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Bible Dictionaries
Dioscuri
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (Acts 28:11, Revised Version margin; Authorized Version ‘Castor and Pollux,’ Revised Version ‘the Twin Brothers’)
The Dioscuri were the sons of Leda and Zeus, Castor being mortal and Pollux immortal. They were famed for many exploits, and at length, in a battle against the sons of Aphareus, Castor was slain by Idas. Pollux besought Zeus that he too might die. According to one fable the Father of the Gods granted Castor life on condition that the brothers should alternately spend a day in Hades, but another states that their love was rewarded by Zeus, who placed them together among the stars as the Gemini. They were regarded as the patrons of athletic contests, Castor presiding over the equestrian events, Pollux being the god of boxing (Κάστορά δʼ ἱππόδαμον καὶ πὺξ ἀγαθὸν Πολυδεύκεα [Hom. Il. iii. 237]). Their worship was very strictly observed among the Dorian peoples, and they were also held in special reverence at Rome, as they were popularly supposed to have fought on the side of the Common wealth at the battle of Lake Regillus and to have carried the news of victory to the city (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. vi. 13), It is worthy of note that they were specially held in honour in the district of Cyrenaica near Alexandria (schol. Pindar, Pyth. v. 6).
The ships of the ancients carried two figures as a rule, one being the figure-head (παράσημον, insigne), after which the ship was named (Virgil, aen. v. 116, x. 166, 188, 209), and the other in the stern. The latter was the tutela or image of the divine being under whose guardianship the vessel was supposed to sail. The Dioscuri were regarded as the guardian deities of sailors, and Horace speaks of ‘the brothers of Helen, the beaming stars,’ as shining propitiously on those at sea (Odes, i. iii. 2, xii 25; cf. Catullus, iv. 27; Euripides, Helena, 1662-5).
F. W. Worsley.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Dioscuri'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/d/dioscuri.html. 1906-1918.
