mardi 22 juillet 2008

Gemini 5


The twins were raised by the centaur Chiron (now the constellation Sagittarius) and later joined Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece. Eventually they decided to take wives and selected the two beautiful daughters of the king of Sparta. Now it happened that the two women were already married to Idas and Lynceus, cousins of the twins. But this seems to have made little difference to the Twins. They simply carried to girls off and settled down with them. The two cousins were not bothered by this. A few years later, the cousins, in friendly company of the Twins, made a joint raid on some cattle. It is said that trouble between the two pairs of thieves began when the tried to divide the cattle among themselves.


Idas had the solution. He hacked one of the cows into four equal pieces and said that whichever two individuals completely finished eating their quarters first would divide the spoils. This took the Twins off guard and they watched helplessly as their two cousins wolfed down their quarters of the cow. Idas and Lynceus then drove off the entire heard.


Tricked, Castor and Pollux vowed to get even with their cousins. Within a few days they set out after the two cousins to recover their share of the cattle. During the fight that followed, Idas killed Castor with a spear. Infuriated over the loss of his twin brother, Pollux chased his cousins and killed Lynceus with a single blow. Just as Idas was about to hurl a tombstone at Pollux, Zeus came to Pollux's aid and hurled a thunderbolt at Idas, killing him on the spot. Pollux, the immortal son of Zeus, begged to die so that he would not be separated from his brother. Not even the mighty Zeus could do such a thing so he placed them together in the sky as the constellation Gemini, the twins.


Uranus and Pluto were discovered in Gemini. Uranus was found near h Geminorum and Pluto near q Geminorum.


In Greek mythology, Castor & Pollux were twin heroes. The two were born from an egg laid by Leda after she was seduced by Zeus in the disguise of a swan. Yet it was said that Pollux was the son of Zeus, and Castor was the son of Tyndareus. The two brothers were good companions and became gods, patrons of athletes and protectors of sailors at sea. Castor & Pollux had power over the winds and waves. Castor became famous as a rider of horses while his brother Pollux became equally skilled at boxing and fighting battles.

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