Twin Brothers of Helen of Troy

The Battle of Lake Regillus in 496 BC was the culmination of a struggle between the fledgling Roman Republic and the deposed Roman monarchy of Tarquinius Superbus—Tarquin the Proud. The conflict also ended the First Latin War, pitting Rome against the Latin League, a coalition of Latin cities led by Tarquinius in his bid to regain the throne he lost in 509 BC.

The two armies engaged fourteen miles southeast of Rome, near the Latin city of Tusculum. The forces of Rome were led by Aulus Postumius, to whom Rome had given dictatorial power, reluctantly bestowed to consolidate leadership under one man in a time of military crisis. 

 The battle raged back and forth, with high-ranking officers on both sides suffering grievous wounds that forced them from the field. Roman exiles under the command of Tarquinius’s only surviving son began to drive the soldiers of the Republic back. Postumius desperately sought to stabilize his wavering line, even making a vow to build a splendid temple in their name if the gods granted Rome victory. 

The legend of Lake Regillus claims that two ethereal youths on white horses suddenly appeared at the head of a Roman counterattack—the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Zeus and brothers to Helen of Troy. The charge they led shattered the Latin lines and ended Tarquinius’s threat to restore the monarchy. After the battle, the Dioscuri were seen in the Roman Forum watering their horses at the Spring of Juturna and announcing the victory—before vanishing from sight.

The victory at Lake Regillus ended the Tarquin dynasty’s hopes of ever returning to power. It also led to a peace treaty that established Rome as the dominant member in the Latin League, an important first step toward its later conquest of the Italian peninsula. And finally, it resulted in the construction of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum, at the exact location where the divine twins had been seen. The temple became one of Rome’s most important monuments, a symbol of divine protection and tangible proof that the gods had chosen the Republic over the kings. 

The image above is of a fresco by Tommaso Lauri, showing the Roman dictator Postumius in the center of the piece as an older, helmeted man with a spear. Castor and Pollux are to his left and right, riding glowing white chargers and wearing tunics without armor, because they had no need of it—they were invulnerable. The scene depicts the moment the gods respond to the vow of Postumius by intervening on the side of Rome, swinging the battle to the Republic at the expense of Tarquinius and the Latin League.

Their timely aid secured the independence of a small city that would go on to become the future colossus of the Western world.