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69-451: The town proper was about 390 m × 390 m (1,280 ft × 1,280 ft) in size. Dilbarjin had a city wall built under the Kushan rule. In the middle of the town there was a round citadel, built at about the same time. In the north-east corner of the town was excavated a temple complex. Here were found many wall paintings, some in a purely Hellenistic style. Originally the temple

138-471: A Doric frieze) from Delphi showing them on the voyage of the Argo (Ἀργώ) and rustling cattle with Idas. Greek vases regularly show them capturing Phoebe and Hilaeira, as Argonauts , as well as in religious ceremonies and at the delivery to Leda of the egg containing Helen. They can be recognized in some vase-paintings by the skull-cap they wear, the pilos (πῖλος), which was already explained in antiquity as

207-429: A binary star 143 light-years from Earth. The primary is a yellow giant of magnitude 3.6; the secondary is of magnitude 8. The two are only divisible in larger amateur instruments because of the discrepancy in brightness. ν Gem is a double star divisible in binoculars and small amateur telescopes. The primary is a blue giant of magnitude 4.1, 550 light-years from Earth, and the secondary is of magnitude 8. 38 Gem ,

276-503: A binary star, is also divisible in small amateur telescopes, 84 light-years from Earth. The primary is a white star of magnitude 4.8 and the secondary is a yellow star of magnitude 7.8. U Gem is a dwarf nova type cataclysmic variable discovered by J. R. Hind in 1855. Mu Gem (Tejat) is the Bayer designation for a star in the northern constellation of Gemini. It has the traditional name Tejat Posterior, which means back foot, because it

345-517: A calf. As they prepared to eat, the gigantic Idas suggested that the herd be divided into two parts instead of four, based on which pair of cousins finished their meal first. Castor and Pollux agreed. Idas quickly ate both his portion and Lynceus' portion. Castor and Pollux had been duped. They allowed their cousins to take the entire herd, but vowed someday to take revenge. Some time later, Idas and Lynceus visited their uncle's home in Sparta. The uncle

414-457: A century older than the paintings at Dilberjin, dating from the end of the 6th century to the early 7th century CE. These murals are general thought to represent Hephthalites , with their characteristic tunics with a single lapel folded to the right, cropped hair and ornaments. A famous mural shows a row of warriors in kaftan, relatively similar to the mural from Kyzyl . A much later fresco showing an Indian scene, with Shiva and Parvati on

483-637: A legendary battle on the banks of the Sagras to the intervention of the Twins. The Roman legend could have had its origins in the Locrian account and possibly supplies further evidence of cultural transmission between Rome and Magna Graecia. The Romans believed that the twins aided them on the battlefield. Their role as horsemen made them particularly attractive to the Roman equites and cavalry. Each year on July 15, Feast Day of

552-815: A line from the Pleiades star cluster located in Taurus and the brightest star in Leo , Regulus . In doing so, an imaginary line that is relatively close to the ecliptic is drawn, a line which intersects Gemini roughly at the midpoint of the constellation, just below Castor and Pollux. When the Moon moves through Gemini, its motion can easily be observed in a single night as it appears first west of Castor and Pollux, then aligns, and finally appears east of them. The constellation contains 85 stars of naked eye visibility. The brightest star in Gemini

621-578: A magnitude 1.6 blue-white star to the unaided eye. Two spectroscopic binaries are visible at magnitudes 1.9 and 3.0 with a period of 470 years. A wide-set red dwarf star is also a part of the system; this star is an Algol-type eclipsing binary star with a period of 19.5 hours; its minimum magnitude is 9.8 and its maximum magnitude is 9.3. β Gem (Pollux) is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 1.14, 34 light-years from Earth. Pollux has an extrasolar planet revolving around it, as do two other stars in Gemini, HD 50554 , and HD 59686 . γ Gem (Alhena)

690-447: A neutral context, as the figurehead of an Alexandrian ship boarded by Paul in Malta ( Acts 28 :11). The iconography of Castor and Pollux influenced or has close parallels with depictions of divine male twins in cultures with Greco-Roman relations. Gemini (constellation) Gemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac and is located in the northern celestial hemisphere . It

759-591: A number of other locations around Sparta. The pear tree was regarded by the Spartans as sacred to Castor and Pollux, and images of the twins were hung in its branches. The standard Spartan oath was to swear "by the two gods" (in Doric Greek : νά τώ θεὼ, ná tō theō , in the Dual number ). The rite of theoxenia (θεοξενία), "god-entertaining", was particularly associated with Castor and Pollux. The two deities were summoned to

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828-589: A number of versions of the story of Castor and Pollux. Homer portrays them initially as ordinary mortals, treating them as dead in the Iliad ("... there are two commanders I do not see, / Castor the horse breaker and the boxer / Polydeuces, my brothers..." – Helen , Iliad 3.253–255 ), but in the Odyssey they are treated as alive even though "the corn-bearing earth holds them". The author describes them as "having honour equal to gods", living on alternate days because of

897-437: A table laid with food, whether at individuals' own homes or in the public hearths or equivalent places controlled by states. They are sometimes shown arriving at a gallop over a food-laden table. Although such "table offerings" were a fairly common feature of Greek cult rituals, they were normally made in the shrines of the gods or heroes concerned. The domestic setting of the theoxenia was a characteristic distinction accorded to

966-433: Is Pollux, and the second-brightest is Castor . Castor's Bayer designation as "Alpha" arose because Johann Bayer did not carefully distinguish which of the two was the brighter when he assigned his eponymous designations in 1603. Although the characters of myth are twins, the actual stars are physically very different from each other. α Gem (Castor) is a sextuple star system 52 light-years from Earth, which appears as

1035-503: Is a blue-white hued star of magnitude 1.9, 105 light-years from Earth. δ Gem (Wasat) is a long-period binary star 59 light-years from Earth. The primary is a white star of magnitude 3.5, and the secondary is an orange dwarf star of magnitude 8.2. The period is over 1000 years; it is divisible in medium amateur telescopes. ε Gem (Mebsuta), a double star , includes a primary yellow supergiant of magnitude 3.1, nine hundred light-years from Earth. The optical companion, of magnitude 9.6,

1104-425: Is of the second magnitude, while δ and ξ Gem are of the third magnitude. Castor's torso is represented by the star τ Gem , Castor's left hand by ι Gem (which he shares with Pollux), Castor's right hand by θ Gem ; all three of these stars are of the fourth magnitude. Castor's pelvis is represented by the star ε Gem , Castor's left foot by ν Gem , and Castor's right foot by μ Gem and η Gem ; ε, μ, and η Gem are of

1173-466: Is prominent in the winter skies of the northern Hemisphere and is visible the entire night in December–January. The easiest way to locate the constellation is to find its two brightest stars Castor and Pollux eastward from the familiar V-shaped asterism (the open cluster Hyades ) of Taurus and the three stars of Orion's Belt ( Alnitak , Alnilam , and Mintaka ). Another way is to mentally draw

1242-447: Is said to resemble the head of a person wearing a parka . The Medusa Nebula is another planetary nebula, some 1,500 light-years distant. Geminga is a neutron star approximately 550 light-years from Earth. Other objects include NGC 2129 , NGC 2158 , NGC 2266 , NGC 2331 and NGC 2355 . The Geminids is a bright meteor shower that peaks on December 13–14. It has a maximum rate of approximately 100 meteors per hour, making it one of

1311-460: Is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Pollux. In Homer's Iliad , Helen looks down from the walls of Troy and wonders why she does not see her brothers among the Achaeans. The narrator remarks that they are both already dead and buried back in their homeland of Lacedaemon, thus suggesting that at least in some early traditions, both were mortal. Their death and shared immortality offered by Zeus

1380-484: Is the foot of Castor, one of the Gemini twins. M35 (NGC 2168) is a large, elongated open cluster of magnitude 5, discovered in the year 1745 by Swiss astronomer Philippe Loys de Chéseaux . It has an area of approximately 0.2 square degrees , the same size as the full moon. Its high magnitude means that M35 is visible to the unaided eye under dark skies; under brighter skies it is discernible in binoculars. The 200 stars of M35 are arranged in chains that curve throughout

1449-400: Is visible in binoculars and small amateur telescopes. η Gem (Propus) is a binary star with a variable component. 380 light-years away, it has a period of 500 years and is only divisible in large amateur telescopes. The primary is a semi-regular red giant with a period of 233 days; its minimum magnitude is 3.9 and its maximum magnitude is 3.1. The secondary is of magnitude 6. κ Gem is

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1518-457: Is visible in binoculars and small telescopes. ζ Gem (Mekbuda) is a double star, whose primary is a Cepheid variable star with a period of 10.2 days; its minimum magnitude is 4.2 and its maximum magnitude is 3.6. It is a yellow supergiant, 1,200 light-years from Earth, with a radius that is 60 times solar, making it approximately 220,000 times the size of the Sun . The companion, a magnitude 7.6 star,

1587-471: The Battle of Lake Regillus in 495 BCE. The establishment of a temple may also be a form of evocatio , the transferral of a tutelary deity from a defeated town to Rome, where cult would be offered in exchange for favor . According to legend, the twins fought at the head of the Roman army and subsequently brought news of the victory back to Rome. The Locrians of Magna Graecia had attributed their success at

1656-595: The Bebryces , a savage mythical people in Bithynia . After returning from the voyage, the Dioscuri helped Jason and Peleus to destroy the city of Iolcus in revenge for the treachery of its king Pelias . When their sister Helen was abducted by Theseus , the half-brothers invaded his kingdom of Attica to rescue her. In revenge they abducted Theseus's mother Aethra and took her to Sparta while setting his rival, Menestheus , on

1725-531: The Dioscuri or Dioskouroi . Their mother was Leda , but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus , the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus , who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. The pair are thus an example of heteropaternal superfecundation . Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are sometimes said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra . In Latin,

1794-597: The Gospel of Mark . MacDonald cites the origin of this identification to 1913 when J. Rendel Harris published his work Boanerges , a Greek version probably of an Aramaic name meaning "Sons of Thunder ", thunder being associated with Zeus , father of Pollux, in what MacDonald calls a form of early Christian Dioscurism. More directly, the Acts of the Apostles mentions the Dioskouroi in

1863-687: The Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea , was called by the Greeks Dioskouridou (Διοσκουρίδου νήσος), meaning "the island of the Dioscuri". The heavenly twins appear in Indo-European tradition as the effulgent Vedic brother-horsemen called the Ashvins , Lithuanian Ašvieniai , and possibly Germanic Alcis . The Etruscans venerated the twins as Kastur and Pultuce , collectively as

1932-1105: The Indo-European horse twins . There is much contradictory information regarding the parentage of the Dioscuri. In the Homeric Odyssey (11.298–304), they are the sons of Tyndareus alone, but they were sons of Zeus in the Hesiodic Catalogue (fr. 24 M–W). The conventional account (attested first in Pindar, Nemean 10) combined these paternities so that only Pollux was fathered by Zeus, while Leda and her husband Tyndareus conceived Castor. This explains why they were granted an alternate immortality. The figure of Tyndareus may have entered their tradition to explain their archaic name Tindaridai in Spartan inscriptions, or Tyndaridai in literature, in turn occasioning incompatible accounts of their parentage. Their other sisters were Timandra , Phoebe , and Philonoe . Castor and Pollux are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. One consistent point

2001-556: The Phrygian caps . From the 5th century BCE onwards, the brothers were revered by the Romans, probably as the result of cultural transmission via the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in southern Italy. An archaic Latin inscription of the 6th or 5th century BCE found at Lavinium , which reads Castorei Podlouqueique qurois ("To Castor and Pollux, the Dioskouroi"), suggests a direct transmission from

2070-558: The tinas cliniiaras , "Sons of Tinia ", Etruscan counterpart of Zeus. They were often portrayed on Etruscan mirrors. As was the fashion in Greece, they could also be portrayed symbolically; one example is seen in the Tomb of the Funereal Bed at Tarquinia where a lectisternium is painted for them. Another is symbolised in a painting depicted as two pointed caps crowned with laurel, referring to

2139-413: The 5th-6th century CE, or even as early as the 4th century CE according to some authorities, based on numismatic evidence. The paintings have some similarity with those of Balalyk Tepe , and some from Bamiyan . A comparison with the swordsmen at Kizil Caves would also suggest a date from the 5th century to the early 6th century CE. The same authors consider that the paintings at Balalyk Tepe are about

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2208-473: The Dioskouroi but seeking to replace them with equivalent Christian pairs. Saints Peter and Paul were thus adopted in place of the Dioskouroi as patrons of travelers, and Saints Cosmas and Damian took over their function as healers. Some have also associated Saints Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Melapsippus with the Dioskouroi. The New Testament scholar Dennis MacDonald identifies Castor and Pollux as models for James son of Zebedee and his brother John in

2277-464: The Dioskouroi, 1,800 equestrians would parade through the streets of Rome in an elaborate spectacle in which each rider wore full military attire and whatever decorations he had earned. Castor and Pollux are also represented in the Circus Maximus by the use of eggs as lap counters. In translations of comedies by Plautus , women generally swear by Castor, and men by Pollux; this is exemplified by

2346-635: The Dioskouroi. The image of the twins attending a goddess are widespread and link the Dioskouroi with the male societies of initiates under the aegis of the Anatolian Great Goddess and the great gods of Samothrace . During the Archaic period , the Dioscuri were venerated in Naukratis . The Dioscuri are the inventors of war dances, which characterize the Kuretes . Anakeia (ἀνάκεια) or Anakeion (ἀνάκειον)

2415-739: The Greeks and Romans alike; there were temples to the twins in Athens , such as the Anakeion , and Rome , as well as shrines in many other locations in the ancient world. The Dioskouroi and their sisters grew up in Sparta , in the royal household of Tyndareus ; they were particularly important to the Spartans , who associated them with the Spartan tradition of dual kingship and appreciated that two princes of their ruling house were elevated to immortality. Their connection there

2484-512: The Greeks; the word "qurois" is virtually a transliteration of the Greek word κούροις , while "Podlouquei" is effectively a transliteration of the Greek Πολυδεύκης . The construction of the Temple of Castor and Pollux , located in the Roman Forum at the heart of their city, was undertaken to fulfill a vow ( votum ) made by Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis in gratitude at the Roman victory in

2553-481: The Homeric Hymn to the twins is unknown. They appear together in two plays by Euripides , Helen and Elektra . Cicero tells the story of how Simonides of Ceos was rebuked by Scopas, his patron, for devoting too much space to praising Castor and Pollux in an ode celebrating Scopas' victory in a chariot race . Shortly afterwards, Simonides was told that two young men wished to speak to him; after he had left

2622-801: The Twins. "In this way the real political order is secured in the realm of the Gods". Their herōon or grave-shrine was on a mountain top at Therapne across the Eurotas from Sparta, at a shrine known as the Meneláeion where Helen, Menelaus, Castor and Pollux were all said to be buried. Castor himself was also venerated in the region of Kastoria in northern Greece. They were commemorated both as gods on Olympus worthy of holocaust , and as deceased mortals in Hades, whose spirits had to be propitiated by libations . Lesser shrines to Castor, Pollux and Helen were also established at

2691-572: The Underworld' and the 'Mighty King'. Both names can be understood as titles of Nergal, the major Babylonian god of plague and pestilence, who was king of the Underworld. In Greek mythology , Gemini was associated with the myth of Castor and Pollux, the children of Leda and Argonauts both. Pollux was the son of Zeus , who seduced Leda, while Castor was the son of Tyndareus , king of Sparta and Leda's husband. Castor and Pollux were also mythologically associated with St. Elmo's fire in their role as

2760-584: The banqueting room, the roof fell in and crushed Scopas and his guests. According to the ancient sources the horse of Castor was named Cyllarus . Both Dioscuri were excellent horsemen and hunters who participated in the hunting of the Calydonian Boar and later joined the crew of Jason 's ship, the Argo . During the expedition of the Argonauts , Pollux took part in a boxing contest and defeated King Amycus of

2829-428: The brothers hunting, both on horseback and on foot. On votive reliefs they are depicted with a variety of symbols representing the concept of twinhood, such as the dokana (δόκανα – two upright pieces of wood connected by two cross-beams), a pair of amphorae , a pair of shields, or a pair of snakes. They are also often shown wearing felt caps, sometimes with stars above. They are depicted on metopes (an element of

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2898-568: The bull Nandi , has been dated to the 8th century CE. Coins of many periods were found at the site, including Hephthalite coins, but those of the Kushano-Sasanians and the Kidarites were the most numerous from the early Sasanian period to have been found on the site. About 72 such coins were found, belonging to Ardashir I , Peroz I , Hormiz I , as well as each type of the Varahran I , that is,

2967-422: The cluster; it is 2800 light-years from Earth. Another open cluster in Gemini is NGC 2158 . Visible in large amateur telescopes and very rich, it is more than 12,000 light-years from Earth. NGC 2392 is a planetary nebula with an overall magnitude of 9.2, located 4,000 light-years from Earth. In a small amateur telescope, its 10th magnitude central star is visible, along with its blue-green elliptical disk. It

3036-716: The coins first struck under Varahran, and then those struck on the model of Varahran by the Kidarite rulers Kirada , Peroz and Kidara I . These coins suggest that the murals themselves should be dated to the late 4th century CE or early 5th century CE at the latest. In 2023, Iconem reported the detection of massive damage that had occurred to the site. 37°01′21″N 66°31′35″E  /  37.02250°N 66.52639°E  / 37.02250; 66.52639 Dioscuri Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces ) are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology , known together as

3105-404: The field against an enemy. But when in the year 504 B.C. the two kings, during their invasion of Attica, failed in their undertaking on account of their secret enmity towards each other, it was decreed at Sparta, that in future only one king should command the army, and in consequence should only be accompanied by one of the images of the Dioscuri. It is not improbable that these images, accompanying

3174-453: The four cousins helped set into motion the events that gave rise to the Trojan War. Meanwhile, Castor and Pollux had reached their destination. Castor climbed a tree to keep a watch as Pollux began to free the cattle. Far away, Idas and Lynceus approached. Lynceus, named for the lynx because he could see in the dark, spied Castor hiding in the tree. Idas and Lynceus immediately understood what

3243-596: The intervention of Zeus. In both the Odyssey and in Hesiod , they are described as the sons of Tyndareus and Leda. In Pindar , Pollux is the son of Zeus while Castor is the son of the mortal Tyndareus. The theme of ambiguous parentage is not unique to Castor and Pollux; similar characterisations appear in the stories of Herakles and Theseus . The Dioscuri are also invoked in Alcaeus ' Fragment 34a, though whether this poem antedates

3312-504: The kings into the field, were the ancient δόκανα, which were now disjointed, so that one-half of the symbol remained at Sparta, while the other was taken into the field by one of the kings. The name δόκανα seems that it comes from δοκός which meant beam, but Suda and the Etymologicum Magnum state that δόκανα was the name of the graves of the Dioscuri at Sparta, and derived from the verb δέχομαι. The Dioskouroi were worshipped by

3381-693: The latter, enabling the twins to alternate between Olympus and Hades . The brothers became the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini ("the twins"): Castor ( Alpha Geminorum ) and Pollux ( Beta Geminorum ). As emblems of immortality and death, the Dioscuri, like Heracles , were said to have been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries . In some myths, Poseidon rewarded them with horses to ride and power to aid shipwrecked men. Castor and Pollux are consistently associated with horses in art and literature. They are widely depicted as helmeted horsemen carrying spears. The Pseudo- Oppian manuscript depicts

3450-547: The north, Monoceros and Canis Minor to the south, and Orion to the south-west. In classical antiquity, Cancer was the location of the Sun on the northern solstice (June 21). During the first century AD, axial precession shifted it into Gemini. In 1990, the location of the Sun at the northern solstice moved from Gemini into Taurus, where it will remain until the 27th century AD and then move into Aries . The Sun will move through Gemini from June 21 to July 20 through 2062. Gemini

3519-507: The presence of a "cult of Castores" that the people did not want to abandon. In some instances, the twins appear to have simply been absorbed into a Christian framework; thus 4th century CE pottery and carvings from North Africa depict the Dioskouroi alongside the Twelve Apostles , the Raising of Lazarus or with Saint Peter . The church took an ambivalent attitude, rejecting the immortality of

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3588-401: The protectors of sailors. When Castor died, because he was mortal, Pollux begged his father Zeus to give Castor immortality, and he did, by uniting them together in the heavens. Gemini is dominated by Castor and Pollux, two bright stars that appear relatively very closely together forming an o shape, encouraging the mythological link between the constellation and twinship. The twin above and to

3657-428: The remnants of the egg from which they hatched. They were described by Dares Phrygius as "blond haired, large eyed, fair complexioned, and well-built with trim bodies". Dokana were ancient symbolical representation of the Dioscuri. It consisted of two upright beams with others laid across them transversely. The Dioscuri were worshipped as gods of war, and their images accompanied the Spartan kings whenever they took

3726-672: The richest meteor showers. The Epsilon Geminids peak between October 18 and October 29 and have only been recently confirmed. They overlap with the Orionids , which make the Epsilon Geminids difficult to detect visually. Epsilon Geminid meteors have a higher velocity than Orionids. In Babylonian astronomy , the stars Castor and Pollux were known as the Great Twins. The Twins were regarded as minor gods and were called Meshlamtaea and Lugalirra , meaning respectively 'The One who has arisen from

3795-558: The right (as seen from the Northern Hemisphere) is Castor, whose brightest star is α Gem; it is a second-magnitude star and represents Castor's head. The twin below and to the left is Pollux, whose brightest star is β Gem (more commonly called Pollux); it is of the first magnitude and represents Pollux's head. Furthermore, the other stars can be visualized as two parallel lines descending from the two main stars, making it look like two figures. H. A. Rey has suggested an alternative to

3864-528: The slave-woman character Staphyla in A Pot of Gold (act i, ll. 67–71) where she swears by Castor in line 67, then the negative prefix in line 71 denotes a refutation against swearing by Pollux. Photius wrote that Polydeuces was a lover of Hermes , and the god made him a gift of Dotor ( Ancient Greek : Δώτορ ), the Thessalian horse. Even after the rise of Christianity , the Dioskouroi continued to be venerated. The 5th century pope Gelasius I attested to

3933-452: The third magnitude. The brightest star in this constellation is Pollux. In Meteorologica (1 343b30) Aristotle mentions that he observed Jupiter in conjunction with and then occulting a star in Gemini. This is the earliest-known observation of this nature. A study published in 1990 suggests the star involved was 1 Geminorum and the event took place on 5 December 337 BC. When William Herschel discovered Uranus on 13 March 1781 it

4002-575: The throne of Athens. Aethra was then forced to become Helen's slave. She was ultimately returned to her home by her grandsons Demophon and Acamas after the fall of Troy . Castor and Pollux aspired to marry the Leucippides ("daughters of the white horse"), Phoebe and Hilaeira , whose father was Leucippus ("white horse"). Both women were already betrothed to cousins of the Dioscuri, the twin brothers Lynceus and Idas of Messenia , sons of Tyndareus 's brother Aphareus . Castor and Pollux carried

4071-449: The traditional visualization that connected the stars of Gemini to show twins holding hands. Pollux's torso is represented by the star υ Gem , Pollux's right hand by ι Gem , Pollux's left hand by κ Gem ; all three of these stars are of the fourth magnitude. Pollux's pelvis is represented by the star δ Gem , Pollux's right knee by ζ Gem , Pollux's right foot by γ Gem , Pollux's left knee by λ Gem , and Pollux's left foot by ξ Gem . γ Gem

4140-535: The twins are also known as the Gemini ("twins") or Castores , as well as the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids . Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, and they were transformed into the constellation Gemini . The pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo's fire . They were also associated with horsemanship, in keeping with their origin as

4209-452: The women off to Sparta wherein each had a son; Phoebe bore Mnesileos to Pollux and Hilaeira bore Anogon to Castor. This began a family feud among the four sons of the brothers Tyndareus and Aphareus. The cousins carried out a cattle-raid in Arcadia together but fell out over the division of the meat. After stealing the herd, but before dividing it, the cousins butchered, quartered, and roasted

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4278-491: Was a festival held at Athens in honor of the Dioscuri who also had the name Anakes (Ἄνακες). The ancient city of Dioscurias or Dioskurias (Διοσκουριάς) on the Black Sea coast, modern Sukhumi , was named after them. In addition, according to legend the city was founded by them. According to another legend, the city was founded by their charioteers , Amphitus and Cercius of Sparta . The island of Socotra , located between

4347-511: Was happening. Idas, furious, ambushed Castor, fatally wounding him with a blow from his spear – but not before Castor called out to warn Pollux. In the ensuing brawl, Pollux killed Lynceus. As Idas was about to kill Pollux, Zeus, who had been watching from Mount Olympus , hurled a thunderbolt, killing Idas and saving his son. Returning to the dying Castor, Pollux was given the choice by Zeus of spending all his time on Mount Olympus or giving half his immortality to his mortal brother. He opted for

4416-630: Was located near η Gem. In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh exposed a series of photographic plates centred on δ Gem and discovered Pluto . In Chinese astronomy , the stars that correspond to Gemini are located in two areas: the White Tiger of the West (西方白虎, Xī Fāng Bái Hǔ ) and the Vermillion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, Nán Fāng Zhū Què ). In some cultures, the twin in Gemini refers to 'the unborn twin' and represents

4485-514: Was material of the lost Cypria in the Epic cycle . The Dioscuri were regarded as helpers of mankind and held to be patrons of travellers and of sailors in particular, who invoked them to seek favourable winds. Their role as horsemen and boxers also led to them being regarded as the patrons of athletes and athletic contests. They characteristically intervened at the moment of crisis, aiding those who honoured or trusted them. Ancient Greek authors tell

4554-415: Was on his way to Crete, so he left Helen in charge of entertaining the guests, which included both sets of cousins, as well as Paris, prince of Troy. Castor and Pollux recognized the opportunity to exact revenge, made an excuse that justified leaving the feast, and set out to steal their cousins' herd. Idas and Lynceus eventually set out for home, leaving Helen alone with Paris, who then kidnapped her. Thus,

4623-408: Was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century AD astronomer Ptolemy , and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. Its name is Latin for twins , and it is associated with the twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology . Its old astronomical symbol is [REDACTED] (♊︎). Gemini lies between Taurus to the west and Cancer to the east, with Auriga and Lynx to

4692-741: Was perhaps dedicated to the Dioscuri , of which a mural in Hellenistic style has been recovered. A long inscription in the kushan language was also discovered, dated to the early great Kushans, around the period of Kanishka I , on paleographic grounds, as it seems slightly younger than the inscription of Surkh Kotal . Outside the city walls there were still substantial buildings. Finds include inscriptions in Bactrian , most of them too destroyed to provide any historical information. There were fragments of sculpture and many coins. The paintings of Dilberjin Tepe belong to

4761-467: Was very ancient: a uniquely Spartan aniconic representation of the Tyndaridai was as two upright posts joined by a cross-bar; as the protectors of the Spartan army the "beam figure" or dókana was carried in front of the army on campaign. Sparta's unique dual kingship reflects the divine influence of the Dioscuri. When the Spartan army marched to war, one king remained behind at home, accompanied by one of

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