And starry Gemini hang like growing crowns,
Over Orion's grave low down in the west.
Tennyson's Maud.
The ancient
Chaldeans, and eastern nations generally, knew nothing of the zodiacal
sign we call Gemini, or the Twins, although these stars have always been
regarded as twins from remote antiquity. Instead of twin brothers,
however, the ancients imagined these stars represented two Kids. There
was a significance in this title quite apart from its relation to the
herds that they were daily concerned with. We see in this region of the
sky three ancient and important constellations named after domestic
animals that figured prominently in the pastoral life of early times,
the Ram, the Bull, and the Kids. Pluche tells us that "in the
reproduction of species among the herds familiar to primitive man, the
first produced in the vernal season are the lambs, then come the calves,
and later the kids, so that it was natural that the ancients who
devised the constellations should characterize in this order
the three constellations through which the sun passed in the vernal
season."
Brown
considers that the constellations were designed to perpetuate the
stories in which the ancients dramatized their conception of
solar and lunar relations. He holds that Gemini is a stellar
representation of the great Twin Brethren of the sky, the sun and the
moon, who join in building a mysterious city. Although hostile to each
other, they work together, and are only seen together by day.
In that interesting book by Maunder, entitled The Astronomy of the Bible,
we are told that on the Babylonian monuments and boundary stones, the
most ancient records extant, there appears a set of symbols repeated
over and over again, and always given a position of prominence. It is
the so-called "Triad of Stars," a crescent lying on its back and two
stars near it. The significance of this symbol is now clear. Four
thousand years before the Christian era, the two stars Castor and Pollux, Alpha and Beta Geminorum
respectively, served as indicators of the first new moon of the year,
just as the star Capella did two thousand years later. The "Triad of
Stars" then is simply a picture of what men saw year after year in the
sunset sky, at the beginning of the first month 6000 years ago. It is
the earliest record of an astronomical event that has come down to us.
Plunket says that the early astronomers who mapped out the zodiac,
noticing that the equinoctial colure in 6000 B.C. passed the two bright
stars Castor and Pollux, chose to represent them as marking the heads of
twin figures, which they determined should symbolize the
equal day and night of the season over which they presided. Thousands of
years after these two stars had ceased to mark the equinox, they were
still associated by the Greeks with the twin heroes Castor and Pollux,
brothers, who according to the legend were " possessed of an immortality
of existence so divided among them that as one dies the other
revives."
The
learned Dr. Barrett has pointed out that this furnishes a complete
description of day and night, a simile that is especially interesting if
we attribute the first symbolising of day and night by these stars to
the work of astronomers at a date when the days and nights these stars
symbolised were exactly of equal length, and when therefore the equally
bright stars and equal alternations of light and darkness might both be
fitly symbolised as twins.
The
Latin title " Gemini " by which we know the constellation dates only
from classical times. Burritt gives the following mythological history
of the constellation: " Castor and Pollux were twin brothers, sons of
Jupiter, by Leda, the wife of Tyndarus, Bang of Sparta. They were
educated at Pallena, and afterwards embarked with Jason in the
celebrated contest for the golden fleece at Colchis ,
on which occasion they behaved with unparalleled courage. Pollux
distinguished himself by his achievements in arms and personal prowess,
and was a famous pugilist. Castor was superior in equestrian exercises,
and the management of horses. The Twins are represented in the temples
of Greece
The gods who live for ever
Have fought for Rome
These be the great Twin Brethren
To whom the Dorians pray.
Back comes the chief in triumph
Who, in the hour of fight,
Hath seen the great Twin Brethren
In harness on his right.
Macaulay.
Castor
and Pollux were a common object of adjuration among the Romans, and the
slang of the present day , "By Jiminy, " is a survival of the old Roman
oath. As guardians of Rome
Virgil thus writes concerning these illustrious Twins:
Castor and Pollux first in martial force,
One bold on foot, and one renowned for horse.
And Martial in like vein:
Castor alert to tame the foaming steed
And Pollux strong to deal the manly deed.
After returning from Colchis the brothers waged a successful war against the pirates who infested the Hellespont ,
from which circumstance they have ever since been regarded as " the
sailor's stars, " and the friends and protectors of navigation. It is
related that Neptune had rewarded their brotherly love by giving them power over wind and wave, that they might assist the shipwrecked.
