Dioskouri were mythological twins. Upon the death of Castor (on the right) his brother Pollux asked their father Zeus, the Greek king of all gods, to bring them together again for eternity. The wish was granted by becoming the heavenly constellation of Gemini. These statues were sculpted around 200 AD. They once stood in the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum. After a significant restoration in 1584, they were placed on either side of the Cordonata ramp which leads to the Capitoline Museums. In between them in this photo is the dome of the Church of the Cesù. Built in 1580, it has two distinctions: it is the mother church for the Society of Jesus, commonly called Jesuits. It is also the first building with a Baroque façade.
