The Hesperides Ἑσπερίδες were the goddess-nymphs of evening & the golden light of sunsets. Name derives from Hesperos (evening) or Vesper in Latin. It's the origin of Hesperus, the evening star (i.e. Venus) as well as having a shared root with the English word "west". 
John Singer Sargent-Atlas & the Hesperides-oil on canvas 1922-25 @mfaboston [1]
Hesiod's Theogony says the Hesperides were daughters of Night [Nyx] who guarded the golden apples beyond Ocean [Okeanos] in the far west of the world. Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica identifies three: Aigle "radiance", Erytheia "red", Hesperia, "sunset glow" [of red & gold].
Sir Frederic Leighton-The Garden of the Hesperides-[detail]- 1892 at Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool [1]
Erytheia "red" name [one of the Hesperides] was applied to Nêsos Erytheia or "red isle". In the 1st c. BC Geōgraphiká, Strabo says myth writers identified Erytheia with Gades, a city/ island off the coast of Southern Iberia [modern day Cádiz, Spain].
Erytheia was the home of the three-headed/bodied giant Geryon and his wondrous herd of red-hided cattle. In his 10th Labour, Herakles was required to travel to Erytheia and captured the Cattle of Geryon, he succeeded after piercing one the giant's foreheads with a poisoned arrow.
Black-Figure amphora shows Herakles w/ his club battling the three-headed/bodied giant Geryon-[detail]-ca. 540 BC at Louvre [1]
Herakles didn't know the "Garden of the Hesperides" location [11th Labour] until he came to Mount Caucasus where Prometheus was chained. The hero killed the Eagle eternally torturing Prometheus. The trickster then revealed the secret garden location & how to get its golden apples
Promethus freed by Herakles-Hellenistic era bas-relief from Aphrodisias-at Aphrodisias Museum, Geyre Turkey [1]
Atlas abhorred holding up sky/earth so he agreed to fetch the Hesperides' golden apples but only if Herakles accepted to place the cosmic weight on his shoulders. Atlas returned with the apples telling Herakles he was now the holder of sky/earth for all eternity. Then Herakles...
Then Herakles asked Atlas whether he could take the sky/earth weight for only a moment, while he put padding on his shoulders to soften the enormous weight. Atlas was then tricked to hold again the sky/earth for all time. [1]
Black-figure Lekythos shows Herakles 11th Labour where Atlas brings the Golden Apples of the Hesperides while Herakles holds the Sky/Earth-c. 480 BC- Thessaloniki AM [2]
This myth version shows behind Herakles' head the lurking Ladonos, the guardian-serpent Drakon [Dragon ] coiled around the Tree of Hesperides while the hero holds three of its golden apples-bronze figure-Roman-1st c. AD-from the Temple at Byblos, Lebanon @britishmuseum
You can't help noticing the connection between the Greek myth of Ladonos, the dragon-serpent who guarded the golden apple tree in the Garden of the Hesperides and the Biblical snake guarding the fruits of good & evil in the Garden of Eden.
William Blake-The Temptation and Fall of Eve-1808 illustration of Milton's "Paradise Lost"-pen and watercolour on paper [1]
And it was from the Garden of the Hesperides where Eris, Goddess of Discord, fetched the golden apple inscribing it with the word: καλλίστῃ kallistēi, "To the fairest one", which led to the Judgment of Paris and consequently to the Trojan War.
Rubens-Judgment of Paris-1632-35
Rubens-Judgment of Paris-1632-35
The only explicit allusion to the 'Judgement of Paris' by Homer occurs in the Iliad Bk. XXIV when Alexandros/Paris shows his despise for two goddesses [Hera & Athena] but praises only one goddess [Aphrodite] who gave him the"fatal lust". There is no mention of a golden apple. [1]
To finish this thread a fascinating etymology: The Latin words malum "evil" & mālum "apple" both derive from Ancient Greek μῆλον (mêlon, “tree fruit” like an apple), specifically Doric, Aeolic Greek μᾶλον (mâlon). Bible's Vulgate translation likely confused these 2 Latin words.
In Genesis, apples are not mentioned in the Garden of Eden, which is where the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was located. Instead, the Vulgate Bible uses the Latin word fructu or "fruit" borrowed from Latin fructus, "enjoyment"/fruit" [1]
