Ares
Ares is the god of war in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Hera, and his sister was Eris. Due to his particularly warlike nature, several writers of the 19th century baselessly claimed that he was a foreign god, as they believed that Greek imagination could not have created such a fierce deity
Ares (Borghese)" refers to a depiction of Ares, the god of war in Greek mythology, specifically the Borghese Ares statue located in the Louvre Museum. This statue portrays Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, embodying the essence of war and conflict in ancient Greek beliefs
In myths, Ares appears belligerent and defiant and represents the impulsive nature of war. He had two sons, Deimos and Phobos, who gave their names to the respective moons of the planet Mars. God Ares took part in the Trojan War on the side of the Trojans. She was romantically linked with the goddess Aphrodite, but was revealed by her husband, the god Hephaestus. Thanks to his son Oenomaus from Steropi, Ares became the ancestor of famous people, such as Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Aegisthus, Orestes, Electra, Pylades, Pittheus, Theseus, Hippolytus , of Iphigenia, Demophon, Acamades, Eurystheus, Amphitryon, Alcmene, Iolaus, Herakles, Admit, Coprea, Alcathos and Aia of Telamonius. From his daughter Harmonia, he became the ancestor of the descendants of Cadmus, who are the god Dionysus, the monster Sphinx and famous persons, such as Semele-Thion, Ino-Leukothea, Pentheus, Aktaeon, Melikertis-Palaemon, Laios, Oedipus, Oenopion, Staphylos, Thoas and Anios. From Thestius Ares became the ancestor of Althea, Leda, Meleager, Deianeira, Tydeus, Diomedes, Helen the Fair, Clytemnestra, the Dioscuri and Amphiaraus. From Phlegyas he was an ancestor of the god Asklepios.
Mars.
Bronze figurine, 5th c. e.g. Agona, Museo Archeologico Nazionale delle Marche
Ares (or Ares and Areus) belongs to the twelve gods of the great gods of Olympus, a second-generation Olympian god, whose name was recognized in Linear B tablets from Pylos, as well as his other name or surname Enialios. The only son of Zeus and Hera, brother of Hebe and Eileithyia, who unlike their warlike and chief god of war brother were secondary deities, was born in Thrace, where it is likely that his cult originated and from where it spread in the rest of Greece. After all, he fled to Thrace after his extramarital affair with Aphrodite.
Etymology
The oldest form of the theonym Αρης is found in Grammiki B΄ with the formula a-re = Αρει (dative form). The etymological origin is not confirmed; the connection with arch is usually suggested. ἀρι/ἀρα "curse, destruction" or with the arch. Αρος "help, benefit", although many consider its pre-Greek origin possible. It is not etymologically related to the corresponding Latin Mars, -tis.
Worship
Ares was not worshiped in many places, there were not many sanctuaries in his honor and he was not the patron of any city. He was worshiped mainly in his place of origin, Thrace, but his main sanctuary was in Thebes, where he was considered the ancestor of the Cadmeians. When Cadmus, arriving in the region, wished to sacrifice the cow to Athena, he sent some of his companions to bring water from the Areia (Mars) spring which was guarded by a serpent which some said came from the generation of Mars and others that he was his son. He killed most of the envoys, until, enraged, Cadmus killed the dragon. From the teeth of this dragon, sown by Cadmus on Athena's advice, the Spartans emerged from the earth, armored and similar in character to the land of their father's source. They killed each other in a random fight or for no reason at all. For killing the snake, Cadmus was purified by eight years of servile service to Mars (Apollod. 3.22-25). Soon after, the gods married him to the god's daughter by Aphrodite, Harmonia, and Athena secured the throne for him in Thebes. The wall of the seven-door gate is called in the Iliad ἀρειον (D 407), while the dance of the Theban women in Aeschylus' tragedy Επτὰ ἐπὶ Thebes by Aeschylus asks the god not to leave the city (104-107), and so does Aphrodite (135 -140). And yet, when Thebes was besieged by the Epigones, Tiresias prophesied that they would be victorious if Menocias, the son of Creon, offered himself as a sacrifice to Ares. Immediately the young man committed suicide in front of the city gates.
There were temples to him in Athens, near the Areopagus, where he had been tried for the murder of the would-be rapist of the daughter of Alcippus; in Laconia, in Tegea, near Megalopolis, in Troizinia. Phrixus, arriving at Colchis, sacrificed the golden-wooled ram which had brought him thither from Iolkos to Zeus Phyxius, and gave the skin of the sacrificed animal to Aetes, who nailed it round an oak in the grove of Ares.
