The following content is adapted from Mythology Unbound and is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera. He was one of the twelve Olympians, but as a war god was feared. He was the least popular among the Greeks and among his fellow gods due to his combative nature. The only one who seemed to like him was Aphrodite. The two were portrayed as having a long-standing affair, and they had four children together. He also had many children with mortal women from Thrace. He was the father of several of the Argonauts and of the Amazon queen, Penthesileia (see chapter 23).

Ares was primarily worshipped outside of Greece, particularly in Thrace and Scythia. In myth he was associated with the Amazons and the Colchians. The belt that Heracles steals from the Amazon queen, Hippolyte, during his ninth labour, was given to her by Ares (see chapter 17). The grove which held the Golden Fleece, the object of the quest of Jason and the Argonauts (see chapter 18), was sacred to Ares.

God of War

The following content is adapted from Mythology Unbound and is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

Despite being a war god, in Greek myths, Ares was often bested by the other gods. Athena wounds him in combat during the Trojan War and Heracles manages to take him down four times while fighting at Pylus. The giants Otus and Ephialtes trap him in a pot and he is stuck there for over a year until Hermes rescues him.

One might wonder why Ares’ associations with war would hurt his reputation while Athena, a war goddess, was so popular. However, the Greeks viewed Ares’ bloodthirstiness as antithetical to their tactical style of warfare, exemplified by Athena (see passage from the Iliad, below).

However, Ares’ Roman counterpart, Mars, was a favourite of the Romans. They traced their lineage to him, as the father of Romulus and Remus by the Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia. Mars was the protector of the Romans and their patron god.

For further discussion of Mars and the foundation of Rome, see the following sections and chapter 32.

In Greek art, Ares was commonly represented as a fully-armed warrior, wearing a hoplite armour composed of helmet, cuirass, greaves, and a large shield.

As the god of war was feared, his representations on most mediums seem to have been fairly rare until the Hellenistic Period (323-31 BCE). In vase paintings and reliefs, Ares is usually depicted as a member of the assembly of the gods in collective scenes. He rarely appears alone, unlike Athena who is often portrayed solo.

One of the few myths about Ares that is found in art is the killing of his son, Kyknos, at the hands of Heracles. This scene usually depicts the two combatants flanked by their protectors: Athena on the side of Heracles, and Ares on the side of Kyknos, pitting Athena and Ares conceptually and visually against one another.

The Roman god Mars, much like his Greek counterpart, was usually depicted as an armed warrior. He could be portrayed either as a naked youth surrounded by his weapons, or as a more mature, bearded man in full armour.

The first iteration of Mars was generally used in depictions of scenes inspired by Greek myth, such as his relationship with Aphrodite/Venus.  The second one was employed when referring to Mars as the ancestral god of the city of Rome.

During the Imperial Period (27 BC to 284 BCE), some emperors were also portrayed in the guise of Mars to underline their military prowess and to tie them to Rome’s origins.