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Tweelingen, Castor & Pollux

Literatuur

R.H. Allen , Starnames, Their Lore and Meaning, , [1990], 225-226, Gemini
Karel van der Toorn , Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, , [1999], p. 258-259,
- - , Algemeen, , Deborah Houlding, Star lore of the Constellations "Gemini: the Twins" The stars were also reputed to offer protection from the phenomenon known today as 'St. Elmo's Fire' - a weird and wonderful celestial light which sailors looked upon as "dreadfull, cursed, and threatening". Pliny reported that "men assigne this mightie power to Castor and Pollux, and invocate them at sea, no lesse than gods". Many ships sought the beneficial patronage of Gemini by using Castor and Pollux as their figurehead. A passage in the Bible tells how Saint Paul travelled on such a vessel, and the constellation was often symbolised by the picture of two stars over a ship, a state of guardianship which Horace referred to in his Odes:

So Leda's twins, bright-shining at their beck
Oft have delivered stricken barks from wreck.

Besides their benevolence to sailors, the Twins were also protectors and inspirers of all soldiers and military men. Legend claims that they appear at the head of armies, inciting men forward as they march into battle. But they were also great lovers of art, science, love and beauty. According to Manilius the Twins lived a life of ease and unfading youth spent in the arms of love. They have great affinity with music and study and such is their genius that they outstrip the flight of the stars in their ability to predict the movement of heaven.
J.P. van de Giessen , Blog Aantekeningen bij de Bijbel, January 14, 2012,
Een ster of een gevaarlijk leger…
C. Plinius Secundus , The Historie of the World, xxxvii.101, Existunt stellae et in mari terrisque. vidi nocturnis militum vigiliis inhaerere pilis pro vallo fulgorem effigie ea; et antennis navigantium aliisque navium partibus ceu vocali quodam sono insistunt, ut volucres sedem ex sede mutantes, graves, cum solitariae venere, mergentesque navigia et, si in carinae ima deciderint, exurentes, geminae autem salutares et prosperi cursus nuntiae, quarum adventu fugari diram illam ac minacem appellatamque Helenam ferunt et ob id Polluci ac Castori id numen adsignant eosque in mari invocant. hominum quoque capita vespertinis magno praesagio circumfulgent. omnia incerta ratione et in naturae maiestate abdita.
Of the starres called Castor and Pollux.