Apollonius Rhodios (2.1052 CE) reports that the Stymphalian hens, which had iron wings, were dedicated to Mars. A dog and a falcon were the animals that mortals dedicated to the god.
Chained statues
The gods were immortal, but could be bound and restrained, both in mythic narrative and in cult practice. There was an archaic Spartan statue of Ares in chains in the temple of Enyaleus (sometimes seen as the son of Ares, sometimes as Ares himself), which Pausanias argued meant that the spirit of war and victory should be preserved in the city. The Spartans are known to have ritually bound the images of other deities, including Venus and Artemis (see Ares and Venus bound by Hephaestus), and elsewhere there were chained statues of Artemis and Dionysus.
Statues of Ares in chains are described in the instructions given by a late Hellenistic oracle to various cities of Pamphylia (in Anatolia), including Syedra, Lycia, and Cilicia, places almost constantly threatened by pirates. Each was called upon to set up a statue of "bloody, man-killing Mars" and offer him an annual festival, at which he was ritually bound in iron fetters ("by Dyke and Mercury") as if supplicating for justice. trial and offered sacrifice. The oracle promises that "thus he will become a peaceful deity for you, having driven the hostile horde away from your country, and will give rise to the prosperity for which we so much pray." This Ares karpodotis ("fruit giver") is well attested in Lycia and Pisidia.
Sacrifices
Like most Greek deities, Ares was given animal sacrifice. In Sparta, after the battle, he was given an ox for victory by general or a rooster for victory by attack. The usual recipient of the sacrifice before battle was Athena. Reports of historical human sacrifices on Mars in an obscure rite known as Hecatomphony represent a very long-standing error, repeated over several centuries and into modern times. The unison was an animal sacrifice to Zeus. it could be offered by any warrior who had personally killed a hundred of the enemy. The "match without rules" hand in Phoebus. The Chthonian nocturnal sacrifice of a dog to Enyalio was assimilated into the cult of Mars. Porphyry claims, without detail, that Apollodorus of Athens (circa second century BC) says that the Spartans performed human sacrifices to Mars, but this may be a reference to mythical prehistory.
Mars and the Trojan War
Ares clashed with the goddess Athena. Athena, however, as the goddess of wisdom, combined strength with intelligence. That is why most of the time he defeated the god and embarrassed him. The most conflicts between them took place during the Trojan War. In the final battle of the war all the gods ran in armor to the battlefield. With the Greeks were Hera, Poseidon, Hephaestus and Athena. With the Trojans were Apollo, Ares, Artemis and Aphrodite.
Orphic hymn to the god Ares
Areos incense, libanon
Descending, ὀvrimoѳume, magasѳenes, ὀλκιμε δῆμον,
gun-toting, adamastes, slayers, wall-to-wall
Ἆres Ἆρες Ἆρες ἑνάξ, Ἆρες ἑνάκος, Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες Ἆρες ἀναὶ,
Bloody shouters of joy, belligerents, freaks,
whosoever thou canst, draw a sword, and pierce the flesh;
as long as they were raging, let go of the pain of pain,
And who are the young Cypriots of Lyaeus?
you have changed a chain of weapons into works of the gods,
peacemaker, healer
Transfer to elementary school
Indomitable, strong-hearted, mighty, mighty God,
where you rejoice in arms, conquer,
where you kill people and beat the walls
O unconquered Ares, where you hold the weapons, where you are always mixed
with murders that delight in the blood of men, that are slain,
and you raise the noise of war, freak,
and you long for the battle with swords and spears, the fierce battle he stopped
the furious battle left the heart-wrenching pain,
lean towards the lust of Cyprus
and to the celebratory festivities of the Lyceum,
and to exchange the power of arms for the works of Deus
and long for the peace that nourishes youth and provides us with happiness.
Mars and Venus sculpture in Blüherpark in Dresden
Character and traditions
The work of Mars has been determined since the time of Homer. His character in Homer and the other poets is not complex like that of other gods (Apollo, Dionysus). The traditions are limited to a few short fables. According to common tradition he was the son of Zeus and Hera born in the heavenly realms, from a mother whose quarrelsome disposition symbolizes atmospheric disturbances. He is rarely called the son of Enius who is more commonly his daughter, nurse or companion. He is primarily a war god and his name is synonymous with war. He has the weaponry and style of epic heroes, and fights with a ferocity that is uniquely his own. He usually fights on foot, breaking tanks and overturning walls with his momentum. At other times they are in a chariot with two (Deimos and Phobos) or four majestic horses (sons of Boreus and Erinya) (Phobos, Aethonas, Phlioios and Konavos as Kointos the Smyrnaean calls them).
