The Divine Twins or Horse Twins are part of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon, and appear in later mythologies too. The Divine Twins helped Manu sacrifice his brother Yemo, also twins, thus create the mortal world and humans from his flesh and bones.
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Twins in mythology are often used as contrasts such as day and night, large and small, good and evil (as in a creation myth of the Iroquois), light and dark, peace and war, warm and cool, north and south, life and death and the necessity and unity of opposites in harmony.
The Divine Twins always have a dynamic interaction. One often is described as large and fierce, the other as a gentle healer and romantic. As the Horse Twins they're horses and/or riders who pull the golden chariot of the Sun Goddess through the sky. In some lore they rescue the Dawn Goddess, their sister, when she's in danger of falling into the water.
An ancient Germanic tribe of Central Europe, the Naharvali, paid homage to the Alcis or Alci (Proto-Germanic*alhiz ~ *algiz), a pair of divine young brothers. The only source to mention them is Tacitus in his Germania of 98 CE.
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This isn't surprising as records of German mythology south of the Norse are sparse. Tacitus got his information from Romans and German prisoners and coined the name Germania, but never traveled there himself.
The Naharvali are a sub-group of the Lugii, Germanic people occupying central Germania and part of Silesia, now Poland, from 3rd century BCE to 5th century CE. They're identified with the Iron Age Przeworsk culture, so named due to archaelogical finds near the town of Przeworsk.
Also considered part of the Przeworsk culture, the Germanic Vandals who lived in southern Poland may have been closely related or the same as the Lugii. The Vandals settled in Silesia and moved west due to pressure from encroaching Huns in the 5th century CE.
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After the sack of Rome by Alaric of the Visigoths, and pushed west by Huns and other groups fleeing the Huns, the Vandals moved in to establish kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands and North Africa. An origin myth suggests the Vandal kings are descendants of the Divine Twins.
The Twins are rescuers, helpers and healers. They're always together. The mythologic hero figure Aurvandill, mentioned from the 8th century CE on, may be related to the Divine Twins. He appears in Proto-Indo-European and later lore.
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According to scholar Donald Ward, the Divine Twins have specific traits such as
dual paternity
mention of a female figure (their mother or their sister)
deities of fertility
known by a single dual name or having rhymed/alliterative names
associated with horses
saviors at sea
of astral nature
protectors of oaths
providers of divine aid in battle
magic healers
The Divine Twins have been compared to the zodiac Gemini twins Castor and Pollux. Pollux is the son of Zeus and Leda, from the famous story of Leda and the Swan. The father of Castor is Tyndareus, King of Sparta. Together Castor and Pollux are known as the Dioscuri.
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Pollux is immortal and asks Zeus to give Castor immortality too. Zeus puts the brothers in the sky as the constellation Gemini, which in Latin means simply Twins. Patrons of sailors and appearing as St Elmo's Fire, Castor and Pollux are also associated with horsemanship.
From the Anglo-Saxon, twins Hengist and Horsa relate in some ways to the Proto-Indo-European Divine Twins. Their names mean 'Stallion' and 'Horse' and they come to the aid of the beleaguered British King Vortigern by sea.
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In Vedic, Baltic and Greek tradition, the Divine Twins are the morning and the evening star. In Old Norse (c. 9 - 13th century CE) the name Haddingjar refers to Divine Twins, as well as descendants of the Vandals.
Amphion and Zethus appear in Greco-Roman culture as another set of Divine Twins. Ancient Greek playwright Euripides calls them "Riders of White Horses".
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