ARES

God of War

Parentage

Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera (sometimes said to be their only son). Even they didn’t particularly like him, as he was easily angered and violent.

The Most Unpopular God on Olympus!!!

Ares is the god of bloodthirsty battle in war. His sister, Athena, the goddess of strategy in war, is able to easily defeat him. He is accompanied on the battlefield by two of his sons by Aphrodite, Deimos (Fear) and Phobos (Panic) and by Enyo, goddess of war.

“Also Cytherea bare to Ares the shield-piercer Panic and Fear, terrible gods who drive in disorder the close ranks of men in numbing war, with the help of Ares, sacker of towns.”

- Hesiod Theogony

Of the Olympians, only Aphrodite likes him.

Ares was known to the Romans as Mavors or Mars.

His birthplace and true home, and the place to which he retired when his affair with Aphrodite was exposed, was Thrace. The Thracians were considered to be warlike and wild.

EpithetsAres was sometimes called Enyalius after the Cretan god of War.

He was also known called Aphneios, the giver of abundance. Aerëope, the daughter of Cepheus, became by Ares the mother of a son (Aërropus), but she died at the moment she gave birth to the child, and Ares, wishing to save it, caused the child to derive food from the breast of its dead mother. This wonder gave rise to the surname Aphneios.

Ares rides in a quadriga, or four-horse chariot. His horses breath fire!

Birds associated with Ares

The VultureThe Eagle Owl

The Woodpecker

According to the Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, Ares had near the land of the Amazons a flock of birds which could shoot their bronze feathers at you. Scary!!!

Ares’ animal is the dog.

Ares’ Love Life and Children

Ares never married, but he did have romances with women, both mortal and immortal. He is most often linked romantically with Aphrodite.

The Children of Aphrodite and Ares

1. Deimos – Fear 2. Phobos – Panic 3. Harmonia – Wife of Cadmus, founder of Thebes4. Eros (Cupid to the Romans) – god of passionate desire (though sometimes he is said to have

been born from Chaos at the

beginning of time)

Ares and the Founding of ThebesAres is the father of the dragon which Cadmus, founder of Thebes, slew. Cadmus populated his city by sowing the teeth of the dragon into the ground like seeds.

From these teeth sprang up fully armored men, known as Spartoi (sown men), who became the first citizens of Thebes. Cadmus had to be the slave to Ares for one year for killing the dragon, but afterward he was given Harmonia, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, to be his wife.

Rhea Silvia and the Founding of Rome

Several hundred years after Ascanius (Iulus), son of Aeneas, founds the city of Alba Longa…

The rightful king, Numitor, is ousted by his evil brother, Amulius. Amulius kills the king’s male offspring, and under the pretext of an honor, makes Numitor’s daughter, Rhea Silvia, a priestess of Vesta. The priestesses of Vesta were called Vestal Virgins, as they were not permitted to marry or have contact with men. He then locks her in a tower. With no possibility of a male heir, Amulius feels safe upon the throne he has usurped.

But Amulius didn’t count on the god Mars (Ares to the Greeks) secretly visiting the imprisoned Rhea Silvia. When he found out that she had given birth to twin boys, he was none too pleased.

He ordered a servant to put the boys in a basket and take them to the Tiber River. As luck would have it, the Tiber was flooding, and the servant could not approach the actual river – just the waters which had flooded the surrounding land. Romulus and Remus bobbed along until they hit dry land.

There a she-wolf (lupa), who had come down from the mountains to drink, found the twins and took care of them until…

The shepherd Faustulus came upon

the twins.

Faustulus then brings the boys to his wife, Aca Laurentia, to be raised in their

home.

The boys grew up to be rather…well…rowdy. This was fitting for sons of Ares/Mars. They end up restoring the grandfather to the throne of Alba Longa and then decide to establish their own city. But they fight over who has the right to do so. A fight breaks out and Romulus kills Remus. Sons of Mars, indeed. Romulus then founds Rome on the Palatine Hill.

The Amazons are said to be descended from Ares, whom they worshipped along

with Artemis.

Penthesilea, daughter of Ares and Queen Otrere. Achilles killed her in the Trojan War and then fell in love with her, alas, too late.

Several Amazon Queens, including Penthesilea, pictured to the left, and Hippolyta, from whom Heracles took the girdle, were said to be daughters of Ares.

CycnusThere are several men named Cycnus, but only one was the son of Ares.

Using the skulls of those whom he waylaid on their way to make offerings at the temple of Delos, he was building a temple to his father.

He challenged Heracles, who was on his way to get the Apples of the Hesperides, to single combat. Heracles killed him. Ares attempted to attack Heracles but…

Athena and Heracles are on the left and Cycnus and Ares on the right. Zeus is coming between them.

Zeus intervened, hurling his lightning bolt between the two. Some say that Heracles, perhaps with the aid of Athena, actually wounded Ares in the thigh during the conflict.

DiomedesDon’t confuse this Diomedes with Diomedes, son of Tydeus, who fought in the Trojan War!!!

This Diomedes was the son of Ares and the nymph Cyrene. He was king of the Bistones in Thrace.

He had four horses which he kept fastened to bronze troughs by iron chains and halters.

Heracles’ 8th labor was to capture the mares of Diomedes.

When Diomedes discovered that Heracles had taken them, he roused the Bistones to war. They attacked Heracles, but he routed them, captured Diomedes, and fed him to his own horses, who became quite tame afterwards.

