Table Of Content

Gemini and the Sacred Also Available from Bloomsbury The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth, Edited by Jonathan Miles-Watson and Vivian Asimos Goddesses in Myth and Cultural Memory Emilie Kutash The Roman Mithras Cult, Olympia Panagiotidou with Roger Beck Gemini and the Sacred Twins and Twinship in Religion and Mythology Edited by Kimberley C. Patton BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2023 Copyright © Kimberley C. Patton and Contributors, 2023 Kimberley C. Patton has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editor of this work. For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. xvi constitute an extension of this copyright page. Cover design: Maria Rajka Cover image: ‘Gemini’, folio 3r, detail from the Hunterian Psalter, Glasgow University Library MS, Hunter 229 (U.3.2) Circa 1170. Anonymous Hunterian Psalter c. 1170 Gemini (© The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third- party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Control Number: 2022932161 ISBN: HB: 978-1-8488-5931-9 ePDF: 978-1-7867-3591-1 eBook: 978-1-7867-2591-2 Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India To find out more about our authors and books visit www .bloomsbury .com and sign up for our newsletters for Jacob Ké̝ hìndé and Isaac Táyéwò Jacob Atta and Essau Atta The Nabeysil and Salvador Jaya and Uma Laurie and Kathy Erik and Katrina Joseph and Philip Ben and Natalie & for Lee and Caitlyn always vi Figure TC.1. Zodiac mosaic, Beit Alpha Synagogue. Beit She’an Valley, sixth century CE, N. Israel. Detail: Gemini (teomim). Courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority. Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xvi 1 A Mirror: Reflecting on Gemini and the Sacred Kimberley C. Patton 1 Part 1 Africa and the African Diaspora 2 The Code of Twins: Ìbejì in Yorùbá Cosmology, Ritual, and Iconography Jacob Ké̝hìndé Olúpo̝nà 71 3 Twins: Welcome and Unwelcome Danglers in Africa Pashington Obeng 106 4 Marasa Elou: Twins and Uncanny Children in Haitian Vodou Adam Michael McGee 127 viii Contents Part 2 Hero Twins in the Americas 5 Twins in Native American Mythologies: Relational Transformation John Grim 157 6 Junajpu and XB’alamkiej: The Maya Hero Twins of the Popol Wuj Vincent James Stanzione 176 Part 3 South Asian Legacies 7 Wars within the Womb Wendy Doniger 213 8 Twins in Hindu Mythology and Everyday Life in the California Diaspora Vijaya Nagarajan 224 Part 4 Twins in the Ancient Mediterranean 9 Entangled Bodies: Rethinking Twins and Double Images in the Prehistoric Mediterranean Lauren Talalay 247 10 Achilles and Patroklos as Models for the Twinning of Identity Gregory Nagy 268 11 Achilles and Patroclus as Indo-European Twins: Homer’s Take Douglas Frame 289 12 Ss. Cosmas and Damian: Synergistic Brother Healers James C. Skedros 300 Part 5 Divine Twinship in the Ancient Near East and Eastern Christianity 13 Primordial Twins in Ancient Iranian Myth Prods Oktor Skjærvø 317 14 Didymos Judas Thomas: The Twin Brother of Jesus Gregory J. Riley 354 15 The Divine Double in Late Antiquity Charles M. Stang 368 Part 6 Powerful Twins in the Archaeology of Myth 16 Óðinn’s Twin Ravens, Huginn and Muninn Stephen A. Mitchell 397 17 Twinning and Pairing: Rethinking Number in the Roman Provincial Religious Imagery of Gallia and Britannia Miranda Aldhouse-Green 413 18 Yoking the Winds: The Tears of Xanthos and Balios Kimberley C. Patton 435 Part 7 Epilogue 19 Epilogue: Dialogue Joseph O. Garrity and Philip S. Garrity 483 List of Contributors 506 Index 512 Illustrations Figures 1.1 Zodiac mosaic, Beit Alpha Synagogue. Beit She’an Valley, sixth century CE, N. Israel. Detail: Gemini (teomim) 1 1.2 “Gemini” (al-Jawzā’) from Kitāb al-Bulhān (“Book of Wonders”), Ms. Bodl. Or. 133, fol. 5b, c. 1400 CE 1 1.3 Suliat Ogunjimi holds sororal twins Afusat Ganiyu and Ganiyatu Adesope in Igbo Ora, Oyo State, Nigeria—April 3, 2019 8 2.1 Antique Male Ère Ìbejì (Yorùbá twin statuettes, wood, cowrie shells). Property of Jacob Ké̝hìndé Olúpo̝nà 91 4.1 Detail of Vodou altar, showing plat Marasa and basil 128 4.2 Wide view of Vodou altar (plat Marasa on lower left) 143 5.1 A Diné (Navajo) mother with her twins, near a wagon. Gallup area, New Mexico [undated; 1925–30?] 164 5.2 Two dancers with shields, rattles, and raccoon pelts (the Hero Twins?). Quaternity motif on engraved conch shell gorget hanging from leader’s necklace. Burial 108, Craig Mound, Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma. Mississippian Culture, 1200–1350 CE 169 6.1 “Junajpu (Hun Ahaw) and Xbalanke (Yax Balam), the Hero Twins of the Popul Vuj, request Its’amnaj, a primary lord of the Underworld, to return the bones of their father, the Maize god. His bones reside in the basket in front of Its’amnaj.” Late Classic Period Mayan cylinder earthenware vase, 600–750 CE. Campeche, Mexico. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1988.1169 186 6.2 The hero twins as catfish in Xibalba. Polychrome Mayan ceramic vase, classical period 195 6.3 The reborn Sun; same band decorations as the catfish: the three dots that identify the Hero Twins in life and in death (the kimi sign) 197 8.1 Uma Nagarajan-Swenson as the Goddess Gayatri on the left; Jaya Nagarajan-Swenson as the Goddess Saraswathi on the right. Navarathri Festival 2010, Anubhuti Meditation and Retreat Center, Novato, California 226 8.2 Chamunda and Chotila, twin goddesses from Gujarat. Cover image of Wendy Doniger, Splitting the Difference: Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India 229