Calle de Cástor y Pólux

The sign of the calle de Cástor y Pólux evokes the Dioscuri, the twins born to Leda in Greek and Roman myth. Though they grew up as inseparable brothers, they did not share the same father: Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux had been fathered by Zeus, who came to Leda in the shape of a swan. They were also brothers of Helen, the one who would set off the Trojan War. When Castor died, Pollux, who was immortal, asked Zeus to share his gift so as not to be parted from his twin. The god joined them forever in the sky as the constellation Gemini. Antiquity revered them as protectors of sailors, and to their care was attributed the electric glow that sometimes crowns the masts in a storm, Saint Elmo’s fire.