a,P,rtBy: Ponogiotis

In 6reek mythology, Ares is fhe son of Zeus ond l-lero. Though offen referred to os theOlympion god of wor, he is more accurotely the god of savoge war, or bloodlust, or slaughterpersonified. Among the Greeks Ares wos alwoys distrusted and although Ares' half-sisterAtheno wos olso considered |o be d war delty, Athena's stonce wos thot of strategic warfarewhile Ares' tended to be the unpredictable violence of wor. His birthploce and true home wasploced for off, among the barbarous ond worlike Throcians, to whom he withdrew ofter hewas discovered on o couch with Aphrodite.

The myth says thot the Sun-God Helios once spied Ares and Aphrodite enjoying eoch othersecretly in the holl of Hephaestus ond he promptly reported the incident to Aphrodite'sOlympion consort. l-lephoestus contrived to catch the couple in the act, and so he fashioned onet with which to snore the illicit lovers. At the appropriate time, this net was sprung andtropped Ares and Aphrodite in o very private moment. But Hephaestus was not yet satisfied.with his revenge - he Invifed the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate poir.For the soke of modesty, the goddesses demurred, but the male gods went to witness thesight. Some commented on the beouty of Aphrodite, others remorked thot they would eagerlytrade ploces with Ares, but all mocked the two. Once the couple were loosed, Ares,embarrossed, sped owoy to his homelond, Throce. Ares hod put the youth Alectryon by hisdoor to warn fhem of l-lelios' arrival but Alectryon fell asleep so Helios discovered the twoond olerted Hephaestus. Ares was so furious thot he turned Alectryon into o rooster, whichnow never forgets to onnounce lhe orrival of the sun in the morning.

Ares had mony different children with different goddesses and other women. Some of hischildren were l-larmonio, Fovos, Remus, Romulus, Diomedes and Cycnus of Macedonio who wosso murderous that he attempted to build a temple with the skulls and the bones of trovelers.Heracles sloughtered this obominoble monstrosity.

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ARES COD OF WAR

Ares, God of WarAres, the son of Zeus and Hera, was less popular among the Creeks than the other .

Olympians, and he had fewer temples, stories or festivals devoted to him. lt was onlyunder the Romans, whose attitude to war was more aggressive, that he rose to prominence,becoming the principal patron of the city of Rome.

Although Ales q,'as one of the Olympian gods, thcGrecks f-elt a certain alnbivalence toward himbecar-rse tl'rey clicl not relish the idea of war, his

arca of patlonage. This is revealecl in the ciis-

paraging stories they told about him. For exarlple.although hc q'a.s gocl of warf:rre, Ares was cap-

tulecl by the encr.r.ry early on in the conflict withtl-re Titans ancl was implisonecl fbr flfteen months,

luntil Hen'nes was able t() l'escue him. During the'Tnrjzrn 'War, in which l-re siclecl with tl-re Trojans

against the Greeks, he n'as actually wounded by a

n.roltal. [)ionrecles. althotrgh as a war gocl he

shoulcl hur,e epitonrizccl nrilitary skill.Gleck artists .shoq'ecl hir-r-r sometirrrcs as

y()ung ar-rcl fit lrtrt nrore often as an olcl man, naked

ancl urnrccl u'ith a helnret, shielcl ancl pike. Hc wes

attcr-rclccl by retainels such as Discorcl, Strife ancl

l)enicl the tq,o trntanreable horse.s thet pullecl I'ris

chariot r.r'cre callccl Flight ancl Terror. His altars

n'ele kcpt permancntly lrloocl-strewn. Horses ancl

rtnolves werc sltcrecl tO him, as were r-t-raglties ancl

vultules lrecausc of thcil gleed.

