Notebook

Notebook, 1993-

ANCIENT GREEK CULTURE

[From: Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]

Demigods and Heros - Achilles - Aegisthus - Agamemnon - Ajax the Locrian - Ajax the Telamonian - Alcestis - Amphiaraos - Amphitrite - Antigone - Atalanta - Belerophon - Cadmus - Clytemnestra - Daedalus - Danae - Dioscuri - Electra - Europa - Eurydice - Ganymede - Hector - Hecuba - Helen - Heracles - Hippolytus - Icarus - Io - Iphigenia - Jason - Leda - Menelaus - Minos - Nestor - Niobe - Odysseus - Oedipus - Orestes - Medea - Orpheus - Paris - Pasiphae - Pelops - Penelope - Perseus - Phaedra - Phaethon - Phrixus - Priam - Telemachus - Theseus - Triptolemus

Dioscuri





This was the name given to Castor and Polydeuces, sons of Leda, although Castor's father was Tyndareus and that of Polydeuctes was Zeus. They were also brothers of Helen and Clytemnestra. The Dioscuri took part in the expedition against Athens to liberate Helen when she was abducted by Theseus, in the Caledonian boar hunt, and in the expedition of the Argonauts. Unfortunate in love, they abducted the daughters of king Leucippus by name Phoebe and Hilaeira who were engaged to the brothers Ida and Lynceus, and in the battle that ensued, Caster slew Ida but he in turn was killed by Lynceus who was slain by Polydeuces. But the attachment the brothers had for one another was so strong that Zeus heard the prayer of Polydeuces and allowed him to share the death of his brother for six months each year. The Greeks worshipped the Dioscuri not so much as heroes but as gods. Their most important shrine was in Sparta from whence they originated, Messenia, Arcadia, Athens, Cythera, Corcyra, Cyrenaica, and Italy. Their symbol was the horse, especially the white steed, for they were always represented in art as horsemen. [p. 62]

[Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]




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