In Latin the twins are also known as the Gemini (literally 'twins') or Castores, as well as the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are sometimes said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. The pair are thus an example of heteropaternal superfecundation.
Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus, who raped Leda in the guise of a swan.
Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri.
