Greek Myth Notes PDF

Greek myth nov 12^th^ notes [The death of Heracles]\ Buxton page 122: right-hand column\ - our main ancient source: Sophocles' stage tragedy The Women of Trachis (circa\ 425 B.C.), portraying Heracles' grisly death.\ - the irony is that the strongest man on earth has fallen victim to his gentle, we...

Greek myth nov 12^th^ notes [The death of Heracles]\ Buxton page 122: right-hand column\ - our main ancient source: Sophocles' stage tragedy The Women of Trachis (circa\ 425 B.C.), portraying Heracles' grisly death.\ - the irony is that the strongest man on earth has fallen victim to his gentle, well-\ intending wife. (Yet her name, Deianeira, "collector of spoil," could seem\ ominous.)\ - on the pyre, Heracles' mortal part is burned away and his immortal soul is\ elevated to Mt. Olympus, where he lives forever with the gods. Up there, Heracles\ and Hera are reconciled at last. Heracles is given, as wife, a daughter of Zeus and\ Hera: the goddess Hebe (Greek: "youth, young age").\ - as has been said, this is a nearly unique afterlife for a mortal, even for a son of\ Zeus. For most mortals, the highest hope for after death is Elysium, not Olympus. [Heracles and real-life ancient Greek propaganda]\ In real-life Greek history of the 500s--400s B.C., Heracles was the national\ hero or "poster boy" for the Dorian Greeks. The Dorians were an ethnic-\ and-dialect group, led by Sparta. Their rivals and (eventually) their enemies\ were the Ionian Greeks, led by Athens.\ See Buxton's (slightly confusing) treatment on page 123: These were the\ two dominant ancient Greek ethnic groups. The Dorians claimed descent\ from Heracles---or more specifically from the many "sons of Heracles" whom\ the hero supposedly had left behind. These "sons of Heracles" were the\ Heraclids \[or Heraklids\] (Heraklidai in ancient Greek), discussed by Buxton\ on page 123.\ We'll see this evening's next lesson how the corresponding Ionian or\ Athenian hero---elevated in direct response to the Dorians' Heracles myth---\ would be Theseus. [Background on the Theseus myth]\ Buxton pp. 124--129. Our ancient sources include---\ - Plutarch's Life of Theseus, circa 100 A.D.\ - Apollodorus' Library, circa 125 A.D.\ - Euripides' stage tragedy Hippolytus, 428 B.C.\ - also Euripides' Suppliant Women (circa 422 B.C.) and Heracles Insane\ (circa 414 B.C.), and Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus (401 B.C.)\ - See Buxton page 8 for most of the above writers' names.\ Plutarch's detailed biography treats Theseus as though he had been a\ real-life man: an early, foundational king of Athens. Plutarch in his\ Theseus-research drew on a number of ancient Greek written sources,\ now lost to us, whose narratives survive only in bits of Plutarch. One\ such was an Athenian epic poem of about 515 B.C. called the Theseid.\ (We don't know the author's name.) Probably the Theseid was\ sponsored by the Athenian government, in order to (i) organize the\ Theseus story and (ii) use it as a form of propaganda, to glorify Athens. [Theseus: the only major hero from Athens] Theseus is the only major mythical hero of the city of Athens. Despite the fame of ancient Athens for us today, Athens was not a major kingdom early in Greek history, in the Mycenaean era, circa 1600--1200 B.C. As you know, the Mycenaean Civilization inspired the Greek hero-myths. Consequently, the surviving myths have clustered around cities like Mycenae and Thebes that were first-rank Mycenaean kingdoms. Athens, being of lesser importance in 1600--1200 B.C., does not play a leading role in Greek mythology. [Theseus, the Athenian hero] As the above Slide 9 (lower part) suggests, we should watch for Athenian propaganda in our CLA2323 study of Theseus. The long, busy Theseus myth is partly a product of Athenian government revision and myth-making in the 500s--400s B.C. Athens, peaking under its statesman Pericles in the mid-400s, was the richest and most powerful Greek city: Thus, a suitably great hero of the "old days" had to be found---including being partly fabricated. As we'll see, certain parts of the Theseus myth are