Ares

=Life of Brutal Warfare = =By: Jacob =

Would you become the god of war just to cause doom and terror everywhere you go? Ares controlled the many wars that raged through the time of Greek mythology. He was a powerful, feared, important god who was the least favored of the 12 Olympians.

Ares was the god of many things, most of which were related to battle. For example, he was god of war along with @Athena. But while Athena came up with the battle strategies, Ares simply enjoyed the bloodshed, violence, and causing mayhem (Minster). He wasn’t only the god of the offensive side, though. He was also the god of city defense, civil order, and courage. Usually, in a battle, Ares would be on one side, fighting against his half sister @Athena. He was the type who would run in and murder everyone, but Athena would stand back and think up ways to end up winning. Athena had the smarter way of winning because, after all, she is the goddess of wisdom as well. Ares was known for going to many battles. He enjoyed them because there he could cause much fear, violence, and anger. Even though Ares was the least liked on Mount Olympus, he was still the god of nine things, and was a very powerful, yet hot-headed man (Astma). ﻿ 

Since Ares was the god of battle and violence, he couldn’t be represented by anything other than a spear, which is what he used when he fought because it was a good close combat weapon. On the other side, Athena’s symbol was an owl to show intelligence and watchfulness. In a battle, one on one, Ares might have a chance because he would charge in without thinking of the possible consequences, whereas @Athena would want to think things over. But, when each god has an army with them, @Athena would win. Ares would be leading all of his men into their deaths. Another one of his symbols is a helmet. This shows that although he can be quick to act and hot-headed, he still has some basic knowledge. He knows that without a helmet, that decreases his chance of living greatly. He also wears armor and carries a shield, which are two of his attributes.

Ares, being a god, had a lot of relatives. He is the child of Zeus and @Hera. Zeus is the King of the Gods, and @Hera is the Queen of the Gods. You would think that the two rulers of the Gods having children would lead to the most powerful Gods in Greek mythology. But, two of their children were not very powerful, and two of them were. Their four children were @Hephaestus, Ares, Hebe, and Eileithyia. Only two