Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

440
Romulus and Remus
have us believe, sheer brotherly affection. The notion is edifying,
but not primitive. Rather, the alternate life was a fifth-century'
improvement upon the harsh contrast of a mortal Kastor with an
immortal Polydeukes. And this contrast is best regarded as a
simple but graphic expression of the obvious fact that the divine
Sky is half dark, half bright. The Tyndaridai inherited the essential
duality of their sire, and at Sparta were appropriately embodied
in a double line of kings.
(^) Romulus and Remus.
Proto-Doric institutions presumably have an Illyrian ancestry
behind them, and may be expected to have left their traces in Italy
as well as in Greece^ At Rome, for instance^, there seems to have
been a definite and persistent tendency towards a dual kingship.
Romulus and Remus—whatever the precise history of their names*
—were certainly conceived as a pair of royal twins. According to
one version of their legend, they reigned with equal rights over
their rustic subjects^ According to another, Romulus after the
death of Remus was bidden by an oracle to place a curule seat for
him with sceptre, crown, etc. in order that the two brothers might
still appear to be associated in the government®. A curious ampli-
' Cp. Eur. Hel. 137 f. EA. 01 TvvSdpeioL 5' ficrlv 17 ovk elalv Kdpoi ; | TETK.
redvaai
Kov Tfdvd