ORANGE

ORANGE

LATIN NAME: CITRUS SINENIS

HOMELAND: MALAY ARCHIPELAGO

Goddess Hera's golden apples

Originating in the Malay Archipelago between Australia and Asia, the orange spread to Iran in the west by natural or completely unknown ways in ancient times.

The origin of this name, known as "orange" in the Western World, comes from the Persian name "toranj". In some regions of Iran, especially in the province of Nishapur, which is believed to bring blessings and happiness, the tradition of throwing oranges at each other among the wedding ceremonies of the groom and the bride to bring blessings and happiness continues.

The orange, which first appeared in written records as the “persian apple” in the book titled "Peri Phyton Historia", in which the philosopher and naturalist Theophrastus, who participated in the Asian Expedition of Alexander the Great, recorded the plants he saw during the Asian Expedition, was followed by Theophrastus, respectively, in Ancient Greece and Rome. It is thought to have spread through the Mediterranean Basin.

Orange, which has taken its place among the most popular fruits in all regions of the world with its appearance, smell and taste, has not only been on the table, but also has become an important figure in both oral and written literature, especially in tales and mythologies.

In Greek Mythology, the golden apples, the symbol of eternal wisdom, given by the Goddess Gaia as a wedding gift to Goddess Hera, the wife of God Zeus, are actually thought to be oranges. In the Roman Mythology version of the same Story, in the wedding ceremonies of (Zues) Jupiter and (Hera) Juno, is directly referred to as an orange instead of an golden apple.

According to the story, Hera entrusted these golden apples to the Hesperids, the fairies of the place where the sun sets, and they put these apples in their garden known as the Hesperids Garden. The task of stealing Hera's golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides given by Apollo as the eleventh and most difficult task of the twelve tasks that Heracles, who was punished by the gods for killing his wife, was asked to fulfill by the gods for his forgiveness. He rescued Prometheus, whom he came across while searching the Garden of the Hesperides, from the rocks to which he was tied. Prometheus also went to take revenge on the eagle that ate his lungs every day by asking his brother Atlas to help Heracles to find the Garden of the Hesperides. It was accepted that Heracles, who had stolen the golden apples of Hera from the Garden of the Hesperides with the help of Atlas, fulfilled this task, but the golden apples were returned to the Garden of the Hesperides by the goddess Athena.

The Roman Ovid, on the other hand, in her Transformations, tells that, unlike the mythologies, the goddess Venus transformed Adonis into an orange tree and planted it in the Garden of the Hesperides.