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CASTOR

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 482 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CASTOR and See also:

POLLUX (Gr. HoXvSthKns), in See also:Greek and See also:Roman See also:mythology, the twin sons of See also:Leda, and See also:brothers of See also:Helen and Clytaemnestra. They were also known under the name of Dioscuri (&&rlcopom, later OebcKovpoe, See also:children of See also:Zeus), for, according to later tradition, they were the children of Zeus and Leda, whose love the See also:god had won under the See also:form of a See also:swan. In some versions Leda is represented as having brought forth two eggs, from one of which were See also:born Castor and Pollux, from the other Helen. In another See also:account, Zeus is the See also:father of Pollux and Helen, Tyndareus (See also:king of See also:Sparta) of Castor and Clytaemnestra. In See also:Homer, Castor, Pollux and Clytaemnestra are said to be the children of Tyndareus and Leda, Helen the daughter of Leda by Zeus. The Dioscuri were specially reverenced among See also:people of Dorian See also:race, and were said to have reigned at Sparta, where also they were buried. They were also worshipped, especially in See also:Athens, as lords and protectors (Entices, et vaKres). Sailors in a See also:storm prayed to them (See also:Horace, Odes, i. 3) and sacrificed a See also:white See also:lamb, whereupon they were wont to appear in the form of See also:fire at the masthead (probably referring to the phenomenon of St Elmo's fire), and the storm ceased. Later, they were confounded with the Samothracian Cabeiri. In See also:battle they appeared See also:riding on white horses and gave victory to the See also:side they favoured.

They were the patrons of hospitality, and founded the sacred festival called Theoxenia. Ir They presided over public See also:

games, Castor especially as the See also:horse-tamer, Pollux as the boxer; but both are represented as riding on horseback or See also:driving in a See also:chariot. In Sparta their See also:ancient See also:symbol was two parallel beams (Soxava), connected by See also:cross-bars, which the Spartans took with them into the See also:field (See also:Plutarch, De Fraterno Amore, 1; See also:Herodotus v. 75); later, they were represented by two amphorae with See also:snakes twined See also:round them. Their most important exploits were the invasion of See also:Attica, to See also:rescue their See also:sister Helen from See also:Theseus; their See also:share in the See also:hunting of the Calydonian See also:boar (see See also:MELEAGER) and the Argonautic expedition, and their battle with the sons of Aphareus, brought about by a See also:quarrel in regard to some See also:cattle, in which Castor, the mortal (as the son of Tyndareus), See also:fell by the See also:hand of See also:Idas. Pollux, finding him dead after the battle, implored Zeus to be allowed to See also:die with him; this being impossible by See also:reason of his See also:immortality, Pollux was permitted to spend alternately one See also:day among the gods, the other in Hades with his See also:brother. According to another See also:fable, the god marked his approval of their love by placing them together in the See also:sky, as the Twins or the See also:morning and evening See also:star (See also:Hyginus, Poet. Astronom. ii. 22). Like the See also:Asvins of the Veda, the bringers of See also:light in the morning sky, with whom they have been identified, the Dioscuri are represented as youthful horsemen, naked or wearing only a light chlamys. Their characteristic attribute is a pointed See also:egg-shaped cap, surmounted by a star. Though their See also:worship was perhaps most carefully observed among people of Dorian origin, Castor and Pollux were held in no small veneration at See also:Rome.

It was the popular belief in that See also:

city from an See also:early See also:period that the battle of See also:Lake See also:Regillus had been decided by their interposition (See also:Dion. Halic. vi. 13). They had fought, it was said, armed and mounted, at the See also:head of the legions of the See also:commonwealth, and had afterwards carried the See also:news of the victory with incredible See also:speed to the city. The well in the See also:Forum at which they alighted was pointed out, and near it See also:rose their ancient See also:temple, in which the See also:senate often held its sittings. On the 15th of See also:July, the supposed anniversary of the battle, a See also:great festival with sumptuous sacrifices was celebrated in their See also:honour, and a See also:solemn See also:parade of the Roman knights (transvectio equitum), who looked upon the Dioscuri as . their patrons, took See also:place. (See also:Apollodorus iii. to. 7, it. 2; Homer, Odyssey, xi. 299; Hyginus, Fab. 77. 155; See also:Pindar, Nem. x.

6o, 8o and schol.; Diod. Sic. iv. 43; Plutarch, Theseus, 32, 33; See also:

Theocritus, Idyll, xxii.) See See also:Maurice See also:Albert, Le Culte de Castor et Pollux en Italie (1883), with See also:special descriptions and representations in See also:art, on coins, vases and statues; S. Eitrem, " Die gottlichen Zwillinge bei den Griechen (treating of the divine beings mentioned in pairs in Greek mythology), in Videnskabs-Selskab Skrifter (See also:Christiania, 1902) ; W. R. See also:Paton, De Cultu Dioscurorum apud Graecos (See also:Bonn, 1894); L. Myriantheus, Arcvins See also:oder arische Dioskuren (See also:Munich, 1876); J. R. See also:Harris, The Dioscuri in the See also:Christian Legends (1903), and The Cult of the Heavenly Twins (1906); W. Helbig, " Die Castores als Schutzgotter See also:des romischen Equitatus," in See also:Hermes, xl. (1905); C. Jaisle, Die Dioskuren als Reiter zur See bei Griechen and Romern, and ihr Fortleben in christlichen Legenden (See also:Tubingen, 19o7); L.

See also:

Preller, Griechische and romische Mythologie; articles by A. See also:Furtwangler in See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, and by M. Albert in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire des antiquites.

End of Article: CASTOR

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