Pleiades (Greek mythology) Hesperides, nymphs of the morning star. After Atlas was forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders, Orion began to pursue all of the Pleiades, and Zeus transformed them first into doves, and then into stars to comfort their father. The constellation of Orion is said to still pursue them across the night sky. One of the most memorable myths involving the Pleiades is the story of how these sisters literally became stars, their "catasterism". According to some versions of the tale, all seven sisters committed suicide because they were so saddened by either the fate of their father, Atlas,
Hesperides Discord, obtained the Apple of Discord, which led to the Trojan War. In later years it was thought that the "golden apples" might have actually been oranges, a fruit unknown to Europe and the Mediterranean before the Middle Ages. Under this assumption, the Greek botanical name chosen for all citrus species was "Hesperidoeidē" (Ἑσπεριδοειδῆ, "hesperidoids") and even today the Greek word for the orange fruit is πορτοκάλι (Portokáli)--after the country of Portugal in Iberia near where the Garden of the Hesperides grew. After Heracles completed his first ten Labours, Eurystheus gave him two more claiming that neither the Hydra counted