genuinely old ( ?1400 B.C.), but other parts seem to have been added later: probably the late 500s--400s B.C. The source for much of the latter layer would have been the "Public Relations Office" at Athens. The name Thēseus means "Establisher" or "Foundation Maker". This detail was perfect for Athenian myth-making in the 400s B.C.: "It was Theseus who laid the foundation for future Athenian greatness." Footnote: Theseus' name is related to our word "thesis" (meaning a "foundation" for an idea or essay). [Theseus and Athenian propaganda: 400s B.C.] The Athenian "King Arthur"--- Real-life Athenians of the 400s B.C. probably viewed Theseus in much the same way as the British of the Victorian era, circa 1890 A.D., viewed King Arthur: as a semi-legendary forerunner of latter-day greatness and empire. See Slide 29 above, on Plutarch. Theseus was believed to have been a living man, the first great King of Athens, back in "ancient times". If you had asked an educated Athenian of 440 B.C. whether he/she believed the Theseus myth to be true, the answer probably would have been that the myth seemed like a wild exaggeration but based on truth. [The "Heracles of Athens"] See above, Slides 5--7, on Heracles as a propaganda-symbol for the Dorian Greeks. One specific motive for Athenian myth-making about Theseus would have been to create a hero comparable to Heracles. The background here is that in the 500s--400s B.C., Heracles was being used as a propagandistic hero of Sparta and other Dorian-ethnic Greek cities (Corinth, Syracuse, etc.). In response to this, the Athenians gradually developed Theseus to be the competing Athenian (or Ionian) hero. The terms "Dorian" and "Ionian" refer to two different Greek ethnic-and-dialect groups in ancient Greece. The major Dorian city was Sparta. The major Ionian-ethnic city was Athens. By the mid 400s B.C., Sparta and Athens had become enemies of each other: Their hostility eventually erupted into the huge, disastrous Peloponnesian War, 431--404 B.C., fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies. Amid this "Dorian-Sparta-versus-Ionian-Athens" enmity--- \- Heracles became the "poster boy" for the Dorian Greeks. \- Theseus became the poster boy for Athens and all Ionian Greeks. \- Theseus myth was developed in ways that sometimes copycatted the Heracles myth. In our CLA2323 readings, you'll notice how some of Theseus' adventures parallel those of Heracles: capture a murderous bull, kill a ravening boar, fight the Amazons, fight the Centaurs, venture into the Underworld, etc. Your prof believes that (1) these parallels are not coincidence and (2) the copycatting was all in one direction: the resemblances show the Theseus myth copycatting that of Heracles. Not surprisingly, Theseus was sometimes referred to in ancient Greece as "a second Heracles". On the other hand, as said already, certain elements in Theseus' myth are original and very old. [A long myth, a contradictory personality] The events of Theseus' myth span his whole lifetime: perhaps 60 years. One quirk of the myth is the hero's inconsistent behaviour--- \- often his actions are valorous, shrewd, or noble \- yet sometimes they are reckless and brutal \- and some of his worst behaviour comes in his full adulthood Thus, we are told, Theseus ruled Athens wisely. But while king he also joined his rowdy friend Peirithoüs (son of the sinner Ixion) in an insane attempt to kidnap the goddess Persephone from the Underworld. As we'll see, this hubristic exploit met with disaster that it deserved. On page 129, our textbook comments on Theseus' "morally ambiguous role" and how his "status as moral paragon was in some respects severely compromised." In other words, his personality puzzles us. Your prof believes these inconsistencies to be by-products of the myth's rewriting in the 500s--400s B.C. Footnote: The name Peirithoüs (Greek: "He turns around") can also correctly be spelled as Peirithoös/Perithoüs/Peirithous. [The "Don Juan" of Greek myth] Overlapping partly with Theseus' bad side is his sexual ardour for ladies: Theseus is the Don Juan of Greek myth. He romances or marries two