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Ares at a Glancename | Aresrole | god of warsymbols | spear

Ares in Greek Mythology

Ares was the Greek god of war, and according to mythology, war, battles, and bloodshed were

his major preoccupations. In certain respects, there is not too much more to Ares than thisconnection to war, as he is portrayed as being somewhat one-dimensional. Or at least limited inhis pleasures. However, there is one other area in which Ares was interested, and that is indeedpleasure - with the goddess Aphrodite , that is. He engaged in an ongoing tryst with Aphroditewhich is the stuff of legend (and myth), in defiance of that fact that the lovely goddess wasalready married (to the god Hephaistos ). There is a wonderfully charming tale in the Odyssey of Homer about how this couple's romantic rendezvous came to an abrupt, and comic, end.

Ares and Aphrodite

Ares and Aphrodite were dallying together when their interlude was rudely interrupted. You see,

the god of the Sun, Helios , from whom little, if anything, could be kept secret, spied the pair inenjoying each other one day. Helios promptly reported the incident to Hephaistos, who wasunderstandably angry. Hephaistos contrived to catch the couple "in the act", and so he fashioneda net to snare the illicit lovers. At the appropriate time, this net was sprung, and trapped Aresand Aphrodite locked in very private embrace. But Hephaistos was not yet satisfied with hisrevenge - he invited the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate pair. For the sakeof modesty, the goddesses demurred, but the male gods went and witnessed the sight. Somecommented on the beauty of Aphrodite, others remarked that they would eagerly trade placeswith Ares, and they all laughed. Well, except for Ares, who was out of sorts, and Aphrodite, who,if goddesses can blush like maidens, surely did so.

The Lovers of Ares in Myth The fierce god Ares was often inflamed with lust in Greek mythology - lust for battle, that is.Indeed, it is fair to say that Ares was obsessed with war, almost to the exclusion of anything else.

The god did, however, have an eye for the female form, and his appetite for Aphrodite, thealluring goddess of love and beauty, at times almost rivaled his desire to do battle. Inconsequence his conquests off the battlefield are nearly as legendary as his victories and defeatsin combat. So let us learn more about the passionate loves of Ares.

Aphrodite | the beautiful Greek goddess of love certainly snared the god of war with herirresistible charms - the pair together conceived several children, including Deimos, Phobos, and

Harmonia

Cyrene | as a result of her affair with Ares, the nymph Cyrene gave birth to a son namedDiomedes

Eos | the Greek goddess of the dawn engaged in an ill-advised tryst with Ares, which endedbadly for Eos when Aphrodite discovered the relationship

Pyrene | some sources for mythology state that Ares and Pyrene were the parents of Cycnus

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Sterope | Sterope was one of the Pleiades (daughters of Altas and Pleione), and according tosome versions of the tale, she was a lover of Ares and the mother by him of Oenomaus

- Homeric Hymn to Ares

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l The god of war and one of the great Olympian gods of the Greeks. He is represented as the sonof Zeus and Hera . (Hom. Il. v. 893, &c.; Hes. Theog. 921; Apollod. i. 3. 1.) A later tradition,according to which Hera conceived Ares by touching a certain flower, appears to be an imitationof the legend about the birth of Hephaestus , and is related by Ovid. ( Fast. v. 255, &c.) Thecharacter of Ares in Greek mythology will be best understood if we compare it with that of otherdivinities who are likewise in some way connected with war. Athena represents thoughtfulness

and wisdom in the affairs of war, and protects men and their habitations during its ravages. Ares,on the other hand, is nothing but the personification of bold force and strength, and not so muchthe god of war as of its tumult, confusion, and horrors. His sister Eris calls forth war, Zeus directsits course, but Ares loves war for its own sake, and delights in the din and roar of battles, in theslaughter of men, and the destruction of towns. He is not even influenced by party-spirit, butsometimes assists the one and sometimes the other side, just as his inclination may dictate ;whence Zeus calls him alloposallos. ( Il. v. 889.) The destructive hand of this god was evenbelieved to be active in the ravages made by plagues and epidemics. (Soph. Oed. Tyr. 185.) Thissavage and sanguinary {involving death or bloodshed; bloodthirsty or eager to kill; consisting of ar stained with blood} character of Ares makes him hated by the other gods and his own parents.

