ABSTRACT
Descriptions of genealogies or the tracing of family lines across the history of mankind are pervasive in many domains. Sometimes, these family histories are related to remarkable men or women whose accomplishments are unparalleled. In a notable book about sport in the ancient world, Kyle (2015) reports that Greek aristocrats “pushed the ideology of ascribed or perceived arete, i.e., excellence or virtue, based on pedigree and family status, claiming that athletic excellence came as a birthright in noble families with sporting traditions” (p. 82). For example, Theogenes of Thasos, son of Timosthenes, was one of the most outstanding Greek athletes, winning many victories in pankration and in boxing at the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games. He was crowned in two Olympiads, in 480 and 476 BC, and impressed by his amazing athletic accomplishments, there was a rumor that he wasn’t a mortal, but that he was the son of a priest of Thasion Herakles and that the god impregnated his mother as narrated by the Greek traveler and historian Pausanias.