Cretan royal sisters, Ariadne and Phaedra, and abandons Ariadne after she has done everything for him. He abducts and romances an Amazon queen, and he kidnaps a Spartan princess (the future Helen of Troy), aged about 12. Theseus' zeal to kidnap females seems (to us today) to be far from heroic. Even the ancient Greeks evidently felt that Theseus sinned in his attempts against Helen and Persephone, who were proper Greek ladies. Thus the myth shows Theseus thwarted or punished for these attempts. So powerful was Theseus' heterosexual image that he seems untouched by the "homosexual layer" of Greek mythologizing after 600 B.C. Unlike Heracles, for example, Theseus is never given a male lover---unless we want to sexually interpret his friendship with Peirithoüs. Overtly anyway, Theseus seems exclusively a ladies' man. [Theseus abducts the Amazon queen] A heroic feat? Many real-life ancient Greeks would have seen it as heroic: In myth, the Amazons were enemies of the Greeks. See the "Myth of the Amazons" item in the "Read for Oct 29" Brightspace module. Villainous? Stupid? The abduction does result in the outraged Amazons marching into Greece and attacking Athens. [Theseus and Peirithoüs plan to kidnap Persephone] This adventure was, beyond doubt, meant to sound stupid-minded to an ancient Greek audience. The attempt by Theseus and Peirithoüs to kidnap Queen Persephone from the Underworld is one of the starkest---and most entertaining---examples of hubris in Greek mythology. Their plan is insanely arrogant, surpassing (for example) Bellerophon's attempt to fly on Pegasus to Mt. Olympus. In the end, Theseus and Peirithoüs get punished, separately, by the gods. Peirithoüs remains stuck forever on the bench of forgetfulness in the Underworld: The flesh of his buttocks is fused to the stonework bench. Peirithoüs' fate in the Underworld = a form of eternal punishment, similar to (but less serious than) that of his father, Ixion: See Buxton page 89. [Theseus and Peirithoüs in the Underworld] By one ancient version of the tale, Theseus is still sitting there, too: stuck beside his reckless friend for all eternity. But the more familiar version has Theseus saved by Heracles, who passes by, in the course of his Twelfth Labour, and who recognizes Theseus as his former comrade against the Amazons. (See Buxton page 129, left-hand column, upper.) In the usual telling, Heracles rips Theseus off the bench with his bare hands. However, some of Theseus' flesh remains stuck to the bench: "...and to this day," the ancient author Plutarch writes, "Athenian men are known for their small buttocks."...a charming detail of aetiology---even though it doesn't really make sense as affecting the entire Athenian male population. [Theseus' last years] Arguably, Theseus' punishment continues after he returns to the upper world. According to the most plausible sequence of events, Theseus returns to Athens to find that his throne has been seized by a usurper: Theseus no longer is king. Also, while Theseus was stuck in the Underworld, his mother, Aethra \[Aithra\], has been kidnapped from Athens by Castor and Polydeuces---who have raided Athens in revenge for Theseus' attempted kidnapping of their sister Helen. Aethra is carried to Sparta, where she lives the rest of her life as a slave to Queen Leda, mother of Castor and Polydeuces. So, quite the comeuppance for Theseus. [The death of Theseus] The dethroned Theseus is compelled to seek refuge on the island of Scyros, where he gets betrayed and murdered by his host: Buxton page 129, right-hand column, middle. An ignominious end for the hero. So, by this particular interpretation of sequence-of-events, the Underworld fiasco comes as his last big adventure, when he's around age 60 and supposedly a wise, experienced ruler. Footnote: Other retellings might place the Underworld exploit earlier than age 60 in Theseus' life. But your prof prefers the chronology as above. [A note on Theseus' inconsistent "personality"] As said already, Theseus' inconsistent behaviour can be explained partly as a byproduct of the Theseus myth's layering over time. Some of