Mars and Venus.
Marble votive plaque, circa 420 BC. Venice, National Archaeological Museum, 126
Ares, according to the poets, has a huge body (when he fell from the impact of a stone thrown at him by Athena, it covered nine acres of land), he is strong and impetuous. Into battle he rushes furiously with terrifying eyes. He shouts as loud as nine or ten thousand fighting men. In his rage he is insatiable for blood and slaughter. He is indifferent to law and recognizes no law. During the Trojan War he helps the Trojans although he had promised to help the Achaeans to Hera and Athena, for this he is reviled by Athena as a foreigner. His warlike fury makes him hated even by Jupiter.
Homer's epics
According to Homer, in rhapsody I of the Odyssey, Hephaestus discovers Ares with Aphrodite and spreads the nets, while in rhapsody E of the Iliad, Zeus does not hide his anger against Ares and tells him that he is the most hated god
Ares rushed at Athena and threw his spear that pierced her aegis. Athena, without losing her courage, grabbed a huge rock and threw it at Ares, who fell down. The rest of the gods mocked him once more and only Aphrodite came to his aid (Iliad F 391-417).
They did not let go of any hide, for Mars was coming
rinotoros, and the first to buy Athena
I have a bronze voice, and a dreamy fat myth;
What are you doing to the gods?
I have not had courage, but is your anger great?
He did not live when Diomedes died in Tydeid
They don't wait, but this is a sound that came from the panopsis
If you have heard from me, have you studied well for a long time?
to s᾽ aὖ nîn ὀio apotisemen ossa ἔrgas.
If they went under the aegis, they were killed
smerdalein, ἣn οὐδὲ ὸς damnisi lightning;
τῇ min Ares ἔτηση miafonos ἔχει μακρῷ.
ἣ d᾽ anahassameni lithon Ἥleto ὀ ღალირირი
the text in the field of black hair is large,
ῥ᾽ ῥ᾽ ῥ᾽ ἀνδρες πρότεροι θεσαν ἔμμεναι οὖRON
sick;
put a thoron on Arya's neck, but let go of his wife.
Seven d'ears of pessary fell, but his mane shone,
he plucked it up, and Pallas Athena laughed,
and the hoped-for prostrations;
little girl, I don't know how to express as much as they are
I wish you would stay, because you are equal to me.
thus ken of the mother Erinya,
ἥ ἥ τοι χομένη κα μεδετα όνεκ᾽ Achaios
Callipes, you defend Tross' excesses.
ὣὣὣ ὣὣ ὣὀὀღენები მამები
the hand of Aphrodite, the daughter of Aphrodite
densely moaning; only anger was aroused.
_-_Napoli_MAN_9249_-_03.jpg)
Wall painting in Pompeii, c. 20 BC. – 50 AD, showing Mars and Venus. The Roman god of war is depicted as youthful and beardless, reflecting the influence of the Greek Ares.
Ares and Mars
Ares' closest counterpart among the Roman gods is Ares, son of Zeus and Juna, pre-eminent among the military gods of the Roman army, but originally an agricultural deity. As the father of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, Ares acquired an important and dignified position in ancient Roman religion, as the guardian deity of the entire Roman state and its people. Under the influence of Greek culture, Ares was identified with Ares, but the character and dignity of the two deities differed fundamentally. Ares was represented as a means of securing peace and was father (father) of the Roman people. According to one tradition, he fathered Romulus and Remus through his rape of Rhea Silvia. In another, his lover, the goddess Aphrodite, gave birth to Aeneas, the Trojan prince and refugee who "founded" Rome several generations before Romulus.
Ares, 2nd–3rd century AD, after a Greek bronze prototype of Alcamenes of 420 BC, excavated in 1925 at Largo di Torre Argentina, Rome
In the Hellenization of Latin literature, the myths of Mars were reinterpreted by Roman writers under the name Ares. Greek writers under Roman rule also recorded cultic practices and beliefs concerning Mars under the name Ares. Thus, in the classical tradition of later Western art and literature, the mythology of the two forms later became virtually indistinguishable.
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