POLLUX, the son of Tyndareus king of Amyclae, and of Leda, according to the tradition followed by Homer, was by late writers, along with his sister Helen, made the child of Jupiter, who gained the affections of Lydia in the form of a swan. He was the brother of Castor and Clytemnestra, and was born in the island Pephnos, on the coast of Laconia. Pollux was distinguished for his skill in boxing and wrestling, whilst Castor was famed for his horsemanship. They both took an active part in the hunt of the
Calydonian boar, and joined Jason in his search for the golden fleece. On their return they were invited by their cousins Lynceus and Idas, the sons of Aphareus, to attend their marriage with Phœbe and Hilaira, daughters of Leucippus, prince of Messene. They, however, became so enamoured of the two brides, that they forcibly attempted to carry them off, when Castor was killed by Idas. Jupiter, enraged at this proceeding, struck Idas with a thunderbolt; and, to comfort Pollux, offered him his choice of immortality, or, if he preferred it, to live and die alternately with his brother. He chose the latter. Another tradition makes Pollux show his fraternal love by dividing his immortality in such a way that Castor lived one day and Pollux the next; but Homer does not allude to this. Pollux was said to have married Phœbe, daughter of Leucippus, and to have had by her Mnesileus. Having had a dispute with his cousin Idas respecting the division of some spoil they had driven from Messenia, he is represented by one tradition as having perished by the hands of Idas.