Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 1 (Greek and Roman).djvu/136

26 wife of Menelaos of Argos. Her later adventures belong to the story of the great Trojan War.

Helen's twin brothers, Kastor and Polydeukes, were known jointly as the Dioskouroi, "sons of Zeus," although it was popularly believed that only Polydeukes was in fact the son of the god, Tyndareos being the father of the other. These brothers were conspicuous figures in Spartan cult and myth, and were regarded by the ancient Greeks in general as the outstanding exponents of heroic virtue and valour. So faithful and deep was their affection for one another that their two personalities were blended as into one, and thus they stood as the divine guardians of friendship. They excelled in athletic sports and feats of arms, Kastor being the type of expert horseman and Polydeukes that of the skilful boxer, while to the accompaniment of Athene's flute they are said to have invented the Spartan military dance. Their altar stood at the entrance to the hippodrome at Olympia, and they appeared frequently on the heroic stage. They participated in the voyage of the Argonauts and in the great hunt at Kalydon, and at Sparta they fought against Enarsphoros, the son of Hippokoön, but their chief military exploit was their sanguinary encounter with their cousins Idas and Lynkeus, the sons of Aphareus.

This story is told in two distinct forms. In one, the two pairs of brothers were making raids on the cattle of Arkadia. Idas and Lynkeus were driving a captured herd into Messenia when they almost fell into an ambuscade laid for them by Kastor and Polydeukes. These latter had hidden themselves in a hollow oak, but they could not elude the keen eyes of Lynkeus, who was able to see through the hearts of trees and beneath the surface of the earth. Lynkeus attacked Kastor and killed him, but Polydeukes swiftly pursued his brother's slayer and struck him down as he was about to roll upon him the image of Hades which stood on Aphareus's tomb. Suddenly Zeus intervened and smote Idas with a thunderbolt which consumed the bodies of the slain brothers together,