LADON

1. A river god of Arcadia, is described as a son of Oceanus and Thetys, and as the husband of Stymplialis, by whom he became the father of Daphne and Metope. (Theogony of Hesiod 344)

2. The dragon who was believed to guard the apples of the Hesperides. He is said to have been able to assume various tones of voice, and to have been the offspring of Typhon and Echidna but he is also called a son of Ge, or of Phorcys and Ceto. He had been appointed to watch in the gardens of the Hesperides by Juno, and never slept; but he was slain by Heracles and the image of the fight was placed by Zeus among the stars. (Theogony of Hesiod 333. Argonautica)