Castor and Pollux & the Gemini Constellation - NYC, NY
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Metro2
N 40° 46.720 W 073° 57.767
18T E 587523 N 4514704
Castor and Pollux were twin brothers... but only Pollux was divine.
Waymark Code: WMKK5H
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 04/24/2014
Published By:Groundspeak Regular Member Bernd das Brot Team
Views: 4

These sculptures are located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The sculptures almost look like bookends with each brother depicted naked and leaning against a horse. They both wear hats and carry swords.
Wikipedia (visit link) adds:

"In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioskouri. Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are sometimes said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra.

In Latin the twins are also known as the Gemini or Castores. When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, and they were transformed into the constellation Gemini. The pair was regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo's fire, and were also associated with horsemanship.

They are sometimes called the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids, later seen as a reference to their father and stepfather Tyndareus."

As for the Gemini Constellation, Wikipedia (visit link) informs us:

"Gemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century AD astronomer Ptolemy and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. Its name is Latin for "twins," and it is associated with the twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology. ...

Gemini lies between Taurus to the west and Cancer to the east, with Auriga and Lynx to the north and Monoceros and Canis Minor to the south.

The Sun resides in the astrological sign of Gemini from May 21 to June 20 each year. By mid August, Gemini will appear along the eastern horizon in the morning sky prior to sunrise. The best time to observe Gemini at night is overhead during the months of January and February. By April and May, the constellation will be visible soon after sunset in the west.

The easiest way to locate the constellation is to find its two brightest stars Castor and Pollux eastward from the familiar “V” shaped asterism of Taurus and the three stars of Orion’s belt. Another way is to mentally draw a line from the Pleiades star cluster located in Taurus and the brightest star in Leo, Regulus. In doing so, you are drawing an imaginary line that is relatively close to the ecliptic, a line which intersects Gemini roughly at the midpoint of the constellation, just below Castor and Pollux."
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Metro2 visited Castor and Pollux & the Gemini Constellation  -  NYC, NY 07/24/2013 Metro2 visited it