(Group ), that is, sons of Zeus, the well-known
heroes, Castor and Pollux, or Polydeuces. The singular form Castores for
the two brothers. (ad Virg. Georg. 3.89; Tyndaridae. (Met. 8.301.) Castor was famous for his skill in taming and managing horses,
and Pollux for his skill in boxing. Both had disappeared from the earth before the Greeks went
against Troy. Although they were buried, says Homer, yet they came to life every other day,
and they enjoyed honours like those of the gods. According to other traditions both were the
sons of Zeus and Leda, and were born at the same time with their sister Helena out of an egg
(Hom. Hymn. 13.5; Theocrit. xxii.; Schol. ad Pind.
Nem. 10.150; ad Lycoph. 511; ad Lycoph. 88, 511.) According to others again, Polydeuces
and Helena only were children of Zeus, and Castor was the son of Tyndareus. Hence, Polydeuces
was immortal, while Castor was subject to old age and death like every other mortal. (Hymn. 13.4;
The fabulous life of the Dioscuri is marked by three great events: 1. Their
expedition against Athens. Theseus had carried off their sister Helena from Sparta, or,
according to others, he had promised Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus, who had carried
her off, to guard her, and he kept her in confinement at Aphidnae, under the superintendence
of his mother Aethra. While Theseus was absent from Attica and Menestheus was endeavouring to
usurp the government, the Dioscuri marched into Attica, and ravaged the country round the
city. Academus revealed to them, that Helena was kept at Aphidnae (l.c.) Menestheus
then opened to them also the gates of Athens, and Aphidnus adopted them as his sons, in order
that, according to their desire, they might become initiated in the mysteries, and the
Athenians paid divine honours to them. (Their part in the expedition of the Argonauts,
as they had before taken part in the Calydonian hunt. (de Plac. Philos. 2.18; Senec. Quaest.
Nat. 1.1.) On their arrival in the country of the Bebryces, Polydeuces fought against
Amycus, the gigantic son of Poseidon, and conquered him. During the Argonautic expedition they
founded the town of Dioscurias. (Their battle
with the sons of Aphareus. The Dioscuri were charmed with the beauty of the daughters of
Leucippus, Phoebe, a priestess of Athena, and Hilaeira or Elaeira, a priestess of Artemis: the
Dioscuri carried them off, and married them. (ad Pind. New.
10.112.) Polydeuces became, by Phoebe, the father of Mnesileus, Mnesinous, or Asinous, and
Castor, by Hilaeira, the father of Anogon, Anaxis, or Aulothus. (Tzetz. ad
Lycoph. 511.) Once the Dioscuri, in conjunction with Ideas and Lynceus, the sons of
Aphareus, had carried away a herd of oxen from Arcadia, and it was left to Idas to divide the
booty. He cut up a bull into four parts, and declared, that whichever of them should first
succeed in eating his share should receive half the oxen, and the second should have the other
half. Idas, thereupon, not only ate his own quarter, but devoured that of his brother's in
addition, and then drove the whole herd to his home in Messene. (l.c.) The Dioscuri then invaded Messene, drove away the cattle of which they
had been deprived, and much more in addition. This became the occasion of a war between the
Dioscuri and the sons of Aphareus, which was carried on in Messene, or Laconia. In this war,
the details of which are related differently, Castor, the mortal. fell by the hands of Idas,
but Pollux slew Lynceus, and Zeus killed Idas by a flash of lightning. (Pind. Apollod. ll. cc.; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 1514; Theocrit. xxii. ;
Poet. Astr. 2.22.)
Polydeuces then returned to his brother, whom he found breathing his last, and he prayed to
Zeus, to be permitted to die with him. Zeus left him the option, either to live as his
immortal son in Olympus, or to share his brother's fate, and to live, alternately, one day
under the earth, and the other in the heavenly abodes of the gods. (Nem. x. in fin.; Gemini.
(Hygin. Poet. Astr. l.c.; Schol. ad Eurip. Orest.
465.)
These heroic youths, who were also believed to have reigned as Kings of Sparta (Dor. 2.10.8) conceives that the worship of the
Dioscuri had a double source, viz. the heroic honours of the human Tyndaridae, and the worship
of some ancient Peloponnesian deities, so that in the process of time the attributes of the
latter were transferred to the former, viz. the name of the sons of Zeus, the birth front an
egg, and the like. Their worship spread from Peloponnesus over Greece, Sicily, and Italy.
(V. H.1.30, 4.5; Poet. Astr. l.c ;
Hymn. 13.9; Explicat. ad Pind. p. 135.) Their characters as Nem. 10.53), and at Sparta their
statues stood at the entrance of the race-course. (Dict. of Ant. s. v.), and afterwards, when one king only took the field,
he took with him only one of those symbols. (de Nat. Deor.
3.5.), and at Argos. (Plut. Quaest. Gr. 23.) Temples and statues of the
Dioscuri were very numerous in Greece, though more particularly in Peloponnesus. Respecting
their festivals, see Dict. of Ant. s. vv.
At Rome, the worship of the Dioscuri or Castores was introduced at an early time. They were
believed to have assisted the Romans against the Latins in the battle of Lake Regillus; and
the dictator, A. Postumius Albus, during the battle, vowed a temple to them. It was erected in
the Forum, on the spot where they had been seen after the battle, opposite the temple of
Vesta. It was consecrated on the 15th of July, the anniversary day of the battle of Regillus.
(Reg.
Urb. xi.) From that time the equites regarded the Castores as their patrons, and after
the year l.c.;
de Vir. illustr. 32.)