Thracian prince, attained kingship, thus being analogous to the struggle against the Chaos-dragon and the boar hunt (the political symbol of the scene was denoted by the military attire of the hero, worn by the aristocracy, and especially his greave decorated with the mask of , which was a symbol of royal rank). Fittingly, the young Thracian Hero's opponents included the lion, the bear, the wolf, and the panther, all animals considered to be "royal" and whose hunting skills the initiates could learn from; thus, their defeat by the hunter brought him glory and the animal's powers passed on to him. The Ancestor was a divine ancestor of humanity, not unlike Iranian heroic progenitors such as the Scythian and Scythes, and the Zoroastrian Yima and Haošiiaŋha, and like them he was the first king. 's role as a progenitor is attested in Roman-era epithets such as (, meaning "of one's father"), (, meaning "of the clan"), and (, meaning "of the inheritance"). As the tribal ancestor, was therefore an ancestral hero, and was given a local name by each tribe, such as Treres was his name as the ancestor of the Treri, in his role as the ancestor of the Dolonci, Strymon as the ancestor of the Strymonians, and Odrus as the ancestor of the Odrysians. This ancestral Hero aspect of was believed to protect nature's fruitfulness, thus being a protector deity to whom the tribe demanded help. The Thracians' genealogical myth was related to the Hero 's victory over the Chaos-dragon, and paralleled that of their Scythian neighbours. This Thracian genealogical myth was itself recorded in several Greek myths: The myth of Rhesus In one myth, the river-god Strymon had three sons: the oldest was Rhesus (, ), the second was Olynthus (, ), and the youngest son was Brangas (). After the Thracian king Eioneus was banished, he was succeeded by the first son of Strymon by a nymph or a Muse, Rhesus. Rhesus, who became the first Edoni priest-king, possessed magical weapons, was a hunter, warrior, and horse-breeder, thus himself representing the ideal Thracian king, and the mythology of the Hero was reflected in his figure. By extension, the Thracian king, who was the earthly substitute of , strove to emulate , and therefore to emulate Rhesus. Rhesus's large number of horse herds was a symbol of his status as a member of the royal aristocracy, and