Tool Beta
The Gods of the Bible
Every named divine being in Scripture, what the text calls it, and what the ancient world thought it was.
The Dioscuri
Twin gods who protected sailors, carved on the ship that carried Paul to Rome.
Acts 28:11, in every translation this tool compares.
Castor and Pollux, the twins carved on the bow of the ship that carried Paul to Rome. Sailors trusted them because of St Elmo's fire, the glow that sometimes appears on a mast in a storm, read as the twins turning up. Luke records the figurehead and says nothing about it.
Castor and Pollux, the figurehead on the ship that carries Paul from Malta, patron gods of sailors, and Luke records the detail without comment. DDD explains why sailors trusted them in particular. The twins were credited with appearing as St. Elmo's fire, the electrical glow sailors saw at a masthead in a storm, taken as a sign the Dioscuri had come to save the crew, so they were carved on a ship's prow. Their name, "youths of Zeus," also survives as a month name in the dating formula of 2 Maccabees 11:21.
G1359, 1 occ
- Acts 28:11
- 2 Maccabees 11:21
- DDD s.v. "Dioskouroi," 258
