Editing Castor and Pollux (section)

==Italy and the Roman Empire==
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From the 5th century BCE onwards, the brothers were revered by the Romans, probably as the result of cultural transmission via the Greek colonies of [[Magna Graecia]] in southern Italy. An archaic Latin inscription of the 6th or 5th century BCE found at [[Lavinium]], which reads ''Castorei Podlouqueique qurois'' ("To Castor and Pollux, the Dioskouroi"), suggests a direct transmission from the Greeks; the word "qurois" is virtually a [[transliteration]] of the Greek word ''κούροις'', while "Podlouquei" is effectively a transliteration of the Greek ''Πολυδεύκης''.<ref>{{Citation | first1 = Mary | last1 = Beard | first2 = John | last2 = North | first3 = Simon | last3 = Price | title = Religions of Rome | volume = 1. A History | page = 21 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-521-45646-0}}.</ref>{{verification needed|date=July 2024}}

[[File:Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri), terracotta Roman oil lamp 1st cent. AD, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich (8957172929).jpg|thumb|upright|Star crosses indicate the constellation Gemini on this Roman oil lamp (1st century CE)]]
The construction of the [[Temple of Castor and Pollux]], located in the [[Roman Forum]] at the heart of their city, was undertaken to fulfill a vow ''([[votum]])'' made by [[Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis]] in gratitude at the Roman victory in the [[Battle of Lake Regillus]] in 495 BCE. The establishment of a temple may also be a form of ''[[evocatio]]'', the transferral of a [[tutelary deity#Ancient Rome|tutelary deity]] from a defeated town to Rome, where cult would be offered [[do ut des|in exchange for favor]].<ref>{{Citation | first = Christopher | last = Smith | contribution = The Religion of Archaic Rome | title = A Companion to Roman Religion | publisher = Blackwell | year = 2007 | page = 37}}.</ref> According to legend, the twins fought at the head of the Roman army and subsequently brought news of the victory back to Rome.<ref name="EB" /> The [[Locri]]ans of [[Magna Graecia]] had attributed their success at a legendary battle on the banks of the Sagras to the intervention of the Twins. The Roman legend could have had its origins in the Locrian account and possibly supplies further evidence of cultural transmission between Rome and Magna Graecia.<ref>{{Citation | author-link = Theodor Mommsen | first = Theodor | last = Mommsen | title = The History of Rome | volume = II | page = 191 | publisher=Kessinger Publishing | year = 2004 | isbn = 1-4191-6625-5}}.</ref>

The Romans believed that the twins aided them on the battlefield.<ref name = "Cotterell" /> Their role as horsemen made them particularly attractive to the Roman ''[[Equestrian order|equites]]'' and cavalry. Each year on July 15, Feast Day of the Dioskouroi, 1,800 equestrians would parade through the streets of Rome in an elaborate spectacle in which each rider wore full military attire and whatever decorations he had earned.<ref>{{Citation | first = Myles Anthony | last = McDonnell | title = Roman Manliness | page = 187 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2006 | isbn = 0-521-82788-4}}.</ref>

Castor and Pollux are also represented in the [[Circus Maximus]] by the use of eggs as lap counters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/colosseum/circus-maximus.htm|title=Circus Maximus|website=www.tribunesandtriumphs.org}}</ref>

In translations of comedies by [[Plautus]], women generally swear by Castor, and men by Pollux; this is exemplified by the slave-woman character Staphyla in ''A Pot of Gold'' (act i, ll. 67–71) where she swears by Castor in line 67, then the negative prefix in line 71 denotes a refutation against swearing by Pollux.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/plautus/aulularia.shtml|title=Plautus: Aulularia}}</ref>

[[Photius]] wrote that Polydeuces was a lover of [[Hermes]], and the god made him a gift of Dotor ({{langx|grc|Δώτορ}}), the [[Thessalian]] horse.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/237#190.50 Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts, 190.50]</ref><ref>[http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/photius/ptolemee.htm Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts - GR]</ref>

===Christianization===
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Even after the rise of [[Christianity]], the Dioskouroi continued to be venerated. The 5th century pope [[Gelasius I]] attested to the presence of a "cult of Castores" that the people did not want to abandon. In some instances, the twins appear to have simply been absorbed into a Christian framework; thus 4th century CE pottery and carvings from North Africa depict the Dioskouroi alongside the [[Twelve Apostles]], the [[Raising of Lazarus]] or with [[Saint Peter]]. The church took an ambivalent attitude, rejecting the immortality of the Dioskouroi but seeking to replace them with equivalent Christian pairs. Saints Peter and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] were thus adopted in place of the Dioskouroi as patrons of travelers, and [[Saints Cosmas and Damian]] took over their function as healers. Some have also associated Saints [[Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Melapsippus]] with the Dioskouroi.<ref name="Kazhdan" />

The New Testament scholar [[Dennis MacDonald]] identifies Castor and Pollux as models for [[James son of Zebedee]] and his brother [[John the Apostle|John]] in the [[Mark the Evangelist|Gospel of Mark]].<ref>{{citation | first=Dennis | last=MacDonald | author-link=Dennis MacDonald | chapter=Sons of thunder | title=The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark | publisher=Yale University Press | year=2000 | pages=24–32 | isbn=0-300-08012-3}}</ref> MacDonald cites the origin of this identification to 1913 when [[J. Rendel Harris]] published his work [[Boanerges]], a Greek version probably of an Aramaic name meaning "Sons of [[Thunder]]", thunder being associated with [[Zeus]], father of Pollux, in what MacDonald calls a form of early Christian Dioscurism.<ref>{{citation|last=Harris|first=J. Rendel|title=Boanerges|url=https://archive.org/details/boanerges00harruoft|pages=1–4|year=1913|publisher=Cambridge University Press|author-link=J. Rendel Harris}}</ref>

More directly, the [[Acts of the Apostles]] mentions the Dioskouroi in a neutral context, as the figurehead of an Alexandrian ship boarded by Paul in Malta ([[Acts 28]]:11).