Theseus' worst behaviour seems to be authentic and early-in-date (?1400--600 B.C.), while some of his wisest behaviour seems a later product of Athenian myth-making (after the mid-500s B.C.). Unfortunately, the two elements don't fit together to create a plausible character-portrait over Theseus' lifetime. Other Greek myths, too, show character-inconsistencies, but those in the Theseus myth seem the most blatant. [Three historical layers to the Theseus myth?] 1\) The earliest layer: ?1400--600 B.C. The adventure on Crete: the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, Ariadne Theseus abandons Ariadne on the island of Naxos Theseus becomes king of Athens Theseus and his friend Peirithoüs kidnap the 12-year-old Helen of Sparta (later to be Helen of Troy). She is rescued by her brothers, Castor and Polydeuces. Theseus and Peirithoüs descend to the Underworld to kidnap the goddess Persephone. The god Hades easily sees through their plan and captures them on a "chair of forgetfulness". In the usual version, Theseus (but not Peirithoüs) is eventually rescued by Heracles amid the Twelfth Labour. But in another version, both Theseus and Peirithoüs remain for eternity on their enchanted chair. They are stuck there now, still, in punishment for their insane hubris. 2\) The "imitating Heracles" layer: circa 550--500 B.C. ---In this layer, Theseus' adventures are supplemented, to make him resemble the great hero Heracles Young Theseus destroys the several bandits on the northeastern road to Athens Young Theseus captures (1) a ravening boar and (2) the bull of Marathon: two very "Heraclean" adventures King Theseus abducts and romances an Amazon queen: in some versions, Theseus and Heracles go together on this exploit: mentioned at Buxton page 129, top left The Amazon army counterattacks in revenge and unsuccessfully besieges Athens Heracles rescues Theseus in the Underworld maybe fitting-in here: King Theseus and the tragic episode of Phaedra and Hippolytus: Buxton page 129, top right 3\) The "wise king" layer: circa 500--400 B.C. ---This layer mainly emphasizes Theseus' good rule of Athens and his generosity to the oppressed King Theseus creates good government at Athens. He unifies the surrounding countryside under Athenian rule (the "synoecism" mentioned at Buxton page 128), and generally he lays the foundation for future Athenian greatness and democracy. King Theseus graciously welcomes the needy suppliant Oedipus, also the suppliant Heracles. Theseus and Athens are the friends of the oppressed. After the tragic events of the "Seven against Thebes" (Buxton pp. 166--167), King Theseus defeats the Thebans in battle and compels Thebes' leader Creon to bury the corpses of the slain soldiers from Argos, as religious correctness demands: page 168, right-hand column. [Excursus: the myth of Phaedra, Hippolytus, and Theseus] Buxton pp. 88, 129 (top right), and 72 the stage tragedy Hippolytus by Euripides: 428 B.C. Apollodorus, in his handbook the Library The false sexual-violence accusation, in Greek mythology--- See our Oct. 22 lecture slideshow, Slides 17--20, on the myth of Bellerophon of Corinth. And compare the biblical book of Genesis, chapter 39: Joseph and Potiphar's wife. **[Topic \#3]**\ **[The katabasis: the living journey to the Underworld]** [The katabasis: definition] Literally, katabasis means "the march downward" or the "downward hike". \- In Greek myth, it is the living person's journey to the Underworld. -The katabasis is not what ghosts-of-the-dead do. It's what a living, walking person does: Heracles, etc. The hero Odysseus in the Odyssey Book 11 is not clearly pictured as actually walking through the Underworld; instead, the Underworld seems to be a sort of vision that surrounds him and moves past. Nevertheless, Odysseus' visual "journey" qualifies as the earliest written example of katabasis. As you know, the Odyssey was written down circa 750 B.C. [The katabasis: the "downward hike"] Five mythical characters made the journey and returned alive. If the tales were true, their chronological sequence would probably be this--- 1\) Orpheus: Buxton pp. 171--173. And see below, here. 2\) Theseus: Buxton page 129. His companion Peirithoüs did not return. 