Ares/Mars

Underline*Father of Victory; Lord of the Dance*

**Pantheon**: Greek

**Origin:** Thrace

**Title**: God of War

**Classification:** Olympian spirit

## Information

Ares, Lord of War, is the Greek Olympian spirit who garners the least respect. Even Zeus told him that he was the Olympian he loved least. He made people nervous and was considered a dangerous, though useful, spirit.
Ares loves war passionately. He loves brawling, the heat of battle, a good fight. Ares may fight on either side or both: he enjoys the fighting itself. He may instigate a fight just for the fun of it (even if he’s the only one having a good time). Ares is not a cool-headed strategist sitting in the war office; he may be a military leader, but he’s the first to jump into the fray, a howling, screaming warrior.

Official Greek myth describes Ares as a son of Zeus and Hera, or as only Hera’s child. One version suggests that she was so annoyed when Zeus gave birth to Athena and Dionysus that she determined to give birth independently, too. She conceived Ares without male input.

Ares was reared by Priapus, who taught Ares dancing first, warcraft later. Ares had a long love affair with Aphrodite (she bore him four children), although she is officially married to his brother, Hephaestus. Ares and Aphrodite may be venerated together.

Mythology books tend to disparage and belittle Ares. He’s treated as a minor Olympian, frequently compared unfavourably to Athena. The truth is more complex. In the Iliad, Ares reproaches Zeus for giving birth to Athena, describing her as crazed and frantic, reversing the usual image of Ares as bloodthirsty and Athena as the spirit of cool wisdom.

Athena helps Heracles kill Ares’ pets, the Stymphalian birds. Several of Heracles’ labours seem at least tangentially directed against Ares. Ares gave Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, the golden girdle that was the object of Heracles’ ninth labour.

Historians suggest that Ares entered Greece from Thrace. (Bendis; Dionysus; Orpheus.) Devotion to him spread through Macedonia to Thebes, Athens, and especially Sparta, where he was embraced. Ares was also deeply venerated in Scythia, Thrace, and Colchis (now modern Georgia). Ares is closely identified with Amazons, who worshipped him as an ancestral spirit.

Ares is not ashamed to fight alongside a woman. He encourages Aphrodite’s warrior aspects and lends her his own war-chariot. Ares lacks an official wife or consort. His closest female companion is his sister, Eris. However, he may just not be monogamous. He maintains long stable relationships with several women, including an Amazon Queen.

Ares is a devoted father. When his daughter Alkippe was raped by one of Poseidon’s sons, Ares promptly killed him. Poseidon accused him of murder. Ares was tried before the Olympian pantheon and acquitted. In a cosmology where rape was common, Ares objects and protects his daughter.

Keep Ares’ image outside your doors or just inside to keep watch and chase enemies away. He is petitioned for victory, courage, protection, and martial skills. He is a sociable spirit and likes the company of other spirits. He has a quick temper, but it usually blows over quickly, too. The exception is Athena: there’s a long grudge, competition, and jealousy between them. Keeping them near each other invites fireworks.

In general, his Greek shrines were outside city limits for two reasons:

* Ares was considered dangerous; it might not be safe to keep him too close to home.
* He was expected to provide the first defense: keeping enemies from even entering the city.

**Favoured people:** Warriors of all kinds; those born under the sign Aries

**Manifestation:** A handsome, virile man. In Scythia, he was venerated in the form of a sword.

**Iconography:** Frequently depicted naked but for shield and helmet. A statue of Ares in chains was kept in Sparta, indicating that the martial spirit would never leave Sparta.

**Attributes:** Sword, spear, helmet, shield

**Animals:** Dogs, horses

**Birds:** Vultures; woodpeckers; eagle owls and barn owls; the Stymphalian birds

**Mount:** His chariot is pulled by four fire-breathing stallions.

**Colour:** Red

**Spirit allies:** Ares leads a host of battle spirits including his sister, Eris, and his sons Deimos (Terror) and Phobos (Fear). He has a good relationship with Amazons. Ares may lead an army of disease spirits.

**Planet:** Mars

**Plant**: Garlic

**Metal**: Iron

**Sacred site:** Ares and his fearsome host haunt old battlegrounds, reminiscing over good times. He had a temple with a sacred grove in Laconia, Sparta, where an annual festival, restricted to male devotees, was held for him. He also has a private island off the coast of Colchis, a haven for Stymphalian birds who survived Heracles’ massacre.

**Offerings:** It is traditional to make an offering on the eve before an anticipated battle (military or otherwise). Give him wine, hard liquor, miniature weapons, and/or images of horses.

**See Also:** Aglauros; Alala; Amphitrite; Aphrodite; Athena; Enyo; Eris; Hephaestus; Hera; Heracles; Mars; Poseidon; Priapus; Tabiti; Zeus

## Smite Lore

Feared by his enemies, reviled by his father, adored by the Goddess of Beauty, and worshipped by warriors, Ares, a tortured and lonely soul, is the bloodthirsty Greek God of War.

