The myth of Castor and Pollux, the dioscuros

The myth of Castor and Pollux, like other Greek myths, has several versions and some of them contradict each other.. The most difficult point to reconcile has to do with the fact that the most widespread story says that they are children of the same mother, but a different father.

However, These characters were called “the dioscuros” which means “sons of Zeus”. This goes against the most accepted origin of these characters and puts in doubt some fundamental aspects of the myth of Castor and Pollux. For this reason, we will take the best-known version of this story, ignoring the reason why they were called “disocuries.”

In all versions of the myth of Castor and Pollux, both sons of Leda . She was a beautiful woman, daughter of the king of Aetolia. She married Tyndareus, who was the king of Sparta. He had arrived in the kingdom of Leda seeking refuge, since one of his brothers had expelled him from Sparta.

Hercules found out about the fact and became angry because of it. So he killed the usurper and crowned Tyndareus as king of Sparta. By then, he and Leda had fallen in love and married.

Hercules Statue

The myth of Castor and Pollux: the origin

Leda lived happily with her husband in Sparta, but Zeus saw her and was captivated by her beauty. Since he knew that this woman was faithful to her husband, he decided to use her trick to possess her. For it, The greatest god of Olympus transformed into a swan and reached the woman, pretending that he was being chased by an eagle..

That same night the swan seduced Leda and lay with her. However, Leda’s husband, Tyndareus, also lay with the woman during the same period. As a result, Leda became pregnant of Zeus and her husband simultaneously. In her womb two pairs of twins were formed, two of them immortal, because they were children of Zeus, and two mortals, because they were children of Tyndareus.

At the time of delivery , Leda gave birth to two eggs. In one of them were Helen and Pollux, both children of Zeus.. In the other egg were Castor and Clytemnestra, the mortal children of Tyndareus. Either way, the myth of Castor and Pollux says that they all grew up as brothers and loved each other deeply, especially the two boys.

Two skilled young people

Although they were children of different fathers, the myth of Castor and Pollux says that they were twins. They are represented as two athletic young men, very white, influenced by the white swan that had seduced their mother. and wearing eggshell-shaped helmets. Both brandish a spear and ride on steeds, also white.

It is said that Castor was extremely skilled in the art of breaking horses and galloping on them.. Meanwhile, Pollux excelled in hand-to-hand combat. The two were friendly to each other and always did everything together. They used to say that they were like the same being divided in two.

One of their most famous stories took place when the hero Theseus, along with his friend Pirithous, decided that they would each marry a daughter of Zeus. Theseus chose Helen, sister of Castor and Pollux, and Pirithous chose Persephone, wife of Hades.

So They kidnapped Helen and when they went for Persephone, Castor and Pollux took the opportunity to rescue her. Along the way, Theseus’s mother was kidnapped and enslaved as punishment.

A destiny united forever

The myth of Castor and Pollux tells that there came a time when young people decided to get married. They chose two women named Hilaira and Phoebe as wives. They were both daughters of Leucippus, prince of a region known as Messenia. The twins decided to kidnap the girls to marry them later, but two rival suitors pursued them and killed Castor..

Pollux, who did not know how to live without his twin brother, begged his father, Zeus, to grant Castor the gift of immortality. Zeus decided that the two twins should share that gift. In this way, while one was in the world of the dead, the other would be on the Olympus of the gods.. Later they would exchange roles.

As time passed, the two twins became protectors for humans, especially for sailors. Zeus transformed them into the Gemini constellation.. They were venerated by both the Greeks and the Romans.

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