Famous horseman, twin of Polydeuces and brother of Helen. One of the Argonauts. The twins became the constellation Gemini.
From Sparta. Today: Sparti, Greece.
Strength 7/10 · Wisdom 6/10 · Courage 8/10 · Divinity 2/10 · Fame 6/10
The story
One of the twin brothers called the Dioscuri. Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus and a famous horse-tamer. He sailed with the Argonauts and rescued his sister Helen when Theseus carried her off as a girl.
How it ends
He was killed in a cattle feud. His immortal twin Polydeuces begged Zeus to let them share their fate, so they spend alternate days on Olympus and in the Underworld.
Still with us today
They are the constellation Gemini, “the twins”, and sailors saw them in the glowing lights of St Elmo’s fire.
Family
- Parents: Tyndareus, Leda
- Siblings: Polydeuces, Helen, Clytemnestra
Appears in
Jason and the Argonauts, The Trojan War
Read about them in the Library
- Iliad 3: The duel for Helen
- Homeric Hymns 5: The shorter hymns
- Library of Apollodorus 13: Sparta, Troy and the children of Atlas
- Argonautica 1: The voyage begins
Ancient sources
- Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica
- Homer, Iliad
In the sky and in space
- ConstellationGemini
The twins Castor and Polydeuces, whose two brightest stars still carry their names, Castor and Pollux.
- StarsCastor and Pollux
The two bright stars of Gemini, named after the twins. Sailors believed the twins protected them, and saw them in the eerie glow of St Elmo's fire on ships' masts.
- Space missionProject Gemini
NASA's two-person spacecraft of the 1960s, named after the twins because every crew had two astronauts.