Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
The Classical Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides reported the legend that the Macedonian kings of the Argead dynasty were descendants of Temenus, king of Argos, and could therefore claim the mythical Heracles as one of their ancestors as well as a direct lineage from Zeus, chief god of the Greek pantheon. Contradictory legends state that either Perdiccas I of Macedon or Caranus of Macedon were the founders of the Argead dynasty, with either five or eight kings before AmyntasI. The assertion that the Argeads descended from Temenus was accepted by the "Hellanodikai" authorities of the Ancient Olympic Games, permitting Alexander I of Macedon () to enter the competitions owing to his perceived Greek heritage. Little is known about the kingdom before the reign of AlexanderI's father Amyntas I of Macedon () during the Archaic period.
Characters of God of War
Athena was the Goddess of Wisdom and Kratos' mentor and ally throughout the Greek era in the series. In "Chains of Olympus", Athena initially tasked Kratos to find Helios as in the absence of light, the god Morpheus had caused many of the gods to fall into a deep slumber. In "God of War" (2005), she gave Kratos the mission of killing Ares, as Zeus had forbidden divine involvement, and was instrumental in allowing Kratos to become the new God of War. Although she begged Kratos to stop his second quest for the Ambrosia of Asclepius in the comic series (2010-11) and lied to him about his brother Deimos in "Ghost of Sparta", Athena was still sympathetic towards Kratos even after he renounced the gods and was betrayed by Zeus in "God of War II". Athena died trying to protect Zeus from Kratos, and was resurrected and elevated to a new level of understanding in "God of War III". With ulterior motives, Athena became Kratos' ally once more and guided him to the Flame of Olympus surrounding Pandora's Box, which allowed Kratos to kill Zeus and end the reign of Mount Olympus. Her spirit later returns to Kratos in "God of War" (2018) to haunt and taunt him about his past that he had kept secret from his son Atreus. As he was retrieving his old weapons, the Blades of Chaos, she said he was nothing more than a monster, to which Kratos replied that he was not her monster anymore.