Simon_Jester wrote:DataPacRat wrote:According to certain genealogical records, my mothers' mothers' fathers's etc etc etc father is Zeus himself; he is my 120th-great grandfather. Zeus's mother is Rhea, so, by the records, she is my 121st-great grandmother. (I can dig up the whole line of descent if you really want...) Of course, that's just according to the records; in real life, I have strong doubts that either Zeus or Rhea ever existed, while in the Salvation War universe, it's possible that my doppleganger is /much/ more closely related to Rhea.
I reiterate, huh? Or, to be more precise, what weird set of ancestors do you have such that your 119th-great-grandwhatever was someone who claimed to be descended from Zeus? Who was
he? (or she?)
...Ah. I see. Keep in mind that while the genealogy might be accurate back to Charlemagne*, no way in hell is it accurate past that. Charlemagne was part of the Frankish line of palace majordomos that deposed the Merovingian kings... and there is NO reason to suppose that those guys are even remotely related to the ancient Greeks.
_______
*Actually, I kind of doubt that. The incidence rate of marital infidelity is high enough that making
any confident statement about one's own ancestry that far back is accepting a losing bet.**
**More precisely, I don't doubt that you're descended from Charlemagne, but statistically speaking almost everyone in Europe probably is. Sort of like 1 in 12 people carries what appears to be Ghengis Khan's Y chromosome... and obviously, for every male-line descendant there must be several people whose mother, grandmother,
great-grandmother, etc. were descended from him. So it's a fair bet that everyone in China is at least slightly descended from Ghengis Khan, even if they can't trace the connection because they're actually descended from the bastard offspring of an affair that one of his great-to-the-third-grandsons had.
Same goes for Charlemagne in Europe.
________
Of course, your claim to be descended from Zeus is as credible as anyone else's, but that says more about the credibility of the existence of Zeus than it does about your ancestors.
Oh, I'm in full agreement with all of your points; still, I'm the only person I know of who's done the actual work to look up the records and /trace/ the listed genealogical connections... and thus, it makes for a dandy conversation-derailer whenever anyone starts talking about how great /their/ ancestors are ("You're related to a President. Oh, how cute... I'm the offspring of counts, an Emperor, and a /god/! Muahahaha!"), or about Greek mythology in general. And since certain aspects of Greek myth have been mentioned in this setting...
In case you're curious, here's the ancestry line, according to the records, however accurate or inaccurate those records might be. Note that before around 150 AD, all the dates are estimated at around 25 years per generation. Zeus's birthdate is pushed back a bit, because he's also the ancestor of various other people who are supposed to be contemporary with the Trojan War era.
(And if this is considered inappropriately spamming this forum, I freely accept whatever lumps are due to me.)
Daniel Eliot Boese, b1976 (me)
son of (mother, redacted for privacy)
daughter of (maternal grandfather, redacted for privacy)
son of Elsie Clare MacKenzie, b1890
daughter of Sarah Jane Horne, b1842
daughter of Philip G. Horne, b1807
son of Andrew Philip Horne, b1770
son of Francoise Anastasie Savary, b1728
daughter of Marie Marthe Anne Doucet, b1694
daughter of Bernard Doucet, b1667
son of Marie Margaret Landry, b1646
daughter of Rene dit l'aine Landry, b1634
son of Jean Claude Landry, b1593
son of Claude Landry, b1568
son of Diane Rohan-Gie, b1541
daughter of Francoise Rohan-Gie, b1504
son of Charle de Rohan Gie, b1475
son of Count Pierre I of Rohan-Guemenee b1433
son of Count Louis I of Rohan-Guemenee b1410
son of Count Charles of Rohan-Guemenee b1367
son of Viscount Jean I de Rohan b1324
son of Viscount Alain VII de Rohan d1352
son of Viscount Olivier II de Rohan d1326
son of Viscount Alain VI de Rohan d1304
son of Viscount Alain V de Rohan d1242
son of Viscount Alain IV de Rohan d1205
son of Viscount Alain III de Rohan d1195
son of Viscount Alain II de Rohan at de Castelnoec d1168
son of Viscount Alain I "le Noir" de Rohan b1085
son of Viscount Eudon I de Porhoet et de Rennes
son of Viscount Josselin I de Porhoet d1074
son of Viscount Guethenoc de Chateautro-en-Porhoet b1008
son of Ermangarde de Anjou b980
daughter of Geoffroy I Count Anjou b958
son of Gerberge de Maine b913
son of Thibault Theobald m898
son of Lotharius II b835
son of Lothair I b795
son of Louis b778
son of Charlemagne b742
Pepin b714
Charles Martel b676
Pepin II D'heristal b635
Ansigise Austrasia b602
(Arnoldus) St. Arnoul b582
(Arnoul) Arnoldus b552
Ausbert Moselle b527
Prince Adlebert Wambert of S. Franks
Adelbert d491
"Long Haired" Clodius b380
King Pharamond of Westphalia b352
Marcomir b347
Clodius b324
Dagobert b300
Genebald I b262
Dagobert b230?
Walter b215?
clodius b200?
Bartherus b180?
Hilderic b160?
Sunno b137
Farabert b122
Clodomir b104?
Marcomir IV b80?
Odomar IV b60?
Richemer b30?
Ratherius b10?
Antenor b10 BC? (following estimated dates all BC)
Clodomir b-30?
Marcomir b-60?
Clodius b-80?
Francus b-100?
Antharius b-125?
Cassander b-160?
Merodochus b-175?
Clodomir b-200?
Antenor b-225?
Clodius b-250?
Marcomir b-275?
Nicanor b-300?
Clodomir b-320?
Bassanus Mangus "Priest" Ilium b-340?
Diocles Ilium b-360?
Helenus b-380?
Priam b-400?
Son b-420?
King Marcomir I of the Cimmerians b-440?
King Antenor of the Cimmerians b-480?
Helenus d-475?
Priam Ilium d-500?
Marcomir d-525?
Diluglio Ilium d-550?
Plaserio d-575?
Helenus d-600?
Diluglic d-625?
Almadion d-650?
Getmalor d-675?
Priam d-700?
Alexander d-725?
Basabiliano d-750?
Plesron d-775?
Helenus d-800?
Priamas II d-825?
Antenor d-850?
Plaserio II d-875?
Gaberiano d-900?
Eliacor d-925?
Plesron d-950?
Plaserio d-975?
Basabiliano d-1000?
Gelio d-1025?
King Esdron d-1050?
King Francus b-1050?
Cestrinus b-1075?
Helenus of Troy b-1100?
King Priam of Troy b-1125?
King Laomedon b-1150?
Ilus b-1175?
King Tros of Troy b-1200?
Erichthonius of Dardania b-1125?
Darda Dardanus b-1250?
Zeus b-1575?
son of Cronus the Titan and Rhea the Titan b-1600?
children of Uranus b1625?
son and husband of Gaia the Earth b1650?
daughter of Chaos Primeval