Dioscuri

Dioscuri (Διόσκουροι. i.e., Jove's boys, "Castor and Pollux," Ac 28:11), the twin sons of Jupiter by Leda (Homer, Hymn, 17; Hygin. Fab. 77; according to Homer, Odyss. 11:297, the sons of Leda and Tyndareus). They were chiefly invoked by the Greek and Roman sailors as tutelary deities of mariners, and also worshipped by propitiatory offerings (Theocritus, Id. 22:17; Catull. lxviii. 65; Lucian, Deor. dial. 26:2). In the heavens they were twin stars, regarded as auspicious (comp. σωτῆρες, Homer, Hymn, 33:6; Elian, Var. Inst. 1:30; "lucidum sidus," Diodor. Sic. 4:43; Ovid, Fasti, 5:720). They were sometimes thought to appear in a delivering flame at the masthead during storms (Plutarch, Placit. Philos. 2:18). Their image formed the "figure-head" of the Alexandrian vessel (giving name to it) in which Paul sailed from Melita to Rome (Ac 18:11). Compare SEE SHIP. See Scheffer, De nilit. navali vett. page 372 sq.; Ensched, De tutelis et insignib. nav. (L. B. 1771); Hasmeus, De navib. Alexand. apostolum in Ital. deferentibus (Brem. 1716); Kunz, De vexillo navis Alex. (Jen. 1734). Comp. SEE CASTOR (AND POLLUX).

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.