Thegolden apple is an element that appears in various legends that depict a hero (for exampleHercules orFăt-Frumos) retrieving the goldenapples hidden or stolen by anantagonist. Gold apples also appear on theSilver Branch of theOtherworld inIrish mythology.
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Golden apples appear in threeGreek myths:
A huntress named Atalanta who raced against a suitor namedMelanion, also known asHippomenes. Melanion used golden apples to distract Atalanta so that he could win the race.
Though abandoned by her father as an infant, Atalanta became a skilled hunter and received acclaim for her role in the hunt for the Calydonian boar. Her father claimed her as his daughter and wished to marry her off. However, Atalanta was reluctant to marry due to a prophecy that marriage would be her downfall. Because of her beauty, she gained a number of suitors and finally agreed to marry, but under the condition that her suitor was obligated to beat her in a footrace. Competitors who failed to beat her would be put to death. As Atalanta could run extremely fast, all her suitors died.
Realizing that Atalanta could not be defeated in a fair race, Melanion prayed toAphrodite for help. The goddess gave him three golden apples and told him to drop them one at a time to distract Atalanta. Sure enough, she quit running long enough to retrieve each golden apple. It took all three apples and all of his speed, but Melanion finally succeeded, winning the race and Atalanta's hand.
Eventually they had a sonParthenopaios, who was one of theSeven against Thebes. Their marriage ended in misfortune when they were transformed into lions (which the Greeks believed were unable to mate with their own species, only with leopards) for offendingZeus by having an affair in one of his shrines.
Zeus held abanquet in celebration of the marriage ofPeleus andThetis.Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited due to her troublesome nature, and upon turning up uninvited, she threw a golden apple into the ceremony, with an inscription that read: "ΤΗΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΗΙ" (Ancient Greek:τῇ καλλίστῃ,romanized: tē(i) kallistē(i),Modern Greek: τη καλλίστηti kallisti; "for/to the most beautiful" – cf.Callisto). Three goddesses claimed the apple:Hera,Athena, andAphrodite. They brought the matter before Zeus. Not wanting to get involved, Zeus assigned the task toParis of Troy. Paris had demonstrated his exemplary fairness previously when he awarded a prize unhesitatingly toAres after the god, in bull form, had bested his own prize bull.Zeus gave the apple toHermes and told him to deliver it to Paris and tell him that the goddesses would accept his decision without argument. As each goddess wanted to receive the apple, they each stripped off their own clothing and appeared naked before Paris. Each of the goddesses also offered Paris a gift as a bribe in return for the apple. Hera offered to make him the king of Europe and Asia Minor, Athena offered him wisdom and skill in battle, and Aphrodite offered to give to him the love of the world's most beautiful woman,Helen of Sparta, who was already married to King Menelaus. Paris chose Aphrodite, a decision that caused theTrojan War, and ultimately the destruction of both Paris and his city, Troy.
Hera'ssacred tree, given to her as gift fromZeus, grows apples made entirely of gold. ThedragonLadon was sent to guard it from anyone who might try to steal the apples.
The role of the Golden Apple is far more minor and less specific inIrish lore, mostly because it is an element of theSilver Branch, orSilver Bough, symbol that is connected to theCeltic Otherworld.
The silver branch with golden apples is owned by the Irishsea deity and Otherworld guardianManannán mac Lir in the taleEchtra Cormaic.[1][a] But these "apples" are actually "balls ofred gold" hanging on a musical branch according to variant texts,[b] and hardly fruits at all.[2][c] TheDictionary of the Irish Language concurs, by defining the "apples" in this instance as "musical balls", not "fruits".[6]
There has been offered for comparison "silver branch of the sacred apple-tree bearing blossoms" encountered byBran mac Febail in the narrativeThe Voyage of Bran,[7] though golden apple fruits are not evident in this telling. This branch came from "Emain", construed to mean Emain Ablach associated with Manannán mac Lir by later commentators,[8] though not recognized as anything other thanEmain Macha of the Ulstermen inEleanor Hull's monograph on the silver branch.[9]
In theOidheadh Chloinne Tuireann version of the quest of Tuirenn's sons (Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba), theéric items demanded byLugh Lamhfada included the Golden Apples of Hesperides. It is said to taste of honey, have curative powers, and not diminish though they are eaten. They could also be cast and perform tasks at will, and return to their owners.[10]
InRichard Wagner'sDer Ring des Nibelungen, the golden apples have their ownleitmotif. It is first sung byFafner, when he explains to his brother Fasolt why they must take Freia away from the gods.