3\) Heracles, on his Twelfth Labour: page 121. 4\) Odysseus: in Homer's Odyssey: Buxton pp. 206--208 and 141--142. 5\) The young woman Psyche: from the ancient Greco-Roman fable of Cupid and Psyche. See "The woman Psyche in the Underworld" in the "Read for Nov. 12" Brightspace module. The real feat in performing the katabasis is getting back alive. Theseus' friend Peirithoüs is trapped down there to this day. (And so is Theseus himself, by one version.) ["Orpheus was the first to venture there."] Remember Orpheus' important place in the real-life ancient Greek "Orphic Mysteries", also known as the Mysteries of Dionysus? Orpheus was imagined as having been the human "prophet" or "gospeller" of the fringe-religion Orphic sect. See our Oct. 22 lecture slideshow, Slides 11--17, and Buxton pp. 52 and 212--213. Relevant here is the idea that Orpheus had been "the first to go": the first hero---the first human---to descend alive to the Underworld and return alive. Having come first, his journey was thought to hold special significance. Orpheus was imagined as an amazing musician, but sometimes also as a poet, who had left behind writings. We know that in the 400s B.C. a long poem was circulating in the real-life Greek world that supposedly Orpheus had written. The poem recounted the origins of the universe and the birth of the gods---but with details very different from those in the Theogony of Hesiod. A segment of the strange "Orphic" version is retold at Buxton page 52. Some ancient Greeks believed that Orpheus had gained his special secret knowledge while in the Underworld. [Unusually, a peaceful hero of Greek myth...and not a Greek, either] \- Like Triptolemus, Asclepius, Daedalus, or Aristaeus, Orpheus was imagined as a hero who was not violent: a master of certain civilizing arts. \- Like Cadmus or Pelops, Orpheus was imagined as being not Greek. \- Rather, he lived in the northern land of Thrace, normally known for its primitive and warlike inhabitants. \- Orpheus was a son of the Thracian king and Calliope ( a goddesses, one of the Muses: See Buxton pp. 85--86 and the page 44 chart). The Muses inspired artistic expression in humans. \- As the son of a Muse, Orpheus was a grandson of Zeus. [Orpheus' earlier adventures] By some versions, Orpheus took part in the Calydonian boar hunt, and he sailed with Jason on the Argo in quest of the Golden Fleece. See Buxton's "Argonauts" list, page 111. In Apollonius' Argonautica, Orpheus has a small triumph aboard the Argo when he drowns-out the corrosive song of the Sirens with his own singing. But his best-known myth is about his love for wife, Eurydice... [The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice] A famous tale of "heroic" devotion As Buxton says on pp. 171 and 240, the story of Orpheus' katabasis has been retold and reworked down the centuries, including in operas by Claudio Monteverdi (1607) and Christoph Gluck (1762), in the acclaimed 1959 film Black Orpheus, and in a 1984 poem by Margaret Atwood (Buxton page 244), among many examples. Orpheus' heroic temperament is shown (i) in his superlative musical skill and (ii) in his courage and initiative in trying to undo Eurydice's death. Orpheus dares to walk into the Underworld and face up to the god Hades, to ask him to release Eurydice back to the upper world. Being the world's best musician, he succeeds in charming Hades and Persephone into at least agreeing to a bargain: Eurydice will live again if Orpheus doesn't look back at her on their hike up to the live world. But being only human, Orpheus sadly fails: tripped up by natural anxiety. He fails the contest at the very end of the journey. Buxton page 172: "Being human, Orpheus looked back." [The next heroes to perform the katabasis] \#2. Theseus: Buxton page 129. See above, Slides 38--40. \#3. Heracles on his Twelfth Labour: Buxton page 121. Slideshow of Nov. 5: Slides 78--84. \# 4. Odysseus, as described in Homer's Odyssey: Buxton pp. 206--208 and 141--142. Slideshow of Oct. 1: Slides 66--71. \#5. The girl