Castor and Pollux’s Family Tree

About Castor and Pollux →

Family

• Jupiter(parent),Leda(parent, Greek)— Consort

  Jupiter visited Leda in the form of a swan, fathering Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, and Helen, whose divine beauty later sparked the Trojan War.

  ⚠ Hyginus (Fabulae 77) makes both twins sons of Jupiter, but the dominant tradition (Apollodorus Library 3.10.7) holds that Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus conceived the same night as Pollux.

Equivalent to

• Dioscuri(Greek)

  The Roman Castor and Pollux are the counterpart of the Greek Dioscuri. Rome adopted their cult early in the Republic, centering it on the Battle of Lake Regillus and the Temple of Castor in the Forum.

Associated with

• Jupiter

  After Castor's death, Pollux begged his father Jupiter to let him share his immortality with his mortal brother. Jupiter placed both twins in the heavens as the constellation Gemini, alternating between Olympus and the Underworld.

• Juturna

  After the Battle of Lake Regillus, Castor and Pollux appeared at the spring of Juturna in the Roman Forum to water their horses and announce Rome's victory before vanishing.