Castor and Pollux
two demigods known by the ancients under the joint name of Dioscuri, that is, sons of Zeus or Jupiter. Castor was celebrated as a horse tamer; Pollux for his prowess sons of Leda and Tyndareus, King of Lacedemon, and, therefore, brothers of Helen. Hence, too, their patronymic of Tyndaridæ (sons of Tyndareus). Anas a boxer. Homer describes them as other fable ascribes their birth to an amour of Jupiter with Leda; while a third account makes Pollux and Helen only the fruit of this intercourse, and Castor the lawful son of Tyndareus, whence it was supposed that the latter was mortal, and Pollux immortal. The brothers are described as having first distinguished themselves by the rescue of their sister Helen, who had been carried off by Theseus. They were engaged in the celebrated hunt of the Calydonian boar; were sharers in the renowned expedition of the Argonauts; and, finally, in a war against Messene, undertaken for the purpose of chastising Idas and Lynceus, sons of the king of that country. Castor was slain by Idas, who was immediately struck dead by a thunderbolt from Jove, and Lynceus fell by the hand of Pollux. The latter, devotedly attached to his brother, besought Jupiter either to restore Castor to life or to deprive him himself of his immortality. On this, according to one story, Jupiter granted them alternate life, so that each CASTRO lived or died daily-a term extended by some writers to six months of alternate life and death of each. Another version makes Jupiter reward their affection by translating the two brothers into constellations, under the name of Geministars which never appear together, but when one rises the other sets, and so on alternately. These demi-gods were chiefly worshipped as protectors of seamen, though they were supposed to be helpers of the brave generally. They are usually represented on medals, basreliefs, and gems, as youthful horsemen, with egg-shaped helmets crowned with stars, and spear in hand. The ancients very commonly swore "by Castor" (Æcastor) and "by Pollux" (Ædepol), as the English did by St. George, and the French by St. Denis.