Ares
God of War
AIR-eez
The war god the Greeks openly disliked, battle as noise, panic, and slaughter, with none of the strategy.
The Story
Ares is what fighting feels like rather than what winning takes, and the poets treat him accordingly. Zeus tells him to his face that he is the most hateful of the gods, and Athena beats him twice in the Iliad, once by guiding a mortal's spear into him, after which he flees to Olympus bellowing.
His long affair with Aphrodite produced Harmonia and Phobos and Deimos, Fear and Rout, which is about as neat as mythology gets. Rome recast him entirely: as Mars he becomes a disciplined founding father, which tells you more about Rome than about him.
Did You Know?
- The Areopagus, the hill in Athens where homicide trials were heard, is named for him, it is where he was tried, and acquitted, for killing a son of Poseidon.
- The moons of Mars are Phobos and Deimos, Fear and Rout, named for the sons who drive his chariot.
- He had almost no cult in Greece proper. Sparta, the state you would expect to lead the worship, gave the honours to Athena instead.