The golden apple is an element that appears in various legends that depict a hero (for example

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

or Făt-Frumos) retrieving the golden

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s hidden or stolen by an

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Silver Branch of the Otherworld in

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...

Greek mythology

Golden apples appear in three Greek myths:

Atalanta and Melanion

A huntress named Atalanta who raced against a suitor named Melanion, also known as Hippomenes. 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 to
Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...
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 son Parthenopaios, who was one of the

Seven against Thebes ''Seven Against Thebes'' (, ''Hepta epi Thēbas''; ) is the third play in an Oedipus-themed trilogy produced by Aeschylus in 467 BC. The trilogy is sometimes referred to as the ''Oedipodea''. It concerns the battle between an Argive army, led by ...

. 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 offending

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

by having an affair in one of his shrines.

Paris and the Trojan War

held a

banquet A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes inc ...

in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and

Thetis Thetis ( , or ; ) is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, and one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus. When described as a Nereid in Cl ...

. 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" (,

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, or , ), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the language sometimes referred to ...

: τη καλλίστη ''ti kallisti''; "for/to the most beautiful" – cf. Callisto). Three goddesses claimed the apple:

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

, and

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

. They brought the matter before Zeus. Not wanting to get involved, Zeus assigned the task to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

of Troy. Paris had demonstrated his exemplary fairness previously when he awarded a prize unhesitatingly to

Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...

after the god, in bull form, had bested his own prize bull. Zeus gave the apple to Hermes 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 the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

, and ultimately the destruction of both Paris and his city, Troy.

Hera and the Hesperides

's sacred tree, given to her as gift from

, grows apples made entirely of gold. The

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

Ladon was sent to guard it from anyone who might try to steal the apples.

Irish mythology

The role of the Golden Apple is far more minor and less specific in Irish lore, mostly because it is an element of the Silver Branch, or ''Silver Bough'', symbol that is connected to the

Celtic Otherworld In Celtic mythology, the Otherworld is the realm of the Celtic deities, deities and possibly also the dead. In Gaels, Gaelic and Celtic Britons, Brittonic myth it is usually a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance an ...

Apple branch

The silver branch with golden apples is owned by the Irish sea deity and Otherworld guardian Manannán mac Lir in the tale '' Echtra Cormaic''. But these "apples" are actually "balls of red gold" hanging on a musical branch according to variant texts, and hardly fruits at all. The Dictionary of the Irish Language concurs, by defining the "apples" in this instance as "musical balls", not "fruits". There has been offered for comparison "silver branch of the sacred apple-tree bearing blossoms" encountered by Bran mac Febail in the narrative '' The Voyage of Bran'', 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, though not recognized as anything other than Emain Macha of the Ulstermen in Eleanor Hull's monograph on the silver branch.

Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann

In the '' Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann'' version of the quest of Tuirenn's sons (

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

, Iuchar and Iucharba), the éric items demanded by Lugh 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.

Music

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'', the golden apples have their own

leitmotif A leitmotif or () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is a partial angliciz ...

. It is first sung by Fafner, when he explains to his brother Fasolt why they must take Freia away from the gods. In Stravinsky's ballet '' The 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).

Fairy tales

Many European fairy tales begin when golden apples are stolen from a king, usually by a bird: *" Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf" (Russian) *" The Golden Bird" (German) *" The Golden Mermaid" (Romanian) *" The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples" (Serbian) *" Prâslea the Brave and the Golden Apples" (Romanian, where the thief is not a bird but a zmeu) *" The Three Brothers and the Golden Apple" (Bulgarian, where the thief is not a bird but a zmey) *" The White Snake" (German)

Modern literature

The

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

poem "The Song of the Wandering Aengus", has the lines: The Augusta, Lady Gregory play called ''The Golden Apple: A Play for Kiltartan Children'' is a fable in the invented Kiltartan 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 of David Mitchell's sixth novel '' The Bone Clocks'', published by Random House in 2014.

Discordianism

The contemporary religion Discordianism draws upon the Golden Apple of the goddess Eris, also known as the "Apple of Discord", which Eris used to set off the conflict among the goddesses of Olympus that led to the

because she was not invited to a party (the so-called "Original Snub"). Emblazoned upon the apple is the word "'' Kallisti''" ("to the fairest"). The golden apple can be seen as a metaphor for a practical joke meant to cause

cognitive dissonance In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is described as a mental phenomenon in which people unknowingly hold fundamentally conflicting cognitions. Being confronted by situations that challenge this dissonance may ultimately result in some ...

in the target.

Identity and use in other languages

Argan fruit

Michael Hübner has suggested that the fruit of the Argan tree, endemic to the Sous Valley in present-day

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, may be the golden apples of the Hesperides. Arguing that the location matches most closely the description given in classical texts of Atlantis 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 produce Argan oil, with

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

'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.

Oranges

In many languages, the orange is referred to as a "golden apple". For example, the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''pomum aurantium'' literally describes oranges as "golden apples". Other languages, like German, Finnish,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, and Russian, have more complex

etymologies Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

for the word "orange" that can be traced back to the same idea. In later years it was thought that the "golden apples" of myth might have actually been oranges, a fruit unknown to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

before the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. Under this assumption, the Greek botanical name chosen for all

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

species was ''Hesperidoeidē'' (Ἑσπεριδοειδῆ, "hesperidoids"). It was also used by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, who gave the name Hesperides to an order containing the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Citrus, in allusion to the golden apples of the Hesperides, and is preserved in the term Hesperidium 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.