Safe comes the ship to Haven
Through billows and through gales,
If once the great Twin Brethren
Set shining on the sails.
Macaulay
In the
Argonautic expedition, during a violent storm, it is said two flames of
fire, "St. Elmo" or "St. Helen's light, " were seen to play around the
heads of Castor and Pollux, and immediately the tempest ceased, and the
sea was calm. In honour of the Twins, these lights were some- times
known as "Ledean lights," and sailors believed that whenever both fires
appeared in the sky, it would be fair weather, but when only one
appeared, there would be storms.
In the Odes of Horace, Mr. Gladstone's translation, we read:
So Leda's twins, bright shining, at their beck
Oft have delivered stricken barks from wreck.
Homer in his Hymn to Castor and Pollux thus alludes to their supposed influence over the sea:
These are the Powers who earth-born mortals save
And ships, whose flight is swift along the wave
When wintry tempests o'er the savage sea
Are raging, and the sailors tremblingly
Call on the Twins of Jove with prayer and vow,
Gathered in fear upon the lofty prow,
And sacrifice with snow-white lambs, the wind
And the huge billow bursting close behind,
Even then beneath the weltering waters bear
The staggering ship -they suddenly appear,
On yellow wings rushing athwart the sky,
And lull the blasts in mute tranquillity,
And strew the waves on the white ocean's bed,
Fair omen of the voyage; from toil and dread
The sailors rest, rejoicing in the sight, A
nd plough the quiet sea in safe delight.
Shelley's translation.
The appearance
of the Twins, Castor and Pollux, was hailed as the harbinger of fair
summer weather, and they were symbolised by the figure of two stars over
a ship. In the Acts of the Apostles we read that St. Paul sailed from Malta to Syracuse
Castor
and Pollux became enamoured of the betrothed daughters of Leucippus,
brother of Tyndarus, and resolved to supplant their rivals. A battle
ensued, in which Castor killed Lynceus, and was himself killed by Idas.
Pollux there- upon killed Idas, but being himself immortal, and most
tenderly attached to his brother, he was unwilling to survive him. He
therefore besought Jupiter to restore Castor to life. Jupiter granted
his request, and made Castor immortal. Consequently as long as one was
upon earth, so long was the other detained in the infernal regions, and
they thus alternately lived and died every day.
As Homer puts it
By turns they visit this etherial sky,
And live alternate and alternate die.
This idea
bears out the alternation of daylight and darkness, and the analogy
between the days and nights of equal duration before mentioned. Jupiter
further rewarded their fraternal attachment by changing them both into a
constellation, under the name of "Gemini," the Twins, which it is
strangely pretended never appear together, but when one rises the other
sets, and so on alternately. Castor and Pollux were worshipped both by
the Greeks and Romans, who sacrificed white lambs upon their altars to
them. In the Hebrew zodiac the constellation of the Twins refers to the
tribe of Benjamin; and according to Dr. Seiss, the Gemini represented
the mystic union of Christ and His redeemed. Schiller regarded the
constellation as representing St. James the Elder. The Egyptians
represented the Twins as the two gods, Horus, the Elder, and the
Younger, and strangely enough also regarded them as Two Sprouting
Plants. The Gemini have also been called "David and Jonathan," "Adam and
Eve," "the Twin Sons of Rebecca," Jacob and Esau. The Eskimos recognise
in Castor and Pollux the two door-stones of an igloo, the name for
their snow huts.
The
Arabs regarded these twin stars as two Peacocks, and on the Euphratean
star list they appear as " the Great Twins, " and " the Heaven and Earth
Pair."
Allen tells us that in India South Pacific Islands Australia
Astrologically
considered, this constellation was most favorably regarded,
portending genius, goodness, and liberality. It is of the House of
Mercury and its native will be tall and straight, with dark eyes, brown
hair, and active ways; in character versatile, contradictory, and
unselfish. It governs the arms and shoulders and rules over the
south-west parts of England , America , Flanders, and Lombardy .
It is the ruling sign for those born between May 20th and June 21st.
