The constellation of Gemini, "The Twins" is one that abounds in legends of its origin. The names of the twins are Castor and Pollux, who are thought to be sons of Zeus by Leda, wife of the king of Sparta. The Romans also claim them to be guardsmen of the eternal city, and they have been identified in ancient manuscripts with Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. The constellation is also identified with sailors as the twins went with Jason on his famous quest in the Argo; the twins brought the sailors good luck by intervening with the elements whenever the weather was set against them thanks to their heavenly connections. They have since became know to seamen as the Laedean lights, now corrupted to “leading lights” – a reference to their knack of allowing safe passage if followed.
The power to help sailors has since been immortalised, sailors remarking on the presence of the twins in an electrical phenomenon known as St Elmo’s fire.