Latinization of the Greek name Polydeuces.

Son of Leda and Zeus ; brother of Helen; half-brother of Castor and Clytemnestra, children by the same mother of Tyndareus.

Part of the Dioscuri or Hero Twins, the other of which was Castor.

In his life Pollux was a skilled pugilist. As a child of a god, he was admitted to Olympus when he was weary of life on this world. Complications ensued when his mortal brother, Castor, would not be allowed. Pollux claimed that he could not bear eternal separation from his twin brother. Zeus couldn't bear to send his son to Hades but couldn't let Castor into Olympus, so instead he put them, together forever, in the sky.

The star Pollux is the head of one of the two figures in the constellation Gemini - it is a yellow first-magnitude star and fittingly brighter than the head of his brother Castor.