Ares
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- This article refers to the Greek god. For other uses, see Ares (disambiguation).
In Greek mythology, Ares ("battle strife"; in Greek, Ἀρης), is the god of war and son of Zeus(king of the gods) and Hera . The Romans identified Mars, the god of war (whom they had inherited from the Etruscans) with Hellenic Ares, but among them, Mars stood in much higher esteem. Among the Hellenes, Ares was always mistrusted: his birthplace and true home was placed far off, among the barbarous and warlike Thracians (Iliad 13.301; Odyssey 8.361; Ovid).
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Ares in cult
Although important in poetry, Ares was only rarely the recipient of cult worship, save at Sparta, where he was propitiated before battle, and in the founding myth of Thebes, and he appeared in few myths (Burkert 1985, p.169). At Sparta there was a statue of the god in chains, to show that the spirit of war and victory was never to leave the city. At Sparta young dogs and even humans were sacrificed to him. The temple to Ares in the agora of Athens that Pausanias saw in the 2nd century AD had only been moved and rededicated there during the time of Augustus; in essence it was a Roman temple to Mars. The Areopagus, the "hill of Ares" where Paul preached, is sited at some distance from the Acropolis; from archaic times it was a site of trials. Its connection with Ares, perhaps based on a false etymology, may be purely etiological.
Ares' symbols
Ares had a chariot drawn by four fire-breathing stallions that were the offspring of Apollos/Helios' horses that drew the sun across the sky and Ares brandished a spear in battle. He had a palace in Thrace and he had dragons and birds that shot arrows to guard the shrines of Ares. Ares had a monstrous dragon that was called the dragon of Boeotia and upon it dropping its teeth the Spartoi warriors were born. His special birds were the barn owls, woodpeckers, and especially the vulture. His favourite animals were dogs, for dogs can be beastly and vicious and are used for hunting, protection and many other violent deeds. And he has no plants for what would such a bloody warrior need with plants. Another symbol of him was his armor.
Attendants
Deimos and Phobos were his children by Aphrodite and were the spirit of fear and terror. Eris was his daughter and was the goddess of strife. Also Kydmios was his attendant.
Ares and Cadmus
One of the many roles of Ares that was sited in mainland Greece itself was in the founding myth of Thebes: Ares was the progenitor of the water-dragon slain by Cadmus. From the dragon's teeth sown as if a crop arose a race of fighting men, the descendents of Ares. To propitiate Ares, Cadmus took as a bride Harmonia, daughter of Ares' union with Aphrodite, thus harmonizing all strife and founding the city of Thebes. Image:Ares villa Hadriana.jpg
Hymns to Ares
Among the so-called "Homeric Hymns", a "Hymn to Ares" has been transmitted in the manuscripts, although scholars have argued that it was written in Late Antiquity <ref>Burkert, 415n15</ref>. Even so, apart from sacrifices to him made by commanders of armies in the field, Ares was venerated most often in conjunction with other gods; for example, he shared a temple with Aphrodite at Thebes. Besides Aphrodite, the adjective areios, areia is applied to other gods in their warlike aspect. In the Iliad "Ares" is as often embodied in a battle formula connoting rough strife as he is personified as a bronze-armoured god: he is repeatedly contrasted with Athena, to his disadvantage. To Athena is reserved the one glorious aspect of war, Nike, "victory". <ref>Burkert, 169</ref>. At Athens, the Areopagus, a hill near the Acropolis, is equally the "Hill of Ares" and simply the "Battle Hill".
Enyalius was a common epithet for Ares. Interestingly, the Mycenean Greek Linear B tablets list a god Enyalios, while Ares seems to be a common noun meaning "war." By classical times, however, Enyalios had been demoted to the status of hero (as in the Iliad) and Ares the name for the god. Enyalios survived as a cult-title in only a few settings, most notably in the oath of the ephebes at Athens.
In one archaic myth, related in the Iliad by the goddess Dione to her daughter Aphrodite, two chthonic giants, the Aloadae, Otus and Ephialtes, threw Ares into chains and put him in a bronze urn, where he had to endure for thirteen months, a lunar year. "And that would have been the end of Ares and his appetite for war, if the beautiful Eriboea, the young giants' stepmother, had not told Hermes what they had done," she related (Iliad 5.385–391). "In this one suspects a festival of licence which is unleashed in the thirteenth month," Burkert observes (p 169).
