Scholarly record

DIOSCURI - CASTOR AND POLLUX. ASPECTS OF THEIR SYMBOLISM AND ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS

S. Romanescu

Abstract

Dioscuri is the name given to the two twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus (Dios), born of his union with Leda. They had Helena and Clytaemnestra as sisters. But as Leda was the wife of mortal Tyndareus, the king of Lacedaemon, her children were also called Tindaris. And because Leda had met the same night with Zeus, who had taken the appearance of a swan, and with her husband, the two pairs of twins who came out of her eggs were assigned both to Zeus and to Tyndareus: Helena and Pollux - born with Zeus and Castor and Clytaemnestra - with Tyndareus. The two brothers, Castor and Pollux, one mortal, and the other partisan of immortality because of his divine parent, are the symbol of bravery and brotherly love and also the subject of beautiful crafted stories of frienship, love and familly. They both participated in the hunting of the Calydon boar, at the expedition of the Argonautes, they organized an expedition against the Attics to release their sister, Helena, kidnapped by Theseus, they fought with Jason in Iolcus. One day, however, Castor was killed in a fight against Idas and Lynceus. Pollux also was wounded and, shrouded in a cloud by Zeus was raised to heaven. But he does not want to enjoy the immortality his father offers if his brother must remain among the dead in the Inferno. In fulfilling his prayer, Zeus shares Pollux immortality with Castor. In this way, the two brothers remain together after death as well, spending a day in two among the immortal gods. According to another legend, Castor and Pollux were transformed by Zeus into a constellation, the Gemini one. The purpose of this study is to present the symbolic signification that Castor and Pollux have in ancient mythology and the diversity of artistic representations that are praising the fate of the two brothers. Throughout the ages of art history, the image of the twins was presented on funerary monuments, votive altars, friezes of temples or coins, in paintings and drawings and also in a large number of statues with their representation.

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