Dioscuri

The Dioscuri were the twin brothers Castor and Pollux (Greek Polydeuces), the sons of Leda, the wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta. Poets called them the Tyndaridae, “sons of Tyndareus”, and also the sons of Zeus. They sailed with the Argonauts, rescued their sister Helen from Theseus, and shared a divided immortality: according to the Odyssey, they are alive and dead on alternate days.

Parents and Birth

Homer knows them as the sons of Leda and Tyndareus, born of the same mother as Helen (Iliad 3.236–238; Odyssey 11.298–300). The Homeric Hymns to the Dioscuri make them sons of Zeus: Leda bore them beneath Mount Taygetus after Zeus lay with her (Homeric Hymn 33.1–6; Homeric Hymn 17).

Apollodorus reconciles the two. Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan and, on the same night, Tyndareus also lay with her; Pollux and Helen were born to Zeus, Castor and Clytemnestra to Tyndareus (Apollodorus, Library 3.10.7). In Pindar, Zeus tells Pollux that he is his own son, while Castor was begotten by the mortal hero who was his mother’s husband (Pindar, Nemean 10.80–82). Pausanias saw an egg hanging by ribbons from the roof of the sanctuary of Hilaeira and Phoebe at Sparta, which the Spartans said was the egg Leda had laid (Pausanias 3.16.1).

Horsemen and Boxers

Homer calls Castor “tamer of horses” and Polydeuces “good with his fists” (Iliad 3.237; Odyssey 11.300). Apollodorus says that Castor practised the art of war and Pollux the art of boxing, and that both were called Dioscuri on account of their manliness (Library 3.11.2).

The Argonauts and the Calydonian Boar

Both brothers joined the voyage of the Argo to fetch the Golden Fleece (Apollonius, Argonautica 1.146–150; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16). In Apollonius, Pollux fights the boxing match with King Amycus of the Bebrycians that frees the Argonauts to continue; the Bebrycians then rush on him, and his companions defend him (Argonautica 2.1–97). Apollodorus lists Castor and Pollux among the heroes of the Calydonian boar hunt (Library 1.8.2), and Pausanias saw Castor in the hunting scene of the temple pediment at Tegea (Pausanias 8.45.7). Later, with Peleus and Jason, they helped sack Iolcus (Library 3.13.7).

The Rescue of Helen

When Theseus and Pirithous carried Helen off from Sparta, the Dioscuri came to get her back. According to Apollodorus, while Theseus was in the underworld they took Aphidnae, brought Helen home and led Aethra, the mother of Theseus, away as a captive (Library 3.10.7; Epitome 1.23; Pausanias 2.22.6). This explains why Aethra appears in the Iliad as a handmaid of Helen at Troy (Iliad 3.143–144). The Dioscuri also brought Menestheus back from exile and gave him the rule of Athens (Epitome 1.23). At Troy, Helen herself looks for her brothers among the Greeks and does not see them; the poet adds that the earth already held them in Lacedaemon (Iliad 3.236–244).

The Leucippides and the Sons of Aphareus

In Apollodorus’ account the Dioscuri wished to marry the daughters of Leucippus, Phoebe and Hilaeira, and carried them off from Messene; Pollux had a son, Mnesileus, by Phoebe, and Castor a son, Anogon, by Hilaeira (Library 3.11.2). Hyginus tells that the girls were already promised to their cousins Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus (Hyginus, Fabulae 80).

The quarrel with the cousins ends in the death of Castor. In Apollodorus the four had driven off cattle from Arcadia, and Idas, who was to divide the spoil, ate his own share and his brother’s and took the herd to Messene. The Dioscuri marched on Messene, recovered the cattle and lay in wait for the sons of Aphareus. Lynceus, who saw farthest, spotted Castor and told Idas, who killed him. Pollux killed Lynceus with his spear but was struck on the head by a stone Idas threw; Zeus then destroyed Idas with a thunderbolt and carried Pollux up to heaven (Library 3.11.2). Pindar, who also names a quarrel over oxen, has Idas wound Castor with a spear after Lynceus, from Mount Taygetus, saw the brothers sitting in a hollow oak; the sons of Aphareus then hurled a polished stone from their father’s tomb at Pollux’s chest, Pollux still pierced Lynceus with his spear, and Zeus struck down Idas with a thunderbolt (Pindar, Nemean 10.55–72).

Shared Immortality

Pollux found Castor still breathing and begged Zeus to let him die as well. Zeus answered that Pollux was his own son but gave him a choice: to live forever on Olympus without his brother, or to spend half his time under the earth and half in the golden house of heaven. Pollux chose to share his brother’s lot, and Zeus restored Castor to life (Pindar, Nemean 10.73–90, with the alternating days at 10.55–57). Apollodorus says Zeus permitted them to be every other day among the gods and among mortals (Library 3.11.2). In the Odyssey, Odysseus meets Leda in the underworld and learns that her two sons are held alive beneath the earth: on alternate days they live and die, and they have honour equal to the gods (Odyssey 11.298–304). After their translation, Tyndareus gave the kingdom of Sparta to Menelaus (Library 3.11.2). Pausanias saw the tomb of Castor at Sparta, and reports that divine honours were paid to the sons of Tyndareus only forty years after the fight with Idas and Lynceus (Pausanias 3.13.1).

Helpers of Sailors and the Constellation Gemini

The Homeric Hymn to the Dioscuri describes them as saviours of men and of swift ships. When storms are about to sink a ship, the sailors call on them with white lambs on the prow, and suddenly the two appear darting through the air on tawny wings, quieting the winds and smoothing the waves (Homeric Hymn 33.6–17). Hyginus reports that many astronomers identified the constellation Gemini with Castor and Pollux, set in the sky by Zeus for their brotherly love, and says that Poseidon gave them horses and the power to save the shipwrecked (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.22).

Dioscuri Sources

Homer, Iliad 3.143–144, 3.236–244; Homer, Odyssey 11.298–304; Homeric Hymns 17 and 33; Pindar, Nemean 10; Apollonius, Argonautica 1.146–150 and 2.1–97; Apollodorus, Library 1.8.2, 1.9.16, 3.10.7, 3.11.2 and 3.13.7; Apollodorus, Epitome 1.23; Pausanias 2.22.6, 3.13.1, 3.16.1 and 8.45.7; Hyginus, Fabulae 80 and Astronomica 2.22.

See Also: Leda, Tyndareus, Zeus, Helen, Clytemnestra, Jason, Argonauts, Calydonian Boar, Theseus, Aethra, Idas, Lynceus