Arcs is the only Olympian gocl wl-ro substan-

tially changecl cheracter ancl firncti<>n wl-ren tl're

Rorrans acloptecl thc Grcek pantheon. For thcRonvrns. war \\ras consiclclccl less cl-rac>tic ancl

clangelous, ancl thcrefirle its gocl was morc civi-lizecl ancl a llreat cleal nrore fiienclly than tl"re Greek

original. They acloptecl hinr, as Mar'.s, early on. This

vvas partly becar,rsc of tl'reir orvn rnilitary ardor-rr'

ancl sLrccessfirl campaigns of cr>nque.st and colo-nization. br-rt also becausc Roman mythology u'as

constllrctecl t() express its continr.rity with earliertraditions, ancl so tr-acecl all its for-rr-rcling heroes

back to Troy. wl-ricl'i Ares hacl supported. The

Ronrans believed, [loreover, tl-rat their city had

been founded by Romr,rh,rs,

who was helcl to be a son

of Mars, and who, with his

twin brother Rerr-us, hadbeen rearecl by a wol[,an anir-nal sacred to thegod. Not surprisingly t .,*

Mars \&,as consis- .{"tently depicted as

yc)ung ancl attrac-

tivc by the Romans.

Tl're Romans

ass(x'ietL-cl Mars notjr.rst with w:rr. br-rt alscr

u,ith agricr,rltr-rre. Twopossiblc cx;llanations

This l st- or

2nd-century no

Roman statue,

known as the

Ares Ludovisi,

contrasts the

masculinity ofMars with the

vulnerability ofthe baby playing

at his feet.

\ifl,?rili 1\r

THE SECOND CENERATION

When theydepicted him in full armour, as in this bronze

statuette of the 2nd or 3rd cenlury ro, the Romans were usually

presenting Mars in his role as protector of the state. When

shown as guardian of gladiators and athletes, the god would be

portrayed naked.

have been aclvancecl ior tliis cltral role. IJecer-tsc he

was the gocl <>f war, Mars lnay have lten askecl llyhis wr>rshippers to protcct theil flelcl.s - egainst

l>oth spiritual and physical cncllies. Altelnatively,

s()me R()nl:ln myths sllggest that l-re tllay huve ()l'ig-

inally been an Italixn agriculturxl g(xl who only

later took on the rc)le of gocl of war. In these sto-

lics, his <>r'igins are relatccl t() tltt: p()wcr of natttle :

firr cxample, Flora, the Rotnan g<>clcless of f'l<;rvcr-

ing plants, was saicl tt> have givcn .|r.rno (tlte

Rorlan Hera) a fl<>wcr that cnablccl lier t() c()n-

ceive Mxrs ()n her ()wnl itncl his c<tnsort was s()lttc-

tinres an Italixn fcrtility goclcless. Ncir'o.

Many Italiltn cities nantecl thc t'tt<>nth ofMarclr, or Mortitts, aftcr hiut - firlling at tl're lrcgin-

ning of thc spring, it r'vas typically a tinrc when

prxycl's rvcre offerccl firr thc gr'orvth t>f ct'o1ts, Mr>st

c>f his t'cstivals took placc at this tiutc, elthotrglt

others wct'e helcl in October, cltrring thc hlttvest.

lloman nrilitary carnpaigns rvctc ofictr letrr-rchecl ir-r

tl-re spring, ancl firr tl-iis reasor-r several ol tlte March

lL'stivals inch-rrlecl r)lilitruisli( rt( ti\ iti('s.

Mars's itnp()rtxncc t() tlte llotllans wlts

clcmonstt:itecl lty thc fitct thet [tis ltricsts u'ct'c

entrtrstecl r.vith the Ancile. t>t-tc <>f thc rttost sacrccl

trcxsures of Rornc. It rvas l holy shielcl thet l'assaicl to hlvc fallen fl'or.n hcaven t() l)r()tecrt thc city

fr-om plague. So enxicttts wcre the Rc>t.ttans t() prc-

scrve the Ancile that thcy hacl cleven exact c()pics

rur:rcle to confusc any wotrlcl-be tl-ricf. One of thc

nr<>st ir.nportant leligior-ts t'cstivals of Rorttc was eprocessi<>n in honottr of Nlars. when the Ancile

ancl its copics r,vcre curriecl at'c>ttncl the city r.vllls

by his priests as they clancccl ancl sang his ltrrriscs.Tl-ris celcbration lastecl thrce clays, fronr M:rlclt l.and cluring this time ltr,tsiness wes sttspcnclecl.

