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In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor〔; ; ''Kastōr'' "beaver"〕 and Pollux〔; 〕 or Polydeuces〔; (ギリシア語:Πολυδεύκης) ''Poludeukēs'' "much sweet wine" 〕 were twin brothers, together known as the Dioskouri.〔; (ラテン語:Dioscūrī); (ギリシア語:Διόσκουροι) ''Dioskouroi'' "sons of Zeus", from Dias (=Zeus) and Kouros 〕 Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who raped Leda in the guise of a swan. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are sometimes said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters and half-sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. In Latin the twins are also known as the Gemini〔; "twins"〕 or Castores. When Castor was killed, 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, and were also associated with horsemanship. They are sometimes called the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids,〔 or ; Τυνδαρίδαι, ''Tundaridai''〕 later seen as a reference to their father and stepfather Tyndareus. ==Birth and functions== The best-known story of the twins' birth is that Zeus disguised himself as a swan and seduced Leda. Thus Leda's children are frequently said to have hatched from two eggs that she then produced. The Dioscuri can be recognized in vase-paintings by the skull-cap they wear, the ''pilos'', which was explained in antiquity as the remnants of the egg. Whether the children are thus mortal or half-immortal is not consistent among accounts, nor is whether the twins hatched together from one egg. In some accounts, only Pollux was fathered by Zeus, while Leda and her husband Tyndareus conceived Castor. This explains why they were granted an alternate immortality. It is a common belief that one would live among the gods, while the other was among the dead. The figure of Tyndareus may have entered their tradition to explain their archaic name ''Tindaridai'' in Spartan inscriptions or in literature ''Tyndaridai'', in turn occasioning incompatible accounts of their parentage. Castor and Pollux are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. One consistent point 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 was material of the lost ''Cypria'' in the Epic cycle. The Dioscuri were regarded as helpers of humankind 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.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Castor and Pollux」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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