Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Kastor and Polydeukes 437
fact. The Odyssey'^—or, to be precise, a passage interpolated into
the (9^j-j-0/—speaks of them in language borrowed from the Iliad,
but explains that, though buried, they were yet alive, and adds that
even below ground by a special privilege received from Zeus they
were living and dead on alternate days. This remarkable arrange-
ment is set out more fully by Pindar. Writing in 474
B.C.'^ he
mentions the fame ' of the mighty Castor, and of thee, king Polydeuces,
ye sons of the gods— ye that dwell, for one day, in the
homes of Therapne, and, for the other, within the halls of Olympus^'
' And c. 463 B.C.* he says : In alternate changes the twin brethren
spend the one day beside their dear father Zeus and, the other,
down in the hollow earth in the depths of Therapne, thus fulfilling
an equal lot, since, when Castor was slain in war, Polydeuces
preferred this life to being wholly a god and dwelling in heaven ^'
The sequel tells of their feud with Idas and Lynkeus, the sons of
Aphareus. The quarrel was occasioned by a cattle-raid, in which
Idas had been defrauded of the booty'*. Lynkeus, gazing with his
keen sight from Mount Taygeton, descried the Tyndaridai seated
in the trunk of an oak', and with his brother at once hastened to
attack them. Idas speared Kastor. Polydeukes came to the rescue.
Idas and Lynkeus in vain hurled at him the tomb-stone of their
father Aphareus. Polydeukes succeeded in spearing Lynkeus. And
Zeus, flinging a thunderbolt at Idas, consumed him and his brother
together. Polydeukes, returning to Kastor, found him not yet dead,
but gasping for breath. In deep distress Polydeukes prayed to
Zeus :
' Bid me also die, O king, with this my brother.' Then, as
Pindar puts it,
' He ceased, and before him came Zeus, and spake in this wise :— " Thou art
my son, whereas Castor was begotten by thy mother's husband, of mortal seed,
1 Od. II. 298—304.
2 O. Schroeder 'Fasti Pindarici' in his ed. 1908 p. viii. Sir J. E. Sandys in his ed.
1915 p. 296.
3 Pind. Pyth. 11. 93 flf. trans. Sir J.
E. Sandys.
* O. Schroeder 'Fasti Pindarici' in his ed. 1908 p. ix. Sir J. E. Sandys in his ed.
1915 p. 412.
^ Pind. Nem. 10. 103 ff. trans. Sir J. E. Sandys.
•* See ApoUod. 3. 11. 2. P. Weizsacker's article in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 97 ff. is
ff., which was
superseded by that of E. Bethe in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 11 13
written after the discovery of the sixth-century metope from the treasury of the Sicyonians
at Delphoi {Foiiilles de Delphes iv. i. 24 ff. , 32 pi. 4, i, E. Bourguet Les rtdnes de Delphes
Paris 1914 p. 63 f. fig. 18, F. Poulsen Delphi trans. G. C. Richards London 1920 p. 86 ff.
fig. 25, Perrot—Chipiez Hisi. de VArt viii. 455 ff. fig. 227).
"^
Pind. Nem. 10. 114 ff. ciTro Taii^eToi' TreSauYalfcji' 'ihiv k\i^Kd)% dpvbs iv crreX^p^et |
7]/xii>os (J. B. Bury rightly restores the Doric ace. pi. from tlie scholia on rj/xevos codd. B.D.
Aristarchos cj. rj/j.€vov. See further infra p. 439
Pindari Nemea et Isthmia Berolini 1884 p. 314 ff.).
n. i and E. Abel Scholia Vetera in