The nrost fanrotts ten.rple of Mltrs rves ltr-rilt in

Rome by Augusttrs to cclcl>rete his victory rrt

Philippi in 42rx'.. Befolc sctting ()Lrt ()n .rny expecli-

tion, the consul, encl later thc euipet'ot', wttttlcl

of'fer prayers at the terlple. -Ihen, in ri s<tlctnn rit-

r-ral, he woulcl sl-rakc the spear in the hancl <.,f tlte

gocl's statr-re and cornrnencl the rvl-role city to his

protection nith the words: "God of '$far, watch

over the saf-ety of this city."90

aAres, god ofwar

Fierce quarrels were not rare among the Greek heroes, both between

gods and among the mortals, but even the immortals found the

behaviour of Ares and his family rather more than they could accept.

\7hen the others fought, they tiked to think that they had good reason

to do so, for freedom, or to right a wrong - though to be truthful this

was not always borne out by the facts. However, Ates seemed to likefighting for its own sake, and would rush headlong into any battle,

regardless of the rights and wrongs of the cause. Unfortunately for himhe was often far from successful.

In view of his record, it is surprising that he was the Greek god ofwar, particularly as other gods, especially Athene, were far better at

fighting than he was. Probably it was his enthusiasm and hot temper

which made men seek his support for their quarrels, secure in the

knowledge that he would not bother too much about the iustice of the

cause. His sister, Eris, was just as short-tempered as he was, and her

fealous plotting often caused wars between cities or statps. This was

fust what Ares thrived on. They would be joined in theifighting by

his two sons, with the savage, man-eating horses he had given them to

pull their war chariots. Altogether, they formed a formidable family.

The onll' one among the gods who delighted in Ares's deeds was

Hades, for frequent wars meant that his underworld kingdom received

a constant stream of young warriors slain on the field of battle.

Amongst the goddesses, Aphrodite alone was prepared to put up withhis impetuous temPefanent but, as we have seen, the gfeat watgod gained little honour from their friendship.

ln hts ttme, the wat god tought twlce ln battles against atmies

commanded by the much more skilful Athene. He lost both. Duringthe great war of Troy, he also clashed with Athene. In this war, the

gods took definitc sides, often fighting to suPpoft their chcisen hefoes,

and sometimes rescuing them if they seemed to be losing the battle.

Atirene supported tl-re Greek side, Ares was for the Troians. During a

day of particularly fietce fighting, Ares was attacked by the Greek hero

Diomedes. Usualiy, a god wouid have been able to win such a contest

easily, but Diomedes had immortal help himself. Athene, hidden under

a helmet of darkness, tooli over his war chariot. \il"hen Diomedes

seemed to be tiring, she charged at Ares, firing arrows from her silr,er

bou'. Badly wounded, Ares fled groaning back to Olympus.

Ares was also involved in a battle among the gods themsel-"es. Tu'cl

sons of Poseidon, Otus and Ephialtes, piotted to climb up to Mount

4\

Olympus and take the home of the gods by force. Oncethere, they planned to carry off Hera and Artemis.

Ephialtes and Otus were giants of men, nine fathomstall, and of enormous strength. Their plan was in keepingwith their size: it was no less than to pile two mounrains,Pelion and Ossa, on top of one another so that by usingthem as huge stepping stones, they could reach the heightsof Olympus itself.

Such a massive undertaking couid scarcely go unnoticed,and Zeus soon heard of the preparations which were beingmade to move the rocky, pine-covered mountains. Hecalled his armies together immediateiy and made ready tofight the invaders. Ares, of course, rushed to join thebattle. For once he was on the right side, but though Zeusdefeated the two giants utterly, before he had done so,Ares had been taken prisoner. He vanished completely.

Though a long and thorough search was made, it ishardly surprising that he v/as not found, for the beatengiants had hidden him in atxonze jar, from which it wasimpossible to escape. For thirteen months he wasimprisoned there, a seemingly endless time, during whichhe grew weak and thin, and very cramped indeed.

The search had long been abandoned when one dayHermes happened to pass on his travels the barn wherethe jar was stored. It was growing dark and Hermes wasweaty. The barn looked inviting and warm, and hesettled down to sleep on a pile of hay in one corner.

