Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

434 Twins as Children of the Sky
Finally, Eustathios in the second half of the twelfth century includes
this notion along with others in his commentary on the Homeric
couplet'. It would seem, then, that Greek speculation from Hellen-
istic to Byzantine times sought to identify the sons of Zeus with
the two segments of the animate Sky. T. H. Martin^ has plausibly
conjectured that this is why the Pythagoreans regarded semicircles
as sacred to the Dioskouroi^
(7) Twins as Children of the Sky.
I would dwell for a moment on some aspects of this mythological
development. In the first place, it solves without more ado
an otherwise baffling problem with regard to twins in general.
Sir James Frazer, in his survey of superstitions as to twins in Africa,
remarks concerning the Baronga of Delagoa Bay :
' They
bestow
the name of Tilo— that is, the sky—on a woman who has given
birth to twins, and the infants themselves are called the children of
the sky*.' He adds in a footnote: 'The reason for calling twins
" Children of the Sk}' "
is obscure. Are they supposed in some
mysterious way to stand for the sun and moon'?' Dr Rendel
Harris, who has contributed so much to the study of twins®, carries
' the enquiry a stage further by pointing out
' among the Baronga the exact equivalent of the Greek
that we have here
Dioskouroi"^.
But if that be so, there is no need to prolong discussion. The
' Eustath. in Od. p. 1686, 33 ff. ^repoi 5^ oii ttolvv iriOavQs uoovvTes t6 iTep7]fj.€pov iwi
rod rov fiev rrjde ^rjv ry rjfiipc/, d)s rod eT^pov iv veKpoh 6vtos, ry 5e irlpti. tov Xoittov cos
Baripov TeffveQTOs, ets ret duo Kar^ ovpavbv r]fjitcr