Castor and Pollux

("The Heavenly Twins") Greek and Roman The twin gods known to the Greeks and Romans as the Dioscuri (Sons of Zeus). The story of these brothers began in Greece, where Pollux was known as Polydeuces, and where they are the subjects of many popular stories. The Romans, as they became familiar with the twins, developed a strong liking for these two characters. Castor, as a warrior and horseman, and Pollux, as a boxer, represented traits important to the Romans, who eventually created a powerful empire throughout much of Europe and the Mediterranean region. One Roman story tells of people seeing the twins riding on magnificent white horses and fighting on the side of Rome in the battle at Lake Regillus (496 b.c.), although this was after Zeus had made them immortal and placed them in the heavens as the constellation Gemini. They disappeared from the battlefield as mysteriously as they had arrived. In a story dating from 300 years later, they are said to have appeared on their horses and announced to a citizen on a road in Rome the victory of a Roman commander fighting across the sea in Macedonia, north of Greece, on the day of the battle. Again, the twins disappeared from the roadside, though their message proved, days later, to have been true. Romans celebrated the twins on July 15 and built splendid temples in their honor.