The Descendants of the Gods — The Divine Genealogy of Ancient Kings and Heroes

In the Old World, in the Ancient World, it is a far-reaching tradition for a people to trace their ancestry back to the gods. In some cases this is done with great kings and heroes, in others with tribes, or an entire people.

for powerful individuals of an ancient civilization, or specific tribes, to trace their geneaology back to the gods. Now, many theories have been put forwards in an attempt to explain this (such as to solidify their unstable authority as king by forging a connection that gives them a divine right to rule, to elevate themselves above their rivals, or to elevate their family, tribe, or clan higher than their neighbors for the same reason).

In the end, however, the vast majority of these theories dismiss the claim made by these ancient peoples as fictious. Pure fantasy because the gods clearly don’t exist, thus the statement must have been motivated for some ulteriour reason, political motives being the most available and likely.

One of the topics that we will discuss at length are the Old Gods,

Contents

Greek Heroes and the Gods

The stories of Greek religion, the tales of their heroes and gods, are abound with genaeologies and lineages. At the time of Homer (whenever exactly that was) the Greek people as a whole were known as the Danaans, and at least one major Greek tribe was remembered to have migrated into Greek territory from Egypt.

This specific people was supposed to be the children of the god Danaus (which is perhaps an appearance of the Folk of Danu myth in Greek religion). Through several generations we eventually arrive at a princess named Danae, who was visited by Zeus in disguise (as usual)

The Celtic Lineages

From the accounts of Julius Caesar on his wars with the barbarians of the north (Germanic tribes, such as the Germanii, and Celtic peoples such as the Gauls, and eventually the Picts in Great Britain) we glean much of the sparse knowledge that we do have of Celtic traditions.

Among these are references to Celtic tribes tracing their line back to the gods. One tribe traced their lineage back to Deus Pater (back to Hades, according to the Romans).

Vedic Lineages

Just like in Celtic, Greek, and Norse traditions we see that the ancestors are traced back to the Vedic (and Hindu) gods. One such example are the Chandravamsa — a lunar tribe of Hindu tradition — who trace their lineage back to the god associated with the moon, Chandra (also known as Soma).

Even more interestingly is that the clan that descended from Chandra is active in the ancient history and prehistory of India, at least that told in the Mahabharata, Vedas, and other scriptures of ancient India. They played a role in the Kurushetra War, and according to genealogical tradition, their descendants are alive today.

This Vedic and Hindu tradition in India is the exact type of tradition that we have been talking about.

Explanations

I think that all-in-all there is a strong argument for the ancient gods being the result of ancestor worship. The degree to which humanity traces their lineage back to the gods of their traditions, is truly incredible.

[Full Article: The Old Gods and Ancestor Worship — The Role of Ancestry in Ancient Religions]

Notes

The tribe in Greece, the Herakleides, tracing their lineage back to Heracles, and thereby to Zeus.

—

—

In the Mahabharata, Dharmadeva (Yama) is said to be the father of Yudhishthira, the oldest brother of the five Pandavas — an historical lineage of Ancient India.

[Yama. Wikipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama>. Accessed 8 June 2024.]

Resources