Ares

From Thelemapedia

Categories: Greek Gods

OLYMPIANS Zeus Poseidon Hades Hestia Hera Ares Athena Apollo Aphrodite Hermes Artemis Hephaestus OTHERS Pan Demeter Dionysus Persephone Eris Eros Chaos Gaia	TITANS Asteria Astraeus Atlas Clymene Coeus Crius Cronus Dione Epimetheus Hyperion Iapetus Leto Mnemosyne Oceanus Phoebe Prometheus Rhea Tethys Theia Themis

Ares ("man," "male, "strife"), in Greek mythology, is the god of war and son of Zeus and Hera. Identified with Mars in Roman mythology. When Halirrhotius raped Alcippe, Ares' daughter by Aglaulus, Ares murdered him, for which he was tried in a court—the first murder trial in history. He was acquitted. His companions included his sister Eris, his sons Phobos and Deimos, and Enyo. Ares was followed by a retinue including Pain, Panic, Famine and Oblivion. Though immortal, he was very sensitive to pain and went running to his father, Zeus, whenever he got wounded. He was worshipped primarily in Thracia.

Otus and Ephialtes were two giants who were also brothers and put Ares in an urn. To rescue Ares, Hermes changed himself into a deer and caused the brothers to throw their spears at each other.

Ares gave Hippolyte the girdle that Heracles took.

One night, while having sex with Aphrodite, Ares put a youth named Alectryon by his door to guard them. He fell asleep and Helios, the sun, walked in on the couple. Ares turned Alectryon into a rooster, which never forgets to announce the arrival of the sun in the morning.

During the Trojan War, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares' mother, saw Ares' interference and asked Zeus, Ares' father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove the spear into Ares' body and he bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.

In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis or Ares (her lover in this story) sent a wild boar to kill Adonis. This version is suspect because it implies that Artemis had sex with Ares and by virtually all accounts, she remained chaste throughout time.

Although important in poetry and myth, Ares was only rarely the recipient of cult worship. Even then, he was venerated most often in conjunction with other gods; for example, he shared a temple with Aphrodite at Thebes.

Ares Enyalius was sometimes used as an 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 has been demoted to the status of hero (as in the Iliad) and Ares promoted to god. Enyalios survives as a cult-title in only a few settings, most notably in the oath of the ephebes at Athens.

References

• Wikipedia. (2005). Ares (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares). Retrieved on 02/19/2005.