FIe was just drifting into sleep when he heard a fainttapping sound. At first he took no notice of it, for he

imagined that it was simply the noise of rats feeding onthe sacks of grain in the loft above him. But the tappingpersisted and at length, unable to go to sleep again, he

got up to investigate. In the gloom of one corner of thebarn he found a tall jat, and the sound seemed to comefrom this.'Perhaps a r^thas fallen in and cannot get out,' he said

to himself, and he pulled the jar across the earth floorto where the moon shed its light through the opendoorway. He tapped lightly on the jar, and, to his surprise,heard frantic knocking in reply. Feeling slightly foolish,he addressed the jar:'\)7ho's in there ? You are making a lot of noise for

^ rat!'

'It is I, Ares,' came a faint reply. 'Let me out of thisprison and you shall have anything a mighty god can

grant.''Ares ! However did you get into that humiliatingposition. But don't despair. I will set you free.'

fn a moment, Hermes had unsealed the jar and liftedits heavy lid. Stretching and groaning, a thin and dustyAres, his armour tarnished and his beard curling aroundhis twisted limbs, dragged himseif out into the moonlight.

And so, at iong last, Ares was freed to fight anotherday - and, knowing his nature, we can be sure he did so.

it

/ ,,1\

(; (.) t) \ (, () t) l) [ \ s t] s

flb ARES IMARSGod of war in Greek and Roman

my t h o lo gy, resP e c tiu e l!.

1 res had no wife, and'i !; perhaps for this reason

: i. he constandy fell under

the spell of Aphrodite, goddess

of love. They produced four

children out of wedlock in a

scandalous liaison that was ended

by Zeus.

Another child of Ares, a

daughter born of a mortalwoman, was raped on the slopes

of the Acropolis in Athens by

one of the sea god Poseidons

sons, Halirrhothius. \When the

enraged Ares exacted retributionby murdering the rapist,

Poseidon brought the war god to

trial in Athens. Ares was

acquitted and later the courtbecame known as fueopagus(Hill of Ares).

An unpopular god, Ares was

not generally worshiped by the

Greeks, who were afraid of his

lust for violence and cruelry.

Such a vicious deiry was not

considered trusrworthy, so Ares

did not receive the reverence

shown by the Romans to Mars.

MARS

Along with Jupiter, Mars was the

favorite god of the Romans. His

month, March, was Yery

important in sociery because itheralded the rebirth of plant life

and the new season of wars and

campaigns. Originally, Mars was

identified with a pastoral deirySilvanus; even after he became

the great war god, Mars retained

something of this association

with the earth.

Mars was conceived out ofspite byJuno, because her

husband Jupiter had produced

Minerva without her aid. furevenge, Juno enlisted the help ofFlora, goddess of flowering, who

Mans, coD oF vAR

An imposing marble bust of the god

wearing full mi litary regalia.

touched Juno with a magical

herb, which in turn broughtabout the birth of Mars.

Mars fathered the fbunder

of Rome, Romulus, and was

forever invoked on the battlefield

to strengthen the resolve ofRoman soldiers.

* ttrt-f-?:3HERA

* EROS * DEIMUS * PHOBUS ':3

HARMONIA

At,HRootrt, & Atrts' Anultp,RyA lTth-century English tapestry/

illustrating tlte story of Hephaestus

trapping his wife, Aphrodite, in bed

with Ares. Hephaestus trapped the

adulterous louers in a net he had

made himselffom the lightest steel.

Poseidon, shou,n with his trident,

euentually conuinced Hephaestus to

let the louers go in exchange for a

fine. This is the story as toA by

Homer in the Odltssey.

* ROMULUS

-"-+RHEASILVIA

f:J\ I Anc ESTRYF'-Sp *- d

* REMUS

CnoNus & RxrlI

Anrs

rk god;!3 goddess

* man

S woman

Romulus was perhaps the greatest gift Mars gave to the Romans, although ill-

conceived. Mars was said to have raped Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin, while she

drew water from a spring in his sacred grove, and the result was the birth'of

twin sons, Romulus and Remus. As priestesses sworn t0 chastity, it was a

cardinal sin for a Vestal Virgin to lose her virginity, s0 when it became known

that Rhea Silvia had given birth to twins, she was condemned as a fallen

priestess and imprisoned. Luckily, years later her sons rescued her from

captivity, and Romulus founded the city of Rome soon afterwards.

Malcolm Day