(Il.

v. 889-909.) In theIliad

, he appears surrounded by the personifications of all the fearfulphenomena and effects of war (iv. 440, &c., xv. 119, &c.); but in the Odyssey his character issomewhat softened down. It was contrary to the spirit which animated the Greeks to represent abeing like Ares, with all his overwhelming physical strength, as always victorious; and when hecomes in contact with higher powers, he is usually conquered. He was wounded by Diomedes ,who was assisted by Athena, and in his fall he roared like nine or ten thousand other warriorstogether. ( Il. v. 855, &c.) When the gods began to take an active part in the war of the mortals,Athena opposed Ares, and threw him on the ground by hurling at him a mighty stone (xx. 69, xxi.403, &c.); and when he lay stretched on the earth, his huge body covered the space of sevenplethra. The gigantic Aloadae had likewise conquered and chained him, and had kept him a

Might y Ares, golden helmeted rider of chariots, stout-hearted,

shield carrying and bronze geared savior of cities

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prisoner for thirteen months, until he was delivered by Hermes . (v. 385, &c.) In the contest of Typhon against Zeus, Ares was obliged, together with the other gods, to flee to Egypt, where hemetamorphosed himself into a fish. (Antonin. Lib. 28.) He was also conquered by Heracles , withwhom he fought on account of his son Cycnus , and obliged to return to Olympus. (Hesiod, Scut.Herc. 461.) In numerous other contests, however, he was victorious. This fierce and gigantic, butwithal handsome god loved and was beloved by Aphrodite : he interfered on her behalf with Zeus(v. 883), and lent her his war-chariot. (v. 363; comp. APHRODITE.) When Aphrodite loved Adonis ,Ares in his jealonsy metamorphosed himself into a bear, and killed his rival. [ ADONIS.] Accordingto a late tradition, Ares slew Halirrhotius , the son of Poseidon , when he was on the point of violating Alcippe , the daughter of Ares. Hereupon Poseidon accused Ares in the Areiopagus,where the Olympian gods were assembled in court. Ares was acquitted, and this event wasbelieved to have given rise to the name Areiopagus. ( Dict. of Ant. s. v. )

The warlike character of the tribes of Thrace led to the belief, that the god's residence was inthat country, and here and in Scythia were the principal seats of his worship. (Hom. Od. viii. 361,with the note of Eustath.; Ov. Ars Am. ii. 585 ; Statius, Theb. vii. 42; Herod. iv. 59, 62.) In Scythiahe was worshipped in the form of a sword, to which not only horses and other cattle, but menalso were sacrificed. Respecting the worship of an Egyptian divinity called Ares, see Herodotus,

ii. 64. He was further worshipped in Colchis, where the golden fleece was suspended on an oak-tree in a grove sacred to him. (Apollod. i. 9. 16.) From thence the Dioscuri {the twin godsCastor and Pollux, we were the sons of Zeus and Leda} were believed to have brought to Laconiathe ancient statue of Ares which was preserved in the temple of Ares Thereitas , on the road fromSparta to Therapnae. (Paus. iii. 19. 7, &c.) The island near the coast of Colchis, in which theStymphalian birds were believed to have dwelt, and which is called the island of Ares, Aretias,Aria, or Chalceritis, was likewise sacred to him. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Areos nsos; Apollon. Rhod. ii.1047; Plin. H. N. vi. 12; Pomp. Mela, ii. 7. 15.)

In Greece itself the worship of Ares was notvery general. At Athens he had a temple

containing a statue made by Alcamenes(Paus. i. 8. 5); at Geronthrae in Laconia hehad a temple with a grove, where an annualfestival was celebrated, during which nowoman was allowed to approach the temple.(iii. 22. 5.) He was also worshipped near

Tegea, and in the town (viii. 44. 6, 48. 3),at Olympia (v. 15. 4), near Thebes (Apollod.iii. 4. 1), and at Sparta, where there was anancient statue, representing the god in

chains, to indicate that the martial spirit andvictory were never to leave the city of Sparta.(Paus. iii. 15. 5.) At Sparta human sacrificeswere offered to Ares. (Apollod. Fragm. p.1056, ed. Heyne.) The temples of this godwere usually built outside the towns, probablyto suggest the idea that he was to preventenemies from approaching them.

