The Dioscuri between Time and Eternity: A Study in Greek Myth and Genealogy

Abstract

This paper examines the genealogical doubleness of the Dioscuri, whose existence is divided between two generations: as brothers of Helen and sons of Leda and Tyndareus (or Zeus), the Dioscuri should belong to the generation of the Trojan War; yet their exploits take place during the previous generation, the generation of the Argonauts and the Calydonian Boar Hunt. I argue that the discrepancy between the Dioscuri’s two lives constituted a key feature of their mythology from an early period, giving rise to a genealogical problem that was reflected, with increasing subtlety, in ancient Greek literature.