gods and heroes,
while those of Homer are occupied with the restless and active
enterprises of the heroic age.

HESPERIDES, maidens of high degree appointed to guard the golden
apples presented to Hera by Gaia on her marriage with Zeus, assisted in
their office by the dragon Ladon; the apples were stolen by Hercules, but
were afterwards restored by Athene.

HESPERUS, the personification of the evening star and an object of
worship.

HESSE or HESSE-DARMSTADT (993), a grand-duchy of the German
empire, lies partly in, and partly on the border of, SW. Prussia;
consists of two large portions, divided by a strip of Hesse-Nassau, and
11 enclaves; half the land is under cultivation, and the greater part of
what remains is covered with forest; its many rivers belong mostly to the
Rhine system; corn is raised in large quantities, iron and manganese are
found, and there are flourishing manufactures of leather, upholstery,
tobacco, &c.; the legislative power is vested in two chambers; Mainz is
the largest town, and Darmstadt the capital.

HESSE-CASSEL (745), a government district in HESSE-NASSAU
(q. v.); as an electorate it sided with Austria in 1866, which brought
about its incorporation with Prussia.

HESSE-NASSAU (1,664), a province in the SW. of Germany, between the
Rhine on the W. and Bavaria and Saxony on the E.; was formed in 1868 out
of the electorate of Hesse-Cassel, duchy of Nassau, &c.; the country is
hilly, abounds in minerals, which are extensively worked, but agriculture
and cattle-rearing are the chief industries; the medicinal springs of
Homburg, Wiesbaden, &c., are celebrated; Cassel is noted for its gold and
silver ware; damasks and other textiles are produced at Fulda, and at
Hanau are flourishing iron-works; Marburg has a fine university.

HESTIA, called Vesta by the Romans, the Greek goddess of the hearth,
or rather the fire that burns in it, the guardian of domestic life,
conceived of as a most sacred charge.

HESYCHASTS, a religious sect of the 14th century belonging to the
Greek Church; consisted chiefly of a community of monks who dwelt at
Mount Athos; they professed a kind of QUIETISM (q. v.), and were
noted for their practice of sitting for hours daily with their eyes fixed
upon the navel (regarding the stomach as the seat of the soul); in this
position they professed to see a divine light beaming out upon them, and
to enjoy therein a specially intimate communion with God. See ATHOS