Golden Apple

'Mr. Lewis Spence ,The Minor Traditions of British Mythology, tells us that the common apple tree reached Greece from the North. It was adopted by the Greek sun-god as especially sacred to him, and from the Celtic word 'Abal' an apple, the god derived his name Apollo. Avalon, Avallach and Avalloch are Celtic variations of the same word........ [Rhys, Arthurian Legend]

In Norse legend the food of immortality of the gods in Asgard was the apple. The Apple of the Hesperides....fruit of which Hercules and Perseus, son of Danae of the Brazen Tower, went in quest......

The eleventh of Hercules' Twelve Labours was to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides. The poet Virgil tells how when Aeneas escaped from Troy to Italy, the Sibyl told him that the only means of entering and returning safely from the underworld was to carry the fruit of the golden bough. In accordance with the cult of the goddess Diana at Nemi most authorities agree it is likely that the golden bough was an apple - branch.

The adventures of Jason and the Argonauts and their search for the Golden Fleece would appear to be yet another legend concerning a heroic quest for a golden apple. The Greek word for sheep - 'melon'-  can also mean apple. 'The Golden Fleece' could also mean 'The Golden Apple.'  The adventures of Jason in Colchis are seen to be almost identical with that of Hercules in the Hesperides and also with that of Siegfried. All three fight a serpent dragon. The prize a golden treasure.

'The 'Echtra Condla'.. Irish...tells how Connla, the son of a king in the 2nd century AD is invited by a beautiful and immortal woman to the land of heart's desire. At the command of his father the king, the Druids do all in their power to prevent the prince from following the woman, who is invisible to all but Connla. She tells him she is of the people who dwell in the mounds of the 'Sidhe' and gives him an apple. He eats; it never grows less, nor does he require other food. After a month she returns to fetch Connla in her boat of glass. He goes with her to another world, to an Elysian 'Sidhe' Isle. It is interesting to note the connection between the apple and the boat of glass. [Celtic and Scandinavian Religions, Rev. J. A. MacCulloch]

In the books which exposed the Illuminatus conspiracy a Golden Apple is reported to have been the symbol of the anti- Illuminatus 'Legion of Dynamic Discord'. Inspired by the famous Apple of Discord, which Paris had to allot to one of the three goddesses, and this is echoed in Malory's account of how Lancelot fell asleep under an apple-tree.

Odin hears the Prayers of King Rerir and his wife for a daughter. The goddess Freya gives an apple to a casket bearing maiden. The maid 'took the apple, and did put on the gear of a crow, and went flying till she came where the king sat on a mound, and there she let the apple fall into the lap of the king'. 'The Volksung Saga'...[trans. from Icelandic by Eirikur Magnusson and William Morris.] 

The poet Virgil tells how when Aeneas escaped from Troy to Italy, the Sibyl told him that the only means of entering and returning safely from the underworld was to carry the fruit of the golden bough. In accordance with the cult of the goddess Diana at Nemi most authorities agree it is likely that the golden bough was an apple - branch