusa; and Diodorus confounds them with the Atlantides, and supposes that they were the same number. They were appointed to guard the golden apples which Juno gave to Jupiter on the day of their nuptials; and the place of their residence, placed beyond the ocean by Hesiod, is more universally believed to be near mount Atlas in Africa, according to Apollodorus. This celebrated place or garden abounded with fruits of the most delicious kind, and was carefully guarded by a dreadful dragon, which never slept. It was one of the labours of Hercules to procure some of the golden apples of the Hesperides. The hero, ignorant of the situation of this celebrated garden, applied to the nymphs in the neighbourhood of the Po for information, and was told that Nereus the god of the sea, if properly managed [See: [Nereus]], would direct him in his pursuits. Hercules seized Nereus as he was asleep, and the sea god, unable to escape from his grasp, answered all the questions which he proposed. Some say that Nereus sent Hercules to Prometheus, and that from him he received all his information. When Hercules came into Africa, he repaired to Atlas, and demanded of him three of the golden apples. Atlas unloaded himself and placed the burden of the heavens on the shoulders of Hercules, while he went in quest of the apples. At his return Hercules expressed his wish to ease the burden by putting something on his head, and when Atlas assisted him to remove his inconvenience, Hercules artfully left the burden, and seized the apples, which Atlas had thrown on the ground. According to other accounts, Hercules gathered the apples himself, without the assistance of Atlas, and he previously killed the watchful dragon which kept the tree. These apples were brought to Eurystheus, and afterwards carried back by Minerva into the garden of the Hesperides, as they could be preserved in no other place. Hercules is sometimes represented gathering the apples, and the dragon which guarded the tree appears bowing down his head, as having received a mortal wound. This monster, as it is supposed, was the offspring of Typhon, and it had 100 heads and as many voices. This number, however, is reduced by some to only one head. Those that attempt to explain mythology, observe that the Hesperides were certain persons who had an immense number of flocks, and that the ambiguous word μηλον, which signifies an apple and a sheep, gave rise to the fable of the golden apples of the Hesperides. Diodorus, bk. 4.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 637, &c.; bk. 9, li. 90.—Hyginus, fable 30.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 215, &c.
Hespĕris. See: [Hesperus].——A town of Cyrenaica, now Bernic or Bengazi, where most authors have placed the garden of the Hesperides.
Hesperītis, a country of Africa. Diodorus, bk. 4.
Hespĕrus, a son of Japetus, brother to Atlas. He came to Italy, and the country received the name of Hesperia from him, according to some accounts. He had a daughter called Hesperis, who married Atlas, and became mother of seven daughters, called Atlantides or Hesperides. Diodorus, bk. 4.——The name of Hesperus was also applied to the planet Venus, when it appeared after the setting of the sun. It was called Phosphorus or Lucifer when it preceded the sun. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Seneca, de Hippolytus, li. 749; Medea, li. 71.
Hestia, one of the Hesperides. Apollodorus.
Hestiæa, a town of Eubœa.
Hesus, a deity among the Gauls, the same as the Mars of the Romans. Lucan, bk. 1, li. 445.
Hesychia, a daughter of Thespius. Apollodorus.
Hesychius, the author of a Greek lexicon in the beginning of the third century, a valuable work which has been learnedly edited by Albert, 2 vols., folio, Leiden, 1746.