Ares

The Greek war-god as Greeks themselves treated him: a force more cursed than honored. Homer's Zeus calls him the most hateful of the gods. Cult presence narrow — most prominent at Sparta (where his statue was kept chained) and at Thebes (via the Cadmus-Harmonia line). Distinct from his Roman interpretatio Mars, who was the begetter of Romulus and central to Roman civic identity in a way Ares never was at Athens.

Parentage

• paternal: Zeus
• parent: Hera

Children

• Anteros
• Antiope the Amazon
• Deimos
• Harmonia
• Hippolyta
• Melanippe
• Oenomaus
• Penthesilea
• Phobos
• Thestius of Aetolia

Children in alternative accounts

• Thestius of Aetolia: Apollodorus: Aetolian ancestryApollodorus, Library 1.7.7 (primary)

Domains

• war violence
• battle frenzy

Powers

• Rouse murderous war-frenzy
• Instill battle-panic and rout
• Instill battle-panic and rout
• Rouse murderous war-frenzy

Epithets

• Ἐνυάλιος greek · Enyálios'Warlike one' — ancient war-epithet/aspect of Ares, already a distinct cult-name in the Linear B tablets (e-nu-wa-ri-jo)Homer, Iliad 17.211 (primary); Knossos tablet KN V 52 (primary)
• Θοῦρος greek · Thoûros'Rushing, impetuous' — Homeric epithet of Ares' battle-frenzyHomer, Iliad 5.30 (primary)
• Βροτολοιγός greek · Brotoloigós'Bane of mortals, man-slaughtering' — recurrent Homeric epithetHomer, Iliad 5.31 (primary)
• Ἀρειος (Ἄρης Γυναικοθοίνας) greek · Árēs Gynaikothoínas'Feasted by women' — cult-epithet at Tegea in Arcadia, from a women's sacrificePausanias 8.48.4-5 (primary)

Relations

• companion: Deimos
• sibling: Eileithyia
• companion: Phobos
• sibling: HebeFull sibling; shares the same complete attested parentage.
• sibling: ApolloFull sibling; shares the same complete attested parentage.
• sibling: AeacusFull sibling; shares the same complete attested parentage.
• sibling: AthenaFull sibling; shares the same complete attested parentage.
• sibling: DionysusFull sibling; shares the same complete attested parentage.
• sibling: ArtemisFull sibling; shares the same complete attested parentage.
• sibling: HermesFull sibling; shares the same complete attested parentage.
• lover: OtreraReciprocal of greek_otrera.loverApollod. Epit. 5.1; Hyg. Fab. 30 (primary)
• lover: AphroditeCaught in Hephaestus's net mid-affair; fathered Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, Eros, Anteros.Hom. Od. 8.266-366; Hes. Theog. 933-937 (primary)
• enemy: AthenaAthena defeats Ares directly in the Iliadic theomachy.Hom. Il. 21.391-414 (primary)
• interpretatio: MarsAncient identification Ares ↔ Mars. Distinct entries retained: Ares is hated by Zeus and peripheral in Greek cult; Mars is "father of the Roman people" and central to Roman civic religion (Salii, Equirria, March/October ritual cycle). Per Beard/North/Price, Religions of Rome (1998) vol. I; Wissowa 1912.Varro LL 5.73; Cic. Nat. D. 3.62; Liv. 1.20 (primary)
• interpretatio: Sword-God of War (Scythian Ares)Reciprocal of scythian_ares.interpretatio — Hdt names only 'Ares' for the sword-god — no Scythian theonym survives. Preserves pure war-divinity; breaks on cult form: the akinakes on a brush-platform altar with captive sacrifice has no Greek analogue.Herodotus, Histories 4.59, 4.62 (primary)
• interpretatio: Kandaon, the Thracian War-LordReciprocal of thracian_kandaon.interpretatio — Lycophron's gloss-tradition renders Kandaon as the Thracian Ares. Preserves the war-god slot Hdt 5.7 gives Thrace; the native god's wolf-associations have no equivalent in the Greek Ares.Lycophron, Alexandra 938 with Tzetzes' scholia (Kandaon as Thracian Ares) (primary)
• counterpart of: AresTradition-specific counterpart; this link does not transfer parentage.Orphic Hymns 64 (Taylor; modern 65) (primary)
• child (Apollodoran account): Thestius of AetoliaApollodorus, Library 1.7.7 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Hom. Il. 5.30-909 (full Diomedes-Ares duel and complaint to Zeus); Hes. Theog. 921-922 (son of Zeus and Hera) (primary)
• parentage: Hes. Theog. 921-922 (primary)
• identification: Varro LL 5.73; Liv. 1.20 (primary)