Dokăna
（
τὰ δόκανα, from
δοκός,
“a beam”). An ancient symbolical representation of the Dioscuri (Castor
and Polydeuces) at Sparta. It consisted of two upright beams with others laid across them
transversely (
De Amor. Fratr.). This rude symbol of fraternal unity evidently
points to a very remote age, in which scarcely any attempts in sculpture can have been made.
At a later time, when works of art were introduced into all the spheres of ordinary life, this
rude and ancient object of worship, like many others of its kind, was not superseded by a more
appropriate symbol. The Dioscuri were worshipped as gods of war, and we know that their images
accompanied the Spartan kings whenever they took the field against an enemy. But when in the
year B.C. 504 the two kings, during their invasion of Attica, failed in their undertaking on
account of their secret enmity towards each other, it was decreed at Sparta that in future
only one king should command the army, and in consequence should be accompanied by only one of
the images of the Dioscuri (
Herod. v. 75). It is not improbable
that these images, accompanying the kings into the field, were the ancient
δόκανα, which were now disjointed, so that one half of the symbol
remained at Sparta, while the other was taken into the field by one of the kings. See
Daedala;
Dioscuri.
