In lieu of a conclusion, the book ends with a survey of the basic reference and research tools currently available to scholars and enthusiasts alike. This includes how to find more coin images online, how to find relevant numismatic publications, and what large research projects are currently underway in the field of Roman republican coinage.

The cult of Castor and Pollux in Rome possessed extraordinary resonance and longevity: they were first worshipped in a public cult in the city soon after the ousting of the kings and the foundation of the Republic in the early fifth century bc. A thousand years later, in the late fifth century ad, Pope Gelasius I complained about their continued popularity, for the people of Rome refused to stop worshipping the brother gods.1

The gods of ancient Rome were thought to possess a wide range of responsibilities towards their mortal worshippers. Soldiers might call upon Mars to protect them whilst on campaign, artisans laboured under the guidance of Minerva, and farmers looked to Ceres to ensure a bounteous crop.1 Some gods possessed many roles: Apollo was connected to poets, oracles and medicine, but not always alone: other gods also possessed oracular shrines, such as Zeus at Dodona, and Apollo also shared his medical knowledge with his son, Aesculapius.2 The Dioscuri also participated in this network of divine responsibilities. They were associated with the followers of their own athletic pursuits: horsemanship and boxing, as well as ensuring the safety of sailors and, owing to their own bond, serving as examples of fraternal piety.

Gods were often thought to affect the human world through their actions: responding to vows and oaths; sending signs through auguries and auspices; and, at times, drawing on their power over the mortal realm to ensure a desired outcome. Most chose these more subtle ways of communicating their will to their worshippers, but some took it a step further and manifested themselves in human form, as an epiphany. Castor and Pollux were unusual in the number of their epiphanies: no fewer than nine epiphanies are reported to have occurred in Italy or connected to Roman interests elsewhere in the Mediterranean. These epiphanies are not simply proof of the divine brothers’ power but are also closely bound to the political system of Rome: their first epiphany preserved the Republic at its very inception, while later epiphanies were used to claim the gods’ favour for prominent generals. Further consideration of these epiphanies therefore suggests the variety of perspectives and responses of different individuals regarding interactions between gods and humans.

Castor and Pollux have come a long way since their arrival in Rome at the start of the Republic. As traced in the preceding three chapters, they were linked to the preservation of the Republic and their Forum temple was a rallying point for popular action, but they had also been connected to the elite equites equo publico and prominent generals throughout the Republic. The Dioscuri thus appealed to a broad cross-section of the Roman populace. This final aspect of their cult is therefore perhaps not such a jarring change as it first might appear. Instead, it is a return to the foundation of their divinity: their fraternal harmony. They were the best of brothers, completely devoted to each other to the extent of sharing their immortality so both could live.

The city of Rome was filled with temples which would have often been the most obvious manifestation of the cults they housed. Roman temples were religious locations, containing the statues of the deities and their altars, where priests performed rituals, and where worshippers might come to beg a boon from the gods, to fulfil a vow and to give a dedication in thanks for their aid. However, this was not their exclusive purpose, as temples also possessed other functions from the political and cultural spheres.