Legendary Kings
The ancient Greeks named males after their fathers, producing a patronymic by infixing -id-; for example, the sons of Atreus were the Atreids. In the case of royal houses the patronymic formed from the founder or an early significant figure became the name of the dynasty. A ruling family might in this way have a number of dynastic names; for example, Agis I named the Agiads, but he was a Heraclid, and so were his descendants.
In cases where the descent was not known or was scantily known the Greeks made a few standard assumptions based on their cultural ideology. A people was treated as a tribe, presumed to have descended from an ancestor bearing its name. He must have been a king, who founded a dynasty of his name. This mythologizing extended even to place names. They were presumed to have been named after kings and divinities. Kings often became divinities, in their religion.
Read more about this topic: List Of Kings Of Sparta
Famous quotes containing the words legendary and/or kings:
“Is it the old, legendary monster of my father’s time? Or am I supposed to have whipped one up, as a housewife whips up an omelette?”
—Willis Cooper, and Rowland V. Lee. Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone)
“‘Tis the old secret of the gods that they come in low disguises. ‘Tis the vulgar great who come dizened with gold and jewels. Real kings hide away their crowns in their wardrobes, and affect a plain and poor exterior.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)