The wife of the king of Sparta Tyndareus was the beautiful Leda, the daughter of the king of Aetolia, Thestia. Throughout Greece, Leda was famous for its marvelous beauty. Leda became the wife of Zeus, and she had two children from him: the daughter Helen, beautiful as a goddess, and the son, the great hero Polydeuces. Leda also had two children from Tyndareus: daughter Clytemnestra and son Castor.
Polydeuces received immortality from his father, and his brother Castor was mortal. Both brothers were great heroes of Greece. No one could surpass Castor in the art of driving a chariot; he humbled the most indomitable horses. Polydeuces was a most skilled fist fighter who had no equal. The Dioscuri brothers took part in many of the heroic deeds of Greece. They were always together, the most sincere love bound the brothers.
The Dioscuri had two cousins, Lynceus and Idas, the sons of the Messenian king Aphareus. Idas was a mighty fighter; his brother Lynceus had such acute vision that it penetrated even into the bowels of the earth; nothing could hide from Lynceus. The Dioscuri and their cousins performed many feats. Once, during a bold raid, they stole a herd of bulls from Arcadia and decided to divide the spoils among themselves. Idas had to divide the herd. Idas and his brother wanted to take possession of all the loot and decided to resort to cunning. Idas cut the bull into four equal parts, divided them between himself, his brother and the Dioscuri, and offered to give one half of the herd to the one who ate his part first, and the other half to the one who ate it second. Idas quickly ate his part and helped brother Lynceus eat his part.
Castor and Polydeuces were terribly angry when they saw that Idas had deceived them, and decided to take revenge on their cousins, with whom they had previously had an inextricable friendship. Castor and Polydeuces invaded Messenia and stole not only the herd stolen from Arcadia, but also part of the herd of Idas and Lynceus. And the Dioscuri were not satisfied with this; they also kidnapped the brides of their cousins.
The Dioscuri knew that Idas and Lynceus would not forgive them for this, and decided to hide in the hollow of a large tree and wait until Idas and Lynceus began to pursue them. The Dioscuri brothers wanted to attack them by surprise, because they were afraid to engage in battle with the mighty Idas, who once even dared to fight Apollo himself, when the silver-bowed god argued with him for the beautiful Marpessa. But the Dioscuri could not hide from the watchful eyes of Lynceus. From high Taygetos, Lynceus saw the brothers in a hollow tree. Idas and Lynceus attacked the Dioscuri. Before they could emerge from the ambush, Idas struck a tree with his spear and pierced Castor's chest. Polydeuces rushed at them. The Afareids could not withstand his onslaught and fled. At the grave of their father, Polydeuces overtook them. He killed Lynceus and began a mortal combat with Idas. But Zeus stopped this fight, he threw a sparkling lightning and with it incinerated both Idas and the corpse of Lynceus.
Polydeuces returned to where the mortally wounded Castor lay. He wept bitterly, seeing that death was separating him from his brother. Then Polydeuces prayed to his father Zeus and asked him to let him die along with his brother. The Thunderer appeared to his son and gave him a choice: either to live forever young in the host of bright gods on Olympus, or to live with his brother one day in the dark kingdom of Hades, another on bright Olympus. Polidevk did not want to part with his brother and chose a common share with him. Since then, the brothers wander one day through the dark fields of the kingdom of the shadows of the dead, and the next day they live with the gods in the palace of the aegis-power Zeus. The Greeks honor the Dioscuri brothers as gods. They are protectors of people in all dangers, they protect them during their journey both in foreign lands and at home.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru