Ancient Greek marble statue of one of the Dioskouroi

For the stars, see Castor (star) and Pollux (star), for the sculptural group in the Prado Museum, see Castor and Pollux (Prado), and for the mountains in the Alps, see Castor (mountain) and Pollux (mountain).

In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux (in Greek, Kastor and Polydeukes - ?????? ??? ??????????) were the twin sons of Leda and Zeus or Tyndareus and the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. They are known collectively in Greek as the Dioskouroi or Dioscuri (??????????), "sons of Zeus", and in Latin as the Gemini ("twins") or Castores. Castor means "beaver" in both Greek and Latin, and poludeukeis means "much sweet wine".^[1] They are sometimes also termed the Tyndaridae in reference to their alternative fatherhood by Tyndareus.

In the myth the twins shared the same mother but had different fathers which meant that Pollux was immortal and Castor was mortal. When Castor died, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together and they were transformed into the Gemini constellation. The pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as Saint Elmo's Fire.

Origins

Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus by Rubens, ca. 1618.

When their sister Helen was abducted by the legendary Greek king Theseus, they invaded his kingdom of Attica to rescue her, abducting Theseus' mother Aethra in revenge and carrying her off to Sparta while setting a rival, Menestheus, on the throne of Athens. Aethra forced to become Helen's slave but was eventually returned to her home by her grandsons Demophon and Acamas following the fall of Troy.

Castor and Pollux aspired to marry the Leucippides, Phoebe and Hilaeira, the daughters of their uncle Leucippus. Although both women were already betrothed to Lynceus and Idas, the sons of Aphareus, the twins carried them both off to Sparta where Phoebe bore Mnesileos to Pollux and Hilaeira bore Anogon to Castor. This began a feud between the four cousins. They carried out a cattle-raid in Arcadia together but fell out over the division of the meat, prompting the Dioskouroi to seize all the cattle and drive them back to Sparta, pursued by Lynceus and Idas. Castor was ambushed by Idas and fatally wounded by a blow from his cousin's spear, but Idas was himself killed by a thunderbolt hurled in revenge by Zeus while Lynceus was killed by Pollux.

Returning to the dying Castor, Pollux was given the choice by Zeus of spending all his time on Mount Olympus or giving half his immortality to his mortal brother. He opted for the latter, enabling the twins to alternate between Olympus and Hades.^[2][3] The brothers became part of the stellar constellation Gemini ("the twins"), becoming the two brightest stars in the group: Castor (Alpha Geminorum) and Pollux (Beta Geminorum).

Classical sources

Ancient Greek authors tell a number of versions of the story of Castor and Pollux. Homer portrays them initially as ordinary mortals, treating them as dead in the Iliad, but in the Odyssey they are treated as alive even though "the corn-bearing earth holds them". The author describes them as "having honour equal to gods", living on alternate days due to the intervention of Zeus. In both the Odyssey and in Hesiod, they are described as the sons of Tyndareus and Leda. In Pindar, Pollux is the son of Zeus while Castor is the son of the mortal Tyndareus. The theme of ambiguous parentage is not unique to Castor and Pollux; similar characterisations appear in the stories of Hercules and Theseus.^[4]

Depictions

Castor depicted on a calyx krater of ca. 460-450 BC, holding a horse's reins and spears and wearing a pilos-style helmet.

The twins were widely depicted as helmeted horsemen carring spears.^[2] The Pseudo-Oppian manuscript depicts the brothers hunting, both on horseback and on foot.^[7] On votive reliefs they are depicted with a variety of symbols representing the concept of twinhood, such as the dokana (two upright piece of wood connected by two cross-beams), a pair of amphorae, a pair of shields, or a pair of snakes. They are also often shown wearing felt caps, above which stars may be depicted. They are depicted on metopes from Delphi showing them on the voyage of the Argo and rustling cattle with Idas. Greek vases regularly show them in the rape of the Leucippides, as Argonauts, in religious ceremonies and at the delivery to Leda of the egg containing Helen.^[4] They can be recognized in some vase-paintings by the skull-cap they wear, the pilos, which was already explained in Antiquity as the remnants of the egg from which they hatched.^[8]

