MarsAres

God of War

• He was the son of Zeus and Hera.

Ares is the Greek god of War: His half sister Athena is also over war, but she is war with reason and thought. Ares represents the worst

of war: he is brutal, bloodthirsty, sometimes cowardly.

His symbols: helmet and spear,dogs, vultures and carrion birds who clean the battlefield;wolves

• Romans see Mars as the ultimate soldier: brave, strong, courageous, a defender of his country.

• Ares and Aphrodite have an affair and have several children:

• Eros or Cupid• Harmonia—her

name means harmony-peace

• And 6 others

Two of their sons are Phobos– fear and

Deimos—dreadThe moons for the planet Mars

have their names.

Other companions (children, brothers and sisters—depending on the source):AndrasteEris—goddess of discordAlala– the battle cryAdrestia—goddess of revengeNemesis—divine retribution

Ares is also the father of the Amazons: warrior women from the Black Sea area and allies of the Trojans

Ares was the father of a dragon killed by Cadmus, who sows the dragons teeth to produce the

inhabitants of the new city Thebes. Cadmus marries Harmonia, Mars’s daughter

Ares killed the son of Poseidon after the son had raped Mars’s daughter Alcippe. Mars is brought to trial by his fellow gods at the Areopagus (the field of Mars) in Athens. This was

the first murder trial in history.

• Ares and the Giants: two giants were arrogant enough to think they could defeat the Olympian gods. They caught Ares, chained him and enclosed him in a jar for 13 months. Hermes found out him and rescued him. Artemis made the two giants kill one another.

• In the Trojan War, Ares usually fought on the side of the Trojans because Aphrodite was on their side. When Ares is fighting on the field against the Greeks, Athena and Hera help Diomedes wound Ares. He goes screaming back to his father. When a son of Ares who fought for the Greeks is killed, he switches sides and fights for the Greeks.

Diomedes and Athena attacking Ares

Roman Mars is a god of war and agriculture. He represents war as a path to peace. His wife in Roman mythology is Nerio, Valor. One source lists his wife as Bellona, a very bloodthirsty Roman goddess of war.

In Roman mythology, Mars was born of

Juno only. She was upset because

Jupiter had had Minerva without her. The Goddess Flora gave her a magic

flower that impregnated her.

In Rome, the wolf and the

woodpecker are sacred to Mars.

• Rhea Silvia was the daughter of Numitor. When her uncle Amulius drove out her father, Rhea Silvia was forced to become a Vestal Virgin. However, Mars saw her and she became pregnant by him.

• After her twin sons were born, she was buried alive. Some stories have Mars rescuing her and bringing her to Olympus.

Ares has few temples and little worship in Greece, but Mars was widely worshipped in Rome. Augustus built

the Temple of Mars Ultor (the Avenger) in Rome.

King Numa Pompilius established the Priests of Mars called the Salii, who opened the season for war in March with a ritual dance around the city.