Ancient Roman terracotta oil lamp depicting one of the Dioscuri (Castor or Pollux). Artist unknown; 2nd cent. CE. Now in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich. Photo credit: Carole Raddato.
Gilded silver plate from the Sasanian Empire, depicting youths with winged horses. The iconography is adapted from Greco-Roman depictions of the Dioscuri. Artist unknown; 5th/6th cent. CE From Iran; now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.
Castor, wearing a helmet. Part of a scene thought to represent the gathering of the Argonauts. Side A of an Attic red-figure calyx-krater, attributed to the Niobid Painter; ca. 460-450 BCE. Found at Orvieto (ancient Volsinii) ; now in the Louvre. Photo credit: © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons.
Helen Rescued by Castor and Pollux, Jean-Bruno Gassies, 1817
A warrior’s departure (sometimes identified with the departure of the Dioscuri to retrieve the kidnapped Helen from Theseus). Attic black-figure hydria signed by the painter Lydos (”the Lydian”); ca. 570-560 BCE. Found at Athens; now in the Louvre.
The Dioscuri, Zeus' Mighty Sons
Homeric Hymn 17, “To the Dioscuri” (author and date unknown) Sing, clear-voiced Muse, of Castor and Polydeuces, The Tyndaridae, who were sired by Olympian Zeus. Lady Leda bore them beneath the peaks of Taygetus, Having been secretly overcome by the dark-clouded son of Cronus. Hail, Tyndaridae, you who mount upon swift horses. Κάστορα καὶ Πολυδεύκε’ ἀείσεο Μοῦσα λίγεια, Τυνδαρίδας οἳ Ζηνὸς Ὀλυμπίου ἐξεγένοντο· τοὺς ὑπὸ Ταϋγέτου κορυφῇς τέκε πότνια Λήδη λάθρῃ ὑποδμηθεῖσα κελαινεφέϊ Κρονίωνι. Χαίρετε Τυνδαρίδαι, ταχέων ἐπιβήτορες ἵππων.
Dish with Castor and Pollux Rescuing Helen, unknown Italian artist, ca. 1560. Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
Hymn to the Dioscuri, Protectors of Sailors
Alcaeus, Fr. 34 Lobel-Page (= Furley and Bremer, Greek Hymns 4.3)
δεῦτέ μοι νᾶσον Πέλοπος λίποντες
παῖδες ἴφθιμοι Δίος ἠδὲ Λήδας,
εὐνόωι θύμωι προφάνητε, Κάστορ
καὶ Πολύδευκες,
οἲ κὰτ εὔρηαν χθόνα καὶ θάλασσαν
παῖσαν ἔρχεσθ’ ὠκυπόδων ἐπ’ ἴππων,
ῤήα δ’ ἀνθρώποις θανάτω ῤύεσθε
ζακρυόεντος,
εὐσ̣δύγων θρώισκοντες ἐπ’ ἄκρα νάων
πήλοθεν λάμπροι πρότον’ ὀντρ̣έχοντες,
ἀργαλέαι δ’ ἐν νύκτι φάος φέροντες
νᾶϊ μελαίναι·
Leave Pelops’ island and come hither for me,
You mighty sons of Zeus and Leda,
And appear with benevolent spirit, Castor
And Polydeuces,
You who travel over the broad earth
And all the sea on swift-footed horses
And easily rescue men from
Ice-cold death-
Leaping from afar onto the tops of
Well-benched ships, shining as you run up
The forestays, bringing light in the troubled night
To a black ship.
Storm at Sea, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1873