Alexander the Great's mother's and father's families both claimed descent from Zeus. How would this have been seen by the Greeks?

by NotGuiltyOfThat

Would they dismiss it as nonsense?

Was 'divine right' a concept in Ancient Greece - did it bolster his legitimacy?

deSadist

At that time, 350-ish BC, Greek mythology, what we call it now, was still the belief of the region. In Antiquity, claiming to be descended from a god was par for the course. All leaders of the ancient western world justified or came to justify their position as the leaders of society by gods; Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, etc. They all did it to win popular support and maybe have believed it themselves - hard to say. For an example, when Alexander conquered Egypt, he claimed he was divine - in a manner that was in accordance with their beliefs. He knew, like many leaders have, that religion is a very powerful force. Whether he truly believed it or not is something that we will probably never know.

Searocksandtrees