ABSTRACT
In the case of Rome, according to Ward, Castor would be the expression of the second function, that of military might, and Pollux that of the third, connected with peasant producers and shepherds. The possibility remains that the separation of Castor from Pollux was a consequence of the process of de-mythologisation which took place in Roman religion after the foundation of the res publica. In order to complete the theological profile of Castor, one must also consider that the ceremony of the transvectio equitum was celebrated also in honour of Mars, from whose temple the parade would start, and of Iuppiter Optimus Maximus, in front of whose temple it would end. The god Castor always remained a foreigner, who bore a Greek name and wore a Spartan pilos, but this did not stop him from becoming an important national god.