I HAVE seene my selfe in the campe, from the souldiours sentinels in the night watch, the resemblance of lightening to sticke fast upon the speares and pikes set before the rampiat. They settle also upon the crosse saile-yards, and other parts of the ship, as men doe saile in the sea: making a kind of vocall sound, leaping too and fro, and shifting their places as birds doe which flie from bough to bough. Daungerous they be and unluckie, when they come one by one without a companion: and they drown those ships on which they light, and threaten shipwrack, yea, and they set them on fire if haply they fall upon the bottome of the Keele. But if they appeare two and two together, they bring comfort with them, and foretell a prosperous course in the voiage, as by whole comming, they say, that dreadfull, cursed, and threatening Meteor called Helena, is chased and driven away. And thereupon it is, that men assigne this mightie power to Castor and Pollux, and invocate them at sea, no lesse than gods. Mens heads also in the even-tide are seene many times to shine round about, and to be of a light fire, which presageth some great matter. Of all these things there is no certain reason to be given, but secret these be, hidden with the majestie of Nature, and reserved within her Cabinet. (Translation Philemon Holland, 1601)
Ian Ridpath , Startales, Myths, legends and history of the constellations, , Gemini represents the twins Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux is the Latin form of his name); they were known to the Greeks as the Dioscuri, literally meaning 'sons of Zeus'. However, mythologists disputed whether both really were sons of Zeus, because of the unusual circumstances of their birth. Their mother was Leda, Queen of Sparta, whom Zeus visited one day in the form of a swan (now represented by the constellation Cygnus). That same night she also slept with her husband, King Tyndareus. Both unions were fruitful, for Leda subsequently gave birth to four children. In the most commonly accepted version, Polydeuces and Helen (later to become famous as Helen of Troy) were children of Zeus, and hence immortal, while Castor and Clytemnestra were fathered by Tyndareus, and hence were mortal.
Castor and Polydeuces grew up the closest of friends, never quarrelling or acting without consulting each other. They were said to look alike and even to dress alike, as identical twins often do. Castor was a famed horseman and warrior who taught Heracles to fence, while Polydeuces was a champion boxer.
The inseparable twins joined the expedition of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the golden fleece. The boxing skills of Polydeuces came in use when the Argonauts landed in a region of Asia Minor ruled by Amycus, a son of Poseidon. Amycus, the world's greatest bully, would not allow visitors to leave until they had fought him in a boxing match, which he invariably won. He stamped down to the shore where the Argo lay and challenged the crew to put up a man against him. Polydeuces, stirred by the man's arrogance, accepted at once and the two pulled on leather gloves. Polydeuces easily avoided the rushes of his opponent, like a matador side-stepping a charging bull, and felled Amycus with a blow to the head that splintered his skull.
On the Argonauts' homeward trip with the golden fleece Castor and Polydeuces were of further value to the crew. Apollonius Rhodius tells us briefly that during the voyage from the mouth of the Rhone to the Stoechades Islands (the present-day Iles d'Hyères off Toulon) the Argonauts owed their safety to Castor and Polydeuces. Presumably a storm was involved, but he does not elaborate on the circumstances. Ever since this episode, says Apollonius - and he assures us there were other voyages on which they were saviours - the twins have been the patron saints of sailors. Hyginus said that the twins were given the power to save shipwrecked sailors by Poseidon, the sea god, who also presented them with the white horses that they often rode.
Mariners believed that during storms at sea the twins appeared in a ship's rigging in the form of the electrical phenomenon known as St Elmo's fire, as described by Pliny, the Roman writer of the first century AD, in his book Natural History: On a voyage stars alight on the yards and other parts of the ship. If there are two of them, they denote safety and portend a successful voyage. For this reason they are called Castor and Pollux, and people pray to them as gods for aid at sea.
A single glow was called Helen and was considered a sign of disaster.
Castor and Polydeuces clashed with another pair of twins, Idas and Lynceus, over two beautiful women. Idas and Lynceus (who were also members of the Argo's crew) were engaged to Phoebe and Hilaira, but Castor and Polydeuces carried them off. Idas and Lynceus gave pursuit and the two sets of twins fought it out. Castor was run through by a sword thrust from Lynceus, whereupon Polydeuces killed him. Idas attacked Polydeuces but was repulsed by a thunderbolt from Zeus.
Another story says that the two pairs of twins made up their quarrel over the women, but came to blows over the division of some cattle they had jointly rustled. Whatever the case, Polydeuces grieved for his fallen brother and asked Zeus that the two should share immortality. Zeus placed them both in the sky as the constellation Gemini, where they are seen in close embrace, inseparable to the last.
Aratus referred to the constellation only as the twins, without identifying who they were, but a century later Eratosthenes named them as Castor and Polydeuces. An alternative view, reported by Hyginus, says that the constellation represents Apollo and Heracles, both sons of Zeus but not twins. Ptolemy supported this interpretation; the stars that we know as Castor and Pollux he called 'the star of Apollo' and 'the star of Heracles'. This identification is found not in Ptolemy's famous Almagest but in a more obscure treatise called Tetrabiblos, about astrology. Several star maps personify the twins as Apollo and Heracles; on the illustration shown here, for example, one twin is depicted holding a lyre and arrow, attributes of Apollo, while the other carries a club, as did Heracles.
The two brightest stars in the constellation, marking the heads of the twins, are named Castor and Pollux. Astronomers have found that Castor is actually a complex system of six stars linked by gravity, although to the eye they appear as one. Pollux is an orange giant star. Unlike the twins that they represent, the stars Castor and Pollux are not related since they lie at different distances from us. Eta Geminorum is called Propus, meaning 'forward foot' in Greek, a name that first appears with Eratosthenes.
Ian Ridpath , Startales, Myths, legends and history of the constellations, , Castor & Pollux