Patrous

And Patroa (Πατρῴα), and in Latin, Dii Patrii, are, properly speaking, all the gods whose worship has been handed down in a nation or a family from the time of their fathers, whence in some instances they are the spirits of departed ancestors themselves.1 Zeus was thus θεὸς πατρῷος (theos patrōos) at Athens,2 and among the Heraclidae, since the heroes of that race traced their origin to Zeus.3

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References

Notes

  1. Lucian. De Morte Peregrini, 36.
  2. Pausanias. Description of Greece i, 3.3, 43.5.
  3. Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library ii, 8.4.

Source

  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.