Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/120

 106 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY a powerful boxer. After the death, of Castor, who was slain by the Messenian hero Idas, Pollux obtained from Zeus permission for himself and his brother to spend the time together forever, by living one day in the lower world and the next on Olympus. In art the Dioscuri appear usually as youthful riders, clad only in the chlamys, and armed with the lance. As heroes, the serpent was their attribute ; but later the pointed, egg-shaped hat (77-1X0$), or the addition of two stars, characterized them. Leda: Homer, Od. xi. 298; Ovid, Her. xvi. 55, Met. vi. 109; Hyginus, Fab. Ixxvii. ; Keats, Endymion i. 157 : Wild thyme, and valley lilies whiter still Than Leda's love, and cresses from the rill. Dioscuri (Pollux and Castor): Ovid, Amor. iii. 2, 54: Pollucem pugiles, Castora placet eques ; Fast. v. 709 sq.; Hyginus, Fab. Ixxx. ; Macaulay, Battle of Lake Regillus 2. Idas : Homer, II. ix. 558 ; Ovid, Fast. v. 700 sq. 5. HERCULES 136. Hercules (Gk. Herdkles) was the son of Zeus and Alcmene (' strength '), the wife of king Amphitryon of Thebes, and thus was a descendant of Perseus. His names are as various as his functions. In his youth, i.e. in Thebes, where the story of his youth is laid, he was called also Alcaeus (' the strong '), from which is derived his epithet Alcides. His principal name, which is proba- bly of Argive origin, it has not yet been possible to ex- plain with certainty. The second part, cules (/cX^s), belongs, like the fuller form /cXetros, to /cAeo? ('fame'); but whether or not the first part is connected with Hera, , the protecting goddess of Argos, who imposed