Ladon – Eleventh Labor of Heracles (Hercules)

Ladon was a big, serpent-like dragon, coiled around the trees bearing the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, high atop a remote mountain. Heracles’ eleventh labor was to take the golden apples and bring them to king Eurystheus. 

Key Facts

Origins of Ladon

Ladon is the youngest offspring of the primordial sea deities Phorcys and Ceto. He is the brother of Echidna, The Mother of Monstrous, the mother of all monsters; the Gorgons, The Enigmatic Sisters, including the ill-famed Medusa; the Graeae; the Sirens; and the sea nymph Thoosa. Ladon was given the task to guard the Garden of the Hesperides Nymphs, Guardians of Nature, and mostly the golden apples that grew there. In his eleventh labor, Heracles, The Strongest Hero had to face the dragon before obtaining the apples.

Etymology

The name Ladon doesn’t appear to have a distinct meaning. A simple hypothesis would suggest that Ladon is the ‘great of the earth’, the large serpent that crawls on the ground.

Impact

The dragon Ladon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides was said to be an awful snake. Yet, despite his terrible appearance, he was a formidable and worthy protector of the Divine Garden. The golden apples were considered sacred to the Queen of the gods, Hera, and they were forbidden to anyone but her. Hera, who didn’t trust the Hesperides nymphs to safe-keep the apples alone, placed the always awake and deathless serpentine dragon Ladon to watch over the outstanding fruits.

The legend of a snake guarding forbidden apples shares many similarities with the biblical myth of Adam and Eve. Although Ladon is not wholly an evil entity his presence in the story of the Hesperides set the standards for many tales about dragons guarding treasures.

The myth of Ladon

The setting

The beautiful and majestic Garden of the Hesperides, named after the nymphs who tended the trees, belonged to the goddess Hera. When Zeus married Hera, Gaia gave to the goddess a branch containing shining golden apples as a wedding gift. Hera was so amazed by the brilliance of the fruits that she had them planted in her garden where the Hesperides nymphs (The Daughters of the Evening) were placed to look after the saplings. Hera also set Ladon, the great serpent with the hundred heads to guard the apples.

The beast

The fearsome guardian of the Garden of the Hesperides was a serpentine dragon (probably wingless) with one hundred heads and a long body with black and red scales. Ladon was his name and he was an immortal monster that never slept. His task was to prevent and kill those who would attempt to steal the golden apples.

The hero

After killing the Caucasian Eagle and liberating Prometheus, The Titan Who Defied Zeus from his tormenting imprisonment, Heracles learned how to reach the distant Garden of the Hesperides. Once there however he witnessed the egregious size of the horrible beast that guarded his prize and was taken aback. There was no doubt at all that the dragon Ladon was an intimidating foe.

Yet, Heracles didn’t falter. He took out his bow and his poison arrows (dipped in the terrible Lernaean Hydra’s blood) and fired at the beast, ultimately slaying it. The path to the apples was now clear, but the demigod hero soon found out that he could not obtain them. The trees were too tall for him. So, he asked assistance from another Titan, Atlas, The Titan Who Held Up the Sky, who was holding up the heavens in an area not far from the Garden.

Heracles agreed to take the unbearable burden on his shoulders until Atlas would return with the golden apples. But, the Titan wasn’t willing to hold his end of the bargain and he would have left Heracles in his place forever if not for the cunning of the hero to trick the Titan into holding the sky up again.

Depictions

According to most sources, Ladon is presented as a hundred-headed, serpent-like giant dragon, ever watchful and eternal. In art though, the guardian of the Garden of the Hesperides is portrayed as a large snake with one or three heads. Very few scholars gave Ladon wings and fewer still even a fiery breath.

Roles and Responsibilities

Ladon’s duty was to guard the golden apples of the Hesperides against anyone who would seek to steal them. 

In the old texts

Greek

Ladon appears in Hesiod’s Theogony, Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca, Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica, Diodorus Siculus’ Bibliotheca Historica, and Pausanias’ Description of Greece.

Roman

The dragon Ladon is mentioned in Virgil’s Aeneid, and Hyginus’ Fabulae and De Astronomica.

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Featured Image Credit: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons