Dioscuri (Sons of Zeus) Greek A title used in Greek and Roman mythology for the twin brothers Castor and Polydeuces, whose Roman name was Pollux.

Dioscuri (Sons of Zeus) Greek A title used in Greek and Roman mythology for the twin brothers Castor and Polydeuces, whose Roman name was Pollux. They were the sons of the mortal woman, Leda, who was married to Tyndareus, king of Lacedaemonia (Sparta). There are several legends about the parentage of these two favorite characters. One says that Zeus seduced Leda and conceived Polydeuces on the same night that she and her husband conceived Castor. Polydeuces was thus a god and immortal and Castor was a mortal. In some of the legends, Castor and Polydeuces are the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. In others, neither Leda or Zeus is their parent. In Greek myths, the twins rescued Helen from the hero Theseus and took part in the expeditions of Jason and the Argonauts. Poseidon, god of the sea, is said to have given Castor and Polydeuces special powers, after which mariners and sailors honored the twins as their guardians. One story, told by the Greek poet Pindar, says that Castor was mortally wounded in battle. Polydeuces begged his father, Zeus, to allow him to share his brother's suffering. Zeus granted them a single life, to be shared and lived on alternate days. To keep them together forever, Zeus put them in the sky as the constellation Gemini in the northern celestial hemisphere. Castor and Pollux are the two very bright stars that form the heads of the constellation. The Dioscuri do not enter into the stories of the Trojan War, though the abduction of their sister Helen started the conflict, for Zeus had made them divine and placed them in the heavens before the war began.