Worship and veneration

Fragmentary remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome

From the fifth century BC onwards the brothers were revered by the Romans, probably as the result of cultural transmission via the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in southern Italy. An archaic Latin inscription of the sixth or five century BC found at Lavinium, which reads Castorei Podlouqueique qurois ("To Castor and Pollux, the Dioskouroi"), suggests a direct transmission from the Greeks; the word "qurois" is virtually a transliteration of the Greek word ???????, while "Podlouquei" is effectively a transliteration of the Greek ??????????.^[13] The Romans believed that the twins aided them on the battlefield.^[14] The construction of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, located in the Roman Forum at the heart of their city, was undertaken to fulfil a vow sworn by Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis in gratitude at the Roman victory in the battle of Lake Regillus in 495 BC. According to legend, the twins fought at the head of the Roman army and subsequently brought news of the victory back to Rome.^[2] In a very similar vein, the Locrians of Magna Graecia attributed their success at a legendary battle on the banks of the Sagras to the intervention of the Twins. The Roman legend may in fact have had its origins in the Locrian account and possibly supplies further evidence of cultural transmission between Rome and Magna Graecia.^[15]

The Celts also worshipped Castor and Pollux; the 1st century BC historian Diodorus Siculus records that the twins were the gods most worshipped in the west of Gaul. An altar found at Paris depicts them among Celtic figures such as the god Cernunnos.^[16] Elsewhere in Italy the twins were also venerated by the Etruscans, who knew them as Kastor and Poltuce, collectively the tinas cliniiaras ("sons of Tinia [Zeus]"). They were often portrayed on Etruscan mirrors.^[17]. As was the fashion in Greece, they could also be portrayed symbolically; one example can be seen in the Tomba del Letto Funebre at Tarquinia where a lectisternium for them is painted. They are symbolised in the painting by the presence of two pointed caps crowned with laurel, referring to the Phrygian caps which they were often depicted as wearing.^[18]

The Dioskouroi were regarded as helpers of mankind and held to be patrons of travellers and of sailors in particular, who invoked them to seek favourable winds.^[19] Their role as horsemen and boxers also led to them being regarded as the patrons of athletes and athletic contests.^[20] They characteristically intervened at the moment of crisis, aiding those who honoured or trusted them. Cicero tells the story of how Simonides of Ceos was rebuked by Scopas, his patron, for devoting too much space to praising Castor and Pollux in an ode celebrating Scopas' victory in a chariot-race. Shortly afterwards, Simonides was told that two young men wished to speak to him; after he had left the banqueting room, the roof fell in and crushed Scopas and his guests.^[5]

The rite of theoxenia, "god-entertaining", was particularly associated with Castor and Pollux. The two deities were summoned to a table laid with food, whether at individuals' own homes or in the public hearths or equivalent places controlled by states. They are sometimes shown arriving at a gallop over a food-laden table. Although such "table offerings" were a fairly common feature of Greek cult rituals, they were normally made in the shrines of the gods or heroes concerned. The domestic setting of the theoxenia was a characteristic distinction accorded to the Dioskouroi.^[4]

Even after the rise of Christianity, the Dioskouroi continued to be venerated. The fifth-century pope Gelasius I attested to the presence of a "cult of Castores" that the people did not want to abandon. In some instances, the twins appear to have simply been absorbed into a Christian framework; thus fourth-century AD pottery and carvings from North Africa depict the Dioskouroi alongside the Twelve Apostles, the Raising of Lazarus or with Saint Peter. The church took an ambivalent attitude, rejecting the immortality of the Dioskouroi but seeking to replace them with equivalent Christian pairs. Saints Peter and Paul were thus adopted in place of the Dioskouroi as patrons of travellers, and Saints Cosmas and Damian took over their function as healers. Some have also associated Saints Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Melapsippus with the Dioskouroi.^[7]

Notes

References

• Ringleben, Joachim, "An Interpretation of the 10th Nemean Ode", ''Ars Disputandi''. Translated by Douglas Hedley and Russell Manning. Pindar's themes of the unequal brothers and faithfulness and salvation, with the Christian parallels in the dual nature of Christ.
• Burkert, Walter, 1985. Greek Religion (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), pp 212-13
• Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. The Heroes of the Greeks (Thames and Hundson), pp 105-112 et passim
• Pindar, Tenth Nemean Ode

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