Ascalaphus and IalmenusAscalaphus and Ialmenus were two sons of Ares who ruled jointly Orchomenus in Boeotia. They led a contingent of troops in the Trojan War, taking 30 ships. Deiphobus, son of Priam, aiming his spear at Idomeneus, King of Crete, accidentally killed Ascalaphus, and Ares then turned against the Trojans.

Phlegyas

Phlegyas became king of Orchomenus and gave his name to a warlike tribe, the Phlegyans. He had two children – Ixion, and Coronis, who gave birth to Aesculapius, god of healing by the god Apollo. Notice the single snake

around Aesculapius’ staff.

Because Aesculapius was a son of Apollo, Phlegyas became jealous at the growing fame of Aesculapius as a healer, and began to persecute him. He attacked Delphi, whose oracle supported Aesculapius’ claim to divine parentage.

Philammon, a son of Apollo, who served at his father’s shrine and won many musical contests there. Philammon led a force of Greeks against Phlegyas in defense of Delphi and was killed by Phlegyas. Phlegyas was then killed by Nycteus and Lycus or by Apollo himself.

According to Vergil in Book VI of the Aeneid, Aeneas saw Phlegyas forced forever to serve as a ferryman in Tartarus and crying a warning to all mankind: “Be warned, learn righteousness, and despise none of the gods!” Vergil tells us that Phlegyas is also being punished for having changed laws when given bribes, and for having raped Coronis himself, despite his anger at Apollo for having done so.

The Murder Trial of Ares

Ares had a daughter, Alcippe, by a mortal woman, Aglaurus (or Aglaulus), daughter of Cecrops, king of Athens. Poseidon’s son Halirrhothius raped her near the Acropolis, and so Ares killed him.

Poseidon summoned him before the gods for the world’s first murder trial at the place where he had killed Halirrhothius. It was later called the Areopagus, or “Hill of Ares” and became famous as a court of justice. When the gods heard the facts of the case they declared him not guilty.

The Affair of Aphrodite and Ares

Ares and Aphrodite had a long-running relationship that produced four children.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus finds himself on the island of Scheria in the court of Queen Arete and King Alcinous, rulers of the Phaeacians. The bard Demodocus tells of the end of the love affair of Ares and Aphrodite.

Here the bard Demodocus recounts episodes from the Trojan War, as well as the amusing story of Ares and Aphrodite.

Ares and Aphrodite carried on an affair for many years with Hephaestus completely unaware of these goings on. Ares had assigned the young man Alectryon to stay outside the door and to warn the lovers when dawn was approaching. One night Alectryon fell asleep and did not warn Ares about the approach of Helios, the sun god.

And so Helios saw the affair of Aphrodite and Ares and told Hephaestus about it. Hephaestus decided to catch the two in the act. He forged a giant net of the finest golden threads and suspended it over the bed. He then pretended to leave Olympus to visit his worshippers on Lemnos.

Upon the supposed departure of Hephaestus, Ares and Aphrodite continued their disgraceful behavior. Then Hephaestus sprung the trap!!! The lovers were caught in flagrante delicto. Unable to move or free themselves, they were at the mercy of Hephaestus.

Hephaestus summoned all the other Olympians gods and goddesses to witness the shameful behavior he has uncovered. The goddesses stayed away out of decency, but the gods came and mocked the pair. Poseidon eventually convinced Hephaestus to release them on the condition that Ares pay a fine.

Ares fled to Thrace in shame, but before he did so he turned Alectryon into a rooster. Now Alectryon never forgets to announce the coming of the sun with his crowing.

Sisyphus

Sisyphus was the son the Aeolus and Anarete and the founder of the city of Corinth, which he originally name Ephyra. He was well known for his cunning and craft. He is sometimes said to be the real father of Odysseus. One day he saw Zeus carrying off Aegina, daughter of the river god Asopus. He told Asopus what he had seen.

Zeus pursuing Aegina

Zeus was furious at Sisyphus for being a tattle-tale, and so he sent Thanatos (Death) for Sisyphus. Sisyphus, however, somehow tricked Thanatos and tied him up, with the result that mortals stopped dying. The gods, upset at this development, sent Ares down to free Thanatos.

But Sisyphus had given his wife, Merope, instructions not to bury him or perform any rites. Hades was so upset at her neglect that he let Sisyphus return to the world above to make Merope bury him, but Sisyphus instead chose to stay alive to a ripe old age. When he finally did die, he was condemned to roll a boulder up a hill forever.

Otus and EphialtesTwo giants, known as the Aloadae (sons of Aloeus) were sons of Poseidon and Iphimedia. They grew so fast that by age nine they were 54 feet tall. It is said that Aphrodite had entrusted the safety of Adonis to them. When Ares, in the form of a boar, killed Adonis, they captured Ares and imprisoned him in a giant bronze jar (play on words intended!). After 13 months in the jar, Ares, on the point of death, was rescued by Hermes.

Ares in the Trojan WarAres supported the Trojans in the war, but his role was fairly insignificant. He was embarrassed by immortals and mortals alike. Urged on by Hera, and with the help of Athena, Diomedes wounded Ares in the lower part of his divine belly. Ares complained to Zeus about being wounded by a mortal.

After Zeus had forbidden the gods to fight any more, Ares tried to join the battle again but was restrained by the insults of Athena. When later the gods turned against each other, Ares hurled a spear against Athena for her help of Diomedes, but it did no harm, and she knocked Ares down with a stone.

When Aphrodite tried to come to his aid, Athena struck Aphrodite with her fist.

TyphonIn fleeing to Egypt from Typhon, Ares turned himself into a fish and swam up the Nile.