Quinces

The term "golden apple" is used to refer to the quince, a fruit originating in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Tomatoes

The

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

, unknown to the ancient world of the Greeks, is known as the ''pomodoro'' in Italian, meaning "golden apple" (from ''pomo d'oro'').

Popular culture

Golden apples are also items that are featured in video games such as ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...

'', '' Pokémon Mystery Dungeon,'' ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is a historical fiction, historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil (game engine), Anvil and its m ...

'', and '' Hello Neighbor''. In the TV-series ''

Animated Tales of the World ''Animated Tales of the World'' is a 2001 animated cartoon, animated series that aired on HBO and S4C. It was produced by Children's Television Trust International and Christmas Films for S4C and Channel 4. The series is an anthology series ada ...

'', 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.

Explanatory notes

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em, refs= eDIL s.v.
uball
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404152818/https://dil.ie/42847 , date=2023-04-04 ". II (c) musical balls : (quote from ''Echtra Cormaic'', ''Irische Texte'' iii 193 § 25). {{cite book , last=Gregory , first=Augusta, Lady , author-link=Lady Gregory , others=Illustrated by John D. Batten , chapter=Chapter XI. His Three Calls to Cormac , title=Gods and Fighting Men , place=London , publisher=John Murray , year=1905 , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3uDxKXNg8iUC&pg=PA115 , pages=115–121 , access-date=2020-02-24 , archive-date=2024-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421131343/https://books.google.com/books?id=3uDxKXNg8iUC&pg=PA115#v=onepage&q&f=false , url-status=live {{citation , last=Hull , first=Eleanor , author-link=Eleanor Hull , title=The Silver Bough in Irish Legend , journal=Folk-Lore , volume=12 , number=4 , date=December 1901 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2yTjdVKxQP0C&pg=PA436 , pages=436, 438–439 , doi=10.1080/0015587X.1901.9719649 , jstor=1253964 , access-date=2020-02-24 , archive-date=2023-03-26 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164822/https://books.google.com/books?id=2yTjdVKxQP0C&pg=PA436 , url-status=live , url-access=subscription {{cite book , editor-last=Jacobs , editor-first=Joseph , editor-link=Joseph Jacobs , others=Illustrated by John D. Batten , title=How Cormac Mac Art went to Faery , work=More Celtic Fairy Tales , place=London , publisher=David Nutt , year=1894 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-IOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA204 , pages=204–209; notes p. 233 , access-date=2020-02-23 , archive-date=2024-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421131231/https://books.google.com/books?id=H-IOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA204#v=onepage&q&f=false , url-status=live {{Cite journal, url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095749390, title=Emain Ablach, access-date=2020-02-24, archive-date=2018-06-22, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622152025/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095749390, url-status=live {{cite book , last=O'Curry , first=Eugene , author-link=Eugene O'Curry , chapter=Lecture XXXIV The Musical Branch , title=On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish , volume=3 , publisher=Williams and Norgate , year=1873 , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2B5aAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA316 , pages=316–317 , access-date=2020-02-23 , archive-date=2024-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421131315/https://books.google.com/books?id=2B5aAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA316#v=onepage&q&f=false , url-status=live {{citation , editor-last=O'Curry , editor-first=Eugene , editor-link=Eugene O'Curry , title=The Fate of the Children of Tuireann ( idhe Chloinne Tuireann) , journal=Atlantis , volume=IV , year=1863 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5JEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA157 , pages=188–189, 194–197 , access-date=2020-02-23 , archive-date=2024-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421131346/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5JEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA157#v=onepage&q&f=false , url-status=live {{citation , editor-last=O'Grady , editor-first=Standish Hayes , editor-link=Standish Hayes O'Grady , title=Faghail Craoibhe Chormaic mhic Airt , trans-title=How Cormac mac Airt Got his Branch , work=Toruigheacht Dhiarmuda Agus Ghrainne, Or The Pursuit After Diarmuid O'Duibhne and Grainne, the Daughter of Cormac Mac Airt, King of Ireland in the Third Century , series=Transactions of the Ossianic Society 3 , year=1857 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrUsAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA212 , pages=212–229 , access-date=2020-02-23 , archive-date=2024-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421131312/https://books.google.com/books?id=OrUsAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA212#v=onepage&q&f=false , url-status=live {{citation , editor-last=Stokes , editor-first=Whitley , editor-link=Whitley Stokes (Celtic scholar) , title=Echtra Cormaic i Tir Tairngiri ocus Ceart Claidib Cormaic , trans-title=The Tale of the Ordeals, Cormac’s Adventure in the Land of Promise, and the Decision as to Cormac’s Sword , work=Irische Texte , volume=3 , publisher=S. Hirzel , year=1891 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FWc7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA185 , access-date=2020-02-23 , archive-date=2024-04-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421131346/https://books.google.com/books?id=FWc7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA185#v=onepage&q&f=false , url-status=live , pp. 185–202 (text); 203–221 (translation); 222–229 (notes)

External links

Tale of The Three Golden Apples
Apples in culture Atalanta Gold objects Hera Mythological archetypes Mythological food and drink Mythological plants Objects in folklore Objects in Greek mythology Recurrent elements in fairy tales