Mars disarmed by Venus (detail), by Jacques-Louis

David (1748-1825), French Neoclassical painter

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All the stories about Ares and his worship in the countries north of Greece seem to indicate thathis worship was introduced in the latter country from Thrace; and the whole character of the god,as described by the most ancient poets of Greece, seems to have been thought little suited to berepresented in works of art : in fact, we hear of no artistic representation of Ares previous to thetime of Alcamenes, who appears to have created the ideal of Ares. There are few Greekmonuments now extant with representations of the god; he appears principally on coins, reliefs,and gems. The Romans identified their god Mars with the Greek Ares. [Comp. MARS.]

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MARS

An ancient Roman god, who was at an early period identified by the Romans with the Greek Ares ,or the god delighting in bloody war, although there are a variety of indications that the ItalianMars was originally a divinity of a very different nature. In the first place Mars bore the surnameof Silvanus , and sacrifices were offered to him for the prosperity of the fields and flocks; and inthe second a lance was honoured at Rome as well as at Praeneste as the symbol of Mars (Liv.xxiv. 10), so that Mars resembles more the Greek Pallas Athene than Ares. The transition fromthe idea of Mars as an agricultural god to that of a warlike being, was not difficult with the earlyLatins, as the two occupations were intimately connected. The name of the god in the Sabine andOscan was Mamers ; and Mars itself is a contraction of Mavers or Mavors.

Next to Jupiter , Mars enjoyed the highest honours at Rome: he frequently is designated as father Mars, whence the forms Marspiter and Maspiter, analogous to Jupiter (Gellius, iv. 12; Macrob. Sat.i. 12, 19; Varro, De Ling. Lat. viii. 33); and Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus , were the three tutelarydivinities of Rome, to each of whom king Numa appointed a flamen, whose rank was sometimesthought higher even than that of the great pontiff. (Liv. viii. 9; Festus, p. 188, ed. Mller) Hence avery ancient sanctuary was dedicated to Mars on the Quirinal hill, near the temple of Dius Fidius ,

from which he derived his surname of Quirinus (Varro, De ling Lat. v 52; Serv. ad Aen. i. 296),and hence he was regarded as the father of the Roman people, having begotten the founders of Rome by Rhea Silvia , a priestess of Vesta . The rites of the worship of Mars all point to victory, inproof of which we need only direct attention to the dances in armour of the Salii, the dedicationof the place of warlike exercises and games to Mars (campus Martius), and that war itself isfrequently designated by the name of Mars. But being the father of the Romans, Mars was alsothe protector of the most honourable pursuit, i. e. nariculture, and hence he was invoked to bepropitious to the household of the rustic Roman (Cato, De Re Rust. 141); and under the name of Silvanus , he was worshipped to take care of the cattle (ibid. 83). The warlike Mars was calledGradivus , as the rustic god was called Silvanus; while, in his relation to the state, he bore thename of Quirinus . These are the three principal aspects under which the god appears; and inreference to the second, it may be remarked that females were excluded from his worship, andthat accordingly he presided more particularly over those occupations of country life whichbelonged to the male sex. (Cato, De Re Rust. 83; Schol. ad Juvenal. vi. 446.) But notwithstandingthis, Mars was conceived not only accompanied by female divinities, but one of them, Nerio , orNeriene, is even described as his wife. (Gellius, xiii. 22; Plaut. Truc. ii. 6. 34; L. Lydus, De Mens.iv. 42.)

Mars was further looked upon as a god with prophetic powers; and in the neighbourhood of Reatethere had been a very ancient oracle of the god (Dionys. i. 41), in which the future was revealed

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through a woodpecker (picus), which was sacred to him, and was for this reason surnamedMartius. The wolf also was sacred to Mars, and these animals, together with the horse, were hisfavourite sacrifices. Numerous temples were dedicated to him at Rome, the most important of which was that outside the Porta Capena, on the Appian road (Liv. x. 23, vi. 5, xli. 13; Serv. ad

Aen. i. 296 ), and that of Mars Ultor , which was built by Augustus, in the forum. (Dion Cass. xlvi.24 ; Sneton. Aug. 29; Virruv. i. 7.)

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http://www.mythindex.com/roman-mythology/M/Mars.html

Greek Name Transliteration Latin Spelling Roman Name

ArhV Ars Ares Mars

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Mars and Venus, by Gerard de Lairesse (1640-1711), Dutch Baroque painter

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