Castor and Pollux – the Dioscuri – on a votive plaque from Tarentum in southern Italy
Who are Castor and Pollux?
Castor and Pollux were originally Greek gods, but when the Romans were fighting the Etruscans in 496 BC, the Roman soldiers saw visions of Castor and Pollux fighting on their side.
Who were the Etruscans?
More about Roman religion
All our ancient Rome articles
Castor and Pollux become Roman
When the Romans won the battle, they decided to try to get Castor and Pollux to fight for Rome from now on. The Romans built Castor and Pollux a fine new temple to live in. They wanted the gods to be happy in their new home.
Temple of Castor and Pollux
Roman architecture
These three columns are what is left of the Roman temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum
Who were they related to?
Castor and Pollux settled down well at Rome, and became ordinary Roman gods. They were thought of as twins, the sons of Leda. So they were also the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Which makes them cousins of Penelope, who married Odysseus.
Helen of Troy
Clytemnestra
Both mortal? Both immortal?
In some versions of the story, both Castor and Pollux are the sons of Jupiter (or Zeus). So they’re both immortal themselves. But in other versions they are both mortal, or Castor is mortal while Pollux is immortal. Sometimes the story goes that Pollux (who was immortal) missed his twin Castor, and so he convinced his father Zeus to let them stay together. Now both spend half their time up in the sky as gods, and the other half of their time under the earth in Hades, as mortals.
More about Zeus
And about the underworld
Castor and cussing
A page from a manuscript of Terence, written about 825 AD (now in the Vatican)
Roman people thought of swearing by Castor or Pollux as a not too serious kind of cursing, like saying “Gosh darn it!” today.
Who was Terence?
Who was Plautus?
So the plays of Plautus and Terence are full of people saying, “I’ll do it, by Pollux!” or “You’d better not, by Castor!”. “By Castor!” (“ECASTOR” in Latin) was a curse that only women used, although both men and woman used “EDEPOL” (“By Pollux!”).
Bibliography and further reading about Castor and Pollux:
