Infinite Regress Only a Jungian approach to traditional genealogy keeps the historic/mythic gestalt of The World Tree alive as a symbol of wholeness -- a holistic resonant field pattern. According to Jung, trees are a symbolic reference to the self, so family tree is self-defining. As well as our lineage, our ancestors also form a vast symbol chain, rooted in the mythic unconscious and pre-history.
The symbolic function is beyond innate impulse and ideological bias. Through introversion, we are fertilized, inspired, regenerated, and reborn. Self-incubation, self-castigation, and introversion are closely related ideas. Immersion in oneself (introversion) is a penetration into the unconscious, the imaginal world of psyche.
OLYMPIANS Descent from the Greek Gods The ancient Greeks believed that their ruling families were descended from their gods. It was this descent that gave kings their right to rule. Some of the divine ancestors of the royal houses were:
Deucalion was the Greek Noah, the survivor of a flood that destroyed the human race. He was the father of Hellen, the eponymous ancestor of the Hellenes (Greeks). Hellen was the ancestor of the royal families of Aeolia, Crete, Iocolos, Phocos, & Thessaly,
Poseidon, the sea god, was the ancestor of the royal families of Phoenicia, Phrygia, Sidon, Thebes.
Zeus, king of the gods, was the ancestor of the royal families of Egypt and Troy.
The Trojans were also descendants of Atlas. Dardanus 1, son of Electra 3, daughter of Atlas, is at the beginning of the house of Troy, for Dardanus 1 is father of Erichthonius 1, father of Tros 1 (after whom the Trojans are called), father of Ilus 2 (founder of Ilium, that is, Troy), father of Laomedon 1, father of Priam 1, who was king when the city was destroyed.