The Constellation
Gemini |
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Mythology and History |
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The Twins. |
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Uranus and Pluto were discovered in Gemini. Uranus
was found near h Geminorum and Pluto near q
Geminorum. |
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In Greek mythology, Castor & Pollux were twin heroes.
The two were born from an egg laid by Leda after she was seduced by Zeus
in the disguise of a swan. Yet it was said that Pollux was the son
of Zeus, and Castor was the son of Tyndareus. The two brothers were
good companions and became gods, patrons of athletes and protectors of
sailors at sea. Castor & Pollux had power over the winds and
waves. Castor became famous as a rider of horses while his brother
Pollux became equally skilled at boxing and fighting battles. |
The twins were raised by the centaur
Chiron (now the constellation Sagittarius) and later joined Jason and the
Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece.
Eventually they decided to take wives
and selected the two beautiful daughters of the king of Sparta. Now
it happened that the two women were already married to Idas and Lynceus,
cousins of the twins. But this seems to have made little difference
to the Twins. They simply carried to girls off and settled down with
them. The two cousins were not bothered by this. A few years
later, the cousins, in friendly company of the Twins, made a joint raid
on some cattle. It is said that trouble between the two pairs of
thieves began when the tried to divide the cattle among themselves.
Idas had the solution. He hacked
one of the cows into four equal pieces and said that whichever two individuals
completely finished eating their quarters first would divide the spoils.
This took the Twins off guard and they watched helplessly as their two
cousins wolfed down their quarters of the cow. Idas and Lynceus then
drove off the entire heard.
Tricked, Castor and Pollux vowed to
get even with their cousins. Within a few days they set out after
the two cousins to recover their share of the cattle. During the
fight that followed, Idas killed Castor with a spear. Infuriated
over the loss of his twin brother, Pollux chased his cousins and killed
Lynceus with a single blow. Just as Idas was about to hurl a tombstone
at Pollux, Zeus came to Pollux's aid and hurled a thunderbolt at Idas,
killing him on the spot. Pollux, the immortal son of Zeus, begged
to die so that he would not be separated from his brother. Not even
the mighty Zeus could do such a thing so he placed them together in the
sky as the constellation Gemini, the twins.
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