The flower is the May- flower or trailing arbutus, and the gem, the
beryl. In the early Chinese solar zodiac this constellation figured as
"the Ape," and the Chinese astrologers claimed that if Gemini was
invaded by Mars, war and a poor harvest would ensue. Aristotle has left
an interesting record of the occultation at two different times of some
of the stars of Gemini, by the planet Jupiter, the earliest observations
of this nature of which we have knowledge, and made probably about the
middle of the fourth century B.C. No reference to Castor and Pollux
would be complete without quoting Mrs. Martin's tribute to them in The
Friendly Stars: "The constellation Gemini is the third spring sign of
the zodiac, and it is easy to see how the mere beauty of its chief
stars, Castor and Pollux, may have fastened upon it the reputation of
responsibility for the beautiful weather that comes early in June. At
this season of the year position, atmosphere, and surroundings all
combine to enhance the beauty and accentuate the individuality of these
two beautiful stars. ... In a comparatively starless environment the
twin stars, beloved of sailors, dominate the western sky and shine side
by side like two eyes benignly set to keep a protecting watch upon the
world. It is not the sailor alone whose fancy is pleased with the kindly
vigil they seem to keep. A landsman, too, may have pleasanter dreams if
he will but peep through the western window and exchange friendly
glances with them before settling down for the night."
Pollux
is now the brighter of the two stars, although three hundred years ago,
Castor was probably the lucida of the constellation. Castor is a
beautiful star, in fact Sir John Herschel called it the largest and
finest of all the double stars in our hemisphere. In a three- inch
telescope with a power of ninety diameters, these twin suns present a
charming appearance. This is a binary system, with a period somewhere
between 250 and 1000 years. According to Allen this star is approaching
the earth at the rate of 18.5 miles a second, while Pollux is receding
from us at the rate of one mile each second. Pollux is fifty-four light
years distant, and is one of the stars much used in navigation in taking
lunar observations. In astrology it was a fortunate star, portending
eminence and renown.
The Twin Stars
are 4.5° apart and this distance was known to the Arabs as "the Ell," a
measure of length. In reality Pollux is two hundred trillions of miles
farther from us than Castor. There is only eleven minutes differ- ence
in the time of culmination of Castor and Pollux, so they may both be
regarded as on the meridian at 9 p.m., Feb. 24th.
Gamma
e Xi Geminorum represented to the Arabs the brand made by a hot iron on
the neck of a camel, also the star which shines with a sharp light.
Delta Geminorum is a double star, known to the Arabs as " Wasat, "
meaning the " Middle, " i. e. of the constellation, says Allen. The
Chinese called it " Ta Tsun, " the Great Wine Jar." Just north of this
star is the radiant point of the meteors known as "the Geminids,"
visible early in October. Epsilon and Zeta Germinorum bear respectively
the Arab names "Mebsuta" and "Mekbuda." According to Allen Eta Geminorum
bears the name of "Propus." On Burritt's map this star name is given to
a fifth magnitude star a few degrees south and west of Eta. Eta is
noted as marking the locality where Sir William Herschel discovered the
planet Uranus, on the 13th of March, 1781. He thought at first that it
was a comet, and reported it as such. Maskelyne, however, suspected its
planetary nature, and the succeeding year it was announced as a new
planet by Lexell and La Place. "Continental
astronomers designated the planet as 'Herschel" and we find this title
in text-books as late as fifty years ago. Bode suggested the present
title Uranus, to conform to the mythological nomenclature of the other
planets, and because the name of the oldest god was especially
applicable to the oldest, the most distant body then known to our
system."
R. H. Allen, Star Names and Their Meanings.
There
is a star of the fifth magnitude, just west of Mi. Geminorum, which is
noteworthy as marking the location of the summer solstice, in the tropic
of Cancer, the place occupied by the sun on the longest day of the
year, and is moreover the dividing limit between the torrid and north
temperate zones. Gemini contains a beautiful star cluster in M 35. La Place
thus describes this magnificent object: "A marvellously striking
object. No one can see it for the first time without an exclamation. . .
. The field is perfectly full of brilliant stars, unusually equal in
magnitude and distribution over the whole area. Nothing but a sight of
the object can convey an adequate idea of its exquisite beauty."
Source: ”Star lore of all ages; a collection of myths, legends, and facts concerning the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere”, 1911 by Olcott, William Tyler
If
you are interested in learning more about the ancient science of the
sky, its origin, meaning and its practical use in measuring time cycles
with its application to stocks and commodity trading you may want to
read my book "Wall Street Watchman":
