ABSTRACT
LEDA, daughter of Thestios king of Aitolia, and wife of Tyndareos king of Sparta, bore several children, of whom four are important in mythology, viz., Kastor, Polydeukes,— Pollux in Latin,—Klytaimestra, and Helen In most accounts, though not in Homer, one at least of her sons was the child of Zeus; by all accounts Helen was his daughter. Beyond this, there is little agreement. Generally, Polydeukes is the son of Zeus, while his twin Kastor was begotten of Tyndareos. Helen in most accounts is hatched from an egg, laid either by Leda herself, whom Zeus visited in the form of a swan, or by Nemesis, in which case it was given to Leda. Variations are endless; in Homer, both the brothers are mortal; in the Homeric hymn addressed to them, both are immortal.1 No less disagreement reigns among modern investigators as to the original nature of Kastor, Polydeukes, and Helen; beyond all doubt all three appear as fully human personages in epic, and beyond all doubt all three were worshipped as deities, the brothers (the Dioskuroi or sons of Zeus, as they are generally called after Homer’s time), being patrons of mariners, to whom they appear in the form of what is now called St. Elmo’s fire, and also being important deities at Sparta, while Helen seems to be an ancient tree-goddess, with a ritual not unlike that which we have found connected with Erigone. But whether we have deities degraded into heroes, or heroes elevated into deities, or a confusion between figures of saga and figures of cult, is a matter far from settled, and fortunately not important for our present purpose.2
