Who is Hespera? Sunsets, golden apples and a garden
The goddess of the sunset we are named after, the garden of golden apples at the western edge of the world, and where that old story meets Gümüşlük.
Guests sometimes ask what Hespera means. The short answer: goddess of the sunset. The long answer takes in an old myth, a garden at the western edge of the world, and the fruit you can pick from the trees in our garden today.
Nymphs of the evening
In Greek myth the Hesperides are the nymphs of evening and of the west. Their name comes from “hespera”, the ancient Greek word for evening, and they are linked with the golden light of sunset. How many sisters there were, and what they were called, depends on who tells the story; one of them is Hespera (Hespere or Hesperia in some sources).
Hesperus, the old name for the evening star, comes from the same root: the first star to shine in the western sky after the sun goes down.
A garden at the edge of the world
The myth says the Hesperides guarded a garden at the far western edge of the world, where the sun sets every evening. The garden belonged to the goddess Hera. At its heart stood a tree given as a wedding gift when Hera married Zeus, and on it grew golden apples. The nymphs kept watch together with Ladon, a dragon that never slept. One of the twelve labours of Heracles was to fetch some of those apples.
What were the golden apples?
People have argued for centuries about which fruit the golden apples really were. Some say quinces; others say oranges, or citrus fruit in general. The idea stuck so well that botanists still call a citrus fruit a “hesperidium”.
The Bodrum Peninsula is full of citrus groves. The Bodrum mandarin, protected by a geographical indication, is picked roughly from November to February. Our garden has quince, orange and mandarin trees too. In midwinter, with orange fruit glowing on the branches, the garden of the myth does not seem so far away.
Hespera’s hour in Gümüşlük
Gümüşlük sits on the west-facing coast of the peninsula. Every evening people drift down to the shore, and as the sun sinks into the sea behind the islands, voices drop with it. It is hard to think of a better place to picture that garden at the western edge of the world.
We took our name from her: Hespera, who waits for the sunset and keeps the garden. She is the fairy in our logo, too.
Hespera Suits
Some evening, sit on the terrace, watch the sun go down and peel a mandarin from the garden. The garden will tell you the rest of the story.