There are accounts of a son of Ares, Cycnus (Kýknos) of Macedonia, who was so murderous that he attempted to build a temple with the skulls and the bones of travellers. Heracles slaughtered this abominable monstrosity, engendering the wrath of Ares, whom the hero wounded (Apollodorus 2.114).
Ares and Aphrodite
In an episode sung in the hall of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians (Odyssey 8.302ff), Ares lay in bed with Aphrodite, wife of Hephaestus, and Helios the Sun spied the love-making couple, alerting Hephaestus, who was angered. Hephaestus rigged the bed with invisibly fine net of chain with the power to hold anything in place, including gods, and caught Ares and Aphrodite on the next occasion. He brought the other gods to witness the adultery—the goddesses stayed away out of modesty—thinking to humiliate Ares and Aphrodite, but the gods all laughed. Poseidon agreed to refund to cuckolded Hephaestus the bride-price of Aphrodite. Once the couple were loosed, Ares sped away to his homeland, Thrace. (In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put a youth Alectryon by his door to guard them, but Alectryon fell asleep. Ares turned Alectryon into a rooster, which never forgets to announce the arrival of the sun in the morning.)
Ares in the Trojan War
In the Trojan War, Ares had no fixed allegiances nor respect for Themis, the right ordering of things: he promised Athena and Hera that he would fight on the side of the Achaeans, but Aphrodite was able to persuade Ares to side with the Trojans. During the war, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares's mother, saw his interference and asked Zeus, his father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares, so he threw a spear at Ares. Athena then drove the spear into Ares's body, who bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.
Ares in the Renaissance
In post-Renaissance emblem books, Ares' symbols are a spear and a helmet, his animal the dog and his bird the vulture. In myth and poetry Ares appears as cruel, aggressive, and blood-thirsty. He is notorious among both gods and humans.
Murder Trial
By Aglaulus Ares gave birth to Alcippe. Hallihourthus, the son of Poseidon the earth shaker, tried to rape her. Ares loved his daughter and to protect her he killed Hallihourthus. Poseidon loved his son too so he went to Zeus and demanded that Ares be punished. The other Olympians voted that he should be acquitted.
Ares and the giants
The giants Aloads fought with Ares also. They won the fight and put Ares in bonds where he stayed for thirteen months until Hermes rescued him.
Consorts/Children
- Aphrodite
- Cyrene
- Otrera
- Rhea Silvia
- Harpina (or Sterope, according to some accounts)
- Pyrene
- Unknown mother
- Unknown woman
Ares in Neopaganism
Many modern Neopagans maintain a somewhat traditional view of Ares. Hellenistic sects in the United States, discourage worship of Ares altogether. Some sects even forbid Ares worship. Many modern neopagans believe that ancient civilizations believed much the same, but worshipped Ares out of necessity rather than out of devotion. However, many other Neopagans do worship Ares, believing him to be a god who bestows courage, strength and determination in times of hardship and difficulty.
Cultural references
- In DC Comics, Ares is a prominent antagonist of Wonder Woman.
- In the Playstation 2 video game God of War, Ares is the main antagonist, attempts to destroy Athens and is partially responsible for development of the in-game character of Kratos, the protagonist.
- In Marvel Comics, Ares is a Greek God who features in his own 2006 miniseries. He is one of Marvel's biggest villains and an accomplist to Hades himself.
- In Disney's Hercules, he seems to be a good god in the movie but the series presents him as an evil god.
- Ares is referenced in a song by the French neoclassical band Elend called Ares In Their Eyes.
- In the TCG Hecatomb, a darker aspect of Ares is portrayed as a god in the set Last Hallow's Eve, and is given the title of The Devastator.
References
<references />
- Burkert, Walter, 1985. Greek Religion (Cambridge: Harvard University Press)
- Kerenyi, Carl, 1951. Gods of the Greeks (London:Thames & Hudson)
See also
External links
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