or young woman named Psyche... [The legend of Cupid and Psyche] Psyche is a mortal girl in Greece, about 18 years old \- her name is the Greek word for "soul": psuchē \- her legend is not discussed in our textbook \- the god's name Cupid (Cupido) = the Latin version of the Greek name Eros \- in our Brightspace module "Readings for Nov. 12", see "The young woman Psyche in the Underworld" The charming Cupid and Psyche tale comes to us from a delightful novel written in Latin circa 160 A.D. by a Roman citizen named Lucius Apuleius, a wealthy orator in Roman provincial North Africa. By definition, a novel is a book-length fictional story written in prose. Apuleius' novel---the only complete Latin novel that survives from ancient times---was officially titled the Metamorphoses ("the Transformations"). But universally it is known in English as The Golden Ass (where "ass" = donkey). In the novel, the Cupid and Psyche tale provides a short centerpiece. Apuleius apparently borrowed it from an existing Greek folk tale, but he gave it its best-known telling. The tale operates at about three different levels: \(1) an engaging young-adult female adventure story \(2) an allegory of how a young person may be tested and matured by romantic love. Here the character's name, "Soul", seems relevant. \(3) a different allegory, about a spiritual journey after death---that is, the soul of a dead person, attaining a happy afterlife in Elysium. This attainment is achieved because, while alive, the person has been initiated into one of the secretive Mystery religions of the Greco-Roman world. Again, see Buxton pp. 52 and 212--213, on the Orphic fringe sect. Here, for (3), the character's "Soul" name again seems relevant. Some of the above ideas are addressed in the "Psyche in the Underworld" posting. **[Topic \#4: The heroes Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta]** Scattered mentions in Buxton--- \- page 98: the illustration and caption (Leda and the swan), and the text, top right \- p. 107 top: the illustration \- p. 193 ---alternative spelling: Kastor and Polydeukes ---also known as Castor and Pollux (their Roman names) ---also known as the Dioscuri, as explained below, on Slide 81 ---along with their twin sisters (yes, four of them), the Dioscuri are the best-remembered heroes of the city of Sparta ---in astronomy, they are the Heavenly Twins, the constellation Gemini. (Gemini = Twins" in Latin.) Our extant sources \- Apollodorus' Library \- the Greek poet Pindar in his Tenth Nemean Ode, circa 470 B.C. \- some mentions in Homer [Castor and Polydeuces]\ Tyndareus \[Tyndareos\], king of Sparta, had a beautiful wife, younger than he, named Leda. The god Zeus violated her, after approaching her in the form of a handsome swan: Buxton page 98. Around the same general time, Leda also had conventional intercourse with her husband. In one birthing, she produced two pairs of twins: Castor and Polydeuces, and Helen and Clytemnestra \[Clytemnaestra\]. As in the Heracles myth, the twins are fraternal. By the most familiar version, Polydeuces was the son of Zeus and was immortal and invulnerable. Castor was Tyndareus' son and was mortal. Helen (later to be notorious as Helen of Troy) was Zeus' daughter. Clytemnestra was mortal. At real-life ancient Sparta circa 500 B.C., Helen was worshipped as a goddess who had lived and died on Earth. She was thought of as living eternally on Mt. Olympus. Footnote: Castor's name means "beaver" in Greek and Latin: That usage survives in modern French. The Greek name Poludeukes means "much sweet wine". Polydeuces' situation seems unusual. Heracles, the greatest son of Zeus, had to live on earth as a mortal man: Heracles suffered and died; he wasn't immortal from birth. But Polydeuces seems to have been immortal and invulnerable from the start. (Dionysus, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, was immortal from birth, but he never lived as a mortal human.) Anyway, Polydeuces' immortality isn't the only inconsistent detail in Greek myth. In Greek writings, Castor and Polydeuces are often called jointly by the name Dios kouroi---the "youths