Ares is not loved by the people. He represents everything they fear and despise: war, strife, chaos, and murder. It’s said that the sky darkens when Ares takes the field. That he rides to battle on a chariot drawn by fire-breathing steeds and delights only in the clash of battle and smell of bloodshed.

Ares is not loved by his father. Zeus has many sons, but only two with his wife Hera. However, the thunder God has long suspected Hera of having an affair that led to the birth of Ares, perhaps as revenge for all of Zeus’ infidelity. For this, Zeus is disgusted by him.

Ares is not loved by his sister. Athena and Ares are both Gods of War. Where Ares represents violence, force, and slaughter, Athena is the embodiment of intelligence, strategy, and leadership. Ares is quick to act and leave a bloody trail. Athena is thoughtful and careful with lives. Often they have been on the opposite sides, most notably at the Battle of Troy, where Athena viciously wounded him and forced Ares to retreat.

Ares is the lover of the Goddess of Beauty. Though Aphrodite is married to Ares’ brother, Hephaestus, Ares takes what he wants, and Aphrodite gives in willingly. Their union created offspring almost as terrible as Ares himself: Phobos and Deimos, Fear and Terror.

Ares is loved only by the Spartans, who revere the God for his masculinity, his merciless warrior spirit, and tenacity against all odds. The Spartans, however, know the unpredictable fury of their patron, and bind his statues in chains. This is, in part, to prevent Ares’ spirit of victory from escaping Sparta, and a vain effort to keep the God of War contained.

## Appearances in Modern Media

From SmiteFrom HadesFrom Blood of ZeusFrom Dawn of GodsFrom Age of MythologyFrom Age of IshtariaFrom Rage of BahamutFrom Blood BrothersFrom Puzzle & DragonFrom Immortals: Fenyx RisingFrom Shin Megami TenseiFrom DislyteFrom Sid StroyFrom Monster StrikeFrom Force of WillFrom Kamihime Project
## Mars

**Also known as:** Mamers; Marmar; Marmor; Mavors; Maris

As the father of Romulus, Mars is literally considered the father of Rome. He is an ancient spirit who was venerated throughout the region, possibly originally by the Etruscans. His name is not of Indo-European derivation. Although now most famous as the lord of war, in his earliest incarnation he was a spirit of agricultural fertility and an aggressive, protective guardian of fields and boundaries.

An old Roman prayer requests that Mars banish visible and invisible ailments, trouble, disasters, and inclement weather.

His associations with war came to the fore when he later became intensely identified with the Greek war spirit Ares—and when Rome emerged as a military power. Martial, a synonym for warlike, derives from his name (martial arts, martial plan, martial law). A society of priests dedicated to him opened and closed the military calendar with martial dances. Mars is a spirit of prophesy: spears housed in his shrine provided an oracle via their spontaneous movement. They were understood as the voice of Mars himself.

Mars presided over Rome’s conquest of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. He was the favourite deity of Roman soldiers who carried him wherever they conquered. He became very popular in Gaul, now mainly modern France, however here, as in other Celtic regions, Mars’ associations with healing, fertility, and protection were emphasized, possibly because of ambivalence toward the Roman occupation. Mars is a warrior against illness, sterility, and death. Veneration of Mars may survive in veneration of Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Maurice.

**Favoured people:** Farmers, soldiers, mercenaries and those born under the zodiac sun signs Aries and Scorpio, as well as those born in March.

**Iconography:** In ancient days, Mars was venerated in the form of a spear. This is recalled in the form of his glyph which now also serves as a universal symbol for the male gender.

**Attributes:** Shield, spear

**Consorts:** Vacuna, Vitula, Venus

**Bird:** Woodpecker

**Animals:** Wolf, horse, bull, boar, ram

**Day:** Tuesday (in French: Mardi)

**Number:** 3

**Planet:** Mars

**Metal:** Iron

**Trees:** Fig, bay laurel, dogwood, oak

**Colour:** Red

**Month:** March

**Feast:** 1 March, Rome’s original New Year’s Day prior to calendar reformation, is his birthday. He is venerated alongside his mother, Juno. Other festivals include 27 February, 14 March, 17 March, 19 March, 23 March, 1 October, 15 October, and 19 October.

**Sacred sites:**

* His temple on Rome’s Palatine Hill.
* Rome’s Field of Mars (Campus Martius).
* Paris’ Field of Mars (Champ de Mars).
* The site of his Gallic temple in Boulogne Sur-Mer is now the largest crypt in France, housing the tomb of Ida of the Ardennes, mother of Crusader king Godefroy of Bouillon.

**See Also:** Bellona; Janus; Juno; Lenus; Loucetius; Venus; Vesta

## Appearance in Modern Media

From Monster StrikeFrom Force of WillFrom Dragalia LostFrom Kamihime ProjectFrom Rage of Bahamut
## Information Source

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses by Judika Illes