InStravinsky's balletThe Firebird (1910) which is based upon an amalgam of Russian folk-legends, the hero Prince Ivan enters a garden where he witnesses 13 young princesses playing with golden apples which grow there. (Tableaux VII Scherzo. Jeux des princesses avec les pommes d'or / The Princesses' Game with the Golden Apples).
Many European fairy tales begin when golden apples are stolen from a king, usually by a bird:
TheWilliam Butler Yeats poem "The Song of the Wandering Aengus", has the lines:
I will find out where she has gone
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
TheAugusta, Lady Gregory play calledThe Golden Apple: A Play for Kiltartan Children is a fable in the inventedKiltartan dialect based on Irish mythology and folklore.
The Golden Apples is the name of Southern writer, Eudora Welty's, fourth short story collection, published in 1949. The stories are interrelated and center around the citizens of the fictional town of Morgana, Mississippi.
A golden apple plays a crucial role in the climax ofDavid Mitchell's sixth novelThe Bone Clocks, published by Random House in 2014.
The contemporary religionDiscordianism draws upon the Golden Apple of the goddessEris, also known as the "Apple of Discord", which Eris used to set off the conflict among the goddesses of Olympus that led to theTrojan War because she was not invited to a party (the so-called "Original Snub"). Emblazoned upon the apple is the word "Kallisti" ("to the fairest").[12] The golden apple can be seen as a metaphor for a practical joke meant to causecognitive dissonance in the target.
Michael Hübner has suggested that the fruit of theArgan tree, endemic to theSous Valley in present-dayMorocco, may be the golden apples of theHesperides. Arguing that the location matches most closely the description given in classical texts ofAtlantis and the garden of the Hesperides, he notes that the ripe fruits look like small golden apples and have an aroma like baked apples. He equates the fruit, the seeds of which produceArgan oil, withPlato's account of Atlantean fruits "which afford liquid and solid food and unguents", and proposes that the trees' almost reptilian-scale like bark and thorns may have inspired the mythical guardian dragon of the golden apples,Ladon.[13]
In many languages, theorange is referred to as a "golden apple". For example, theLatinpomum aurantium literally describes oranges as "golden apples". Other languages, likeGerman,Finnish,Hebrew, andRussian, have more complexetymologies for the word "orange" that can be traced back to the same idea.[14]
In later years it was thought that the "golden apples" of myth might have actually beenoranges, a fruit unknown toEurope and theMediterranean before theMiddle Ages. Under this assumption, theGreekbotanical name chosen for allcitrus species wasHesperidoeidē (Ἑσπεριδοειδῆ, "hesperidoids"). It was also used byCarl Linnaeus, who gave the name Hesperides to anorder containing thegenus Citrus, in allusion to the golden apples of the Hesperides, and is preserved in the termHesperidium for the fruits of citrus and some other plants.
One reason why oranges might be considered to be "magical" in so many stories is because they bear flowers and fruit at the same time, unlike other fruit.[citation needed]
The term "golden apple" is used to refer to thequince, a fruit originating in theMiddle East.[15]
Thetomato, unknown to the ancient world of the Greeks, is known as thepomodoro inItalian, meaning "golden apple" (frompomo d'oro).[citation needed]
Golden apples are also items that are featured in video games such asMinecraft,[16]Pokémon Mystery Dungeon,[17]Assassin's Creed, andHello Neighbor.[18] In the TV-seriesAnimated Tales of the World, the episode "The Tree with the Golden Apples" revolves around the golden apple-tree on an island. An old man asks three brothers to sail to the island and whoever brings him a golden apple gets his daughter's hand in marriage.[19]
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