In Greek mythology, Leda was the wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta. Zeus, who came to her as a swan, seduced her and was the father of one or more of her children. There are many variations of the legend. In one version Leda’s daughter, Helen of Troy, was hatched from an egg. In another version, Leda bore two eggs, from which came Helen and Clytemnestra and Castor and Pollux. Helen and Pollux are commonly thought to have been the children of Zeus, whereas Clytemnestra and Castor were those of Tyndareus.
Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) were called the Dioscuri, or Sons of Zeus, because Zeus, in the form of a swan, fathered them by Leda. They were closely identified with the city of Sparta, Castor as a renowned horseman and Pollux as a boxer. They sailed with the Argonauts, participated in the Calydonian boar hunt and later helped to rescue their sister Helen of Troy, who had been kidnapped by Thesus and Pirithous.
Finally, in a fight with Idas and Lynceus, whose intended brides Castor and Pollux had kidnapped, Pollux killed Lynceus, but Idas killed Castor and was in turn killed by a thunderbolt of Zeus. Pollux, being immortal, was allowed to share his immortality with Castor, thus permitting them to spend alternate days in heaven and in the underworld, Pollux as the Morning Star and Castor as the Evening Star. Another version held that Zeus put both in the heavens as the constellation Gemini.
The twins were highly esteemed by the Romans. The legendary twins of Rome (pictured in an ancient bronze sculpture), Romulus and Remus, were said to be the reason behind Rome’s founding as a city and as an empire.
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