of Zeus" or "sons of Zeus". In English, we inherit the latinized form: Dioscuri. Both boys were skilled horsemen. Also, Polydeuces was a famous boxer; Castor was a famous wrestler. They had several adventures--- \- They rode to the rescue of their sister Helen, after she was kidnapped by the Athenian hero Theseus: Slide 33, above, repeated below. \- \- They hunted the Calydonian Boar and were in on the kill of it. \- Most famously, they sailed with Jason on the Argo in quest of the Golden Fleece. See Buxton's "Argonauts" list, page 111. [The death of the Twins] See Buxton page 193, right, lower In their final exploit, Castor and Polydeuces kidnap two young noblewomen and are pursued and overtaken by the two women's fiancés (who are brothers---an odd mirroring of the Dioscuri's earlier rescuing of their sister). The offended brothers are heroes themselves: Idas and Lynceus \[Lynkeus\], who previously had been the Dioscuri's shipmates on the Argo: See Buxton's page 111 list. In the ensuing combat, all three mortal men are killed, with only the invulnerable Polydeuces left standing. A beautiful poem by the Greek poet Pindar, circa 470 B.C., describes how Polydeuces stands over his dead brother and prays to father Zeus: "Let me die with him." But Zeus decides a different fate--- By Zeus' decree, both brothers would share death and immortality alike. Together, they would divide eternity, one day at time, moving between (i) the Underworld and (ii) a form of immortality at Mt. Olympus. As Homer describes them in the Odyssey, Book 11: "The fertile earth holds them, yet they live... One day they are alive, one day dead." Thus the brothers are inseparable in death, as they had been in life. [The Twins' worship in ancient Greece] Like Heracles, the twins were favourites of worship in real-life ancient Greece. They were thought of as both human and divine, partaking of both natures and therefore particularly sympathetic to human prayers and suffering: They were thought to be ready to intercede with their father Zeus, on behalf of us mortals. The Dioscuri were often pictured as heavenly riders on white steeds. They were patron heroes of the real-life aristocratic male youth who typically supplied the cavalry for ancient Greek city-states. Being Spartans, they were associated particularly with Sparta and other Dorian Greek cities. The twins were imagined as being willing to ride to the rescue for humans. Thus they were worshipped as protectors of people in danger---including sailors at sea. At sea, their benevolent presence was supposed to be revealed in the electrical phenomenon that we today call Saint Elmo's Fire, whereby the mast and rigging of a sailing ship would seem to light up and sparkle, on its own, in a thunderstorm. See Buxton p. 193, bottom. (This St. Elmo's Fire is different from the 1985 Molly Ringwald movie.) [Riders to the rescue: the Battle of the Sagras River] Battle of the Sagras River, circa 540 B.C. Find Locri and Croton on Buxton's map on page 12, far left side. In real life, two Greek cities were enemies on the south coast of Italy: Locri and Croton. The Locrians were Dorian Greeks (the same as the Spartans). The Crotonians had a different Greek ethnicity. Locri was the underdog against powerful Croton: Locri was on the defensive when Croton's army invaded Locri's territory. But in the battle, Locri won a major victory over Croton. It was claimed that, during the fighting, the Dioscuri had been seen on horseback: in the sky or on the ground, assisting the army of Locri. [Riders to the rescue: the Battle of Lake Regillus] The twins were beloved also by the Romans. Although the Romans weren't themselves Greeks, they adopted the Twins into Roman worship and called them "Castor and Pollux". The Battle of Lake Regillus, circa 496 B.C. Again, this comes from real-life ancient history. The Romans copycatted the miracle at Locri, after the Romans won a victory over Italian-ethnic enemies in west-central Italy. The Romans claimed that at the Lake Regillus battle, they had seen the Dioscuri riding to their aid. A fine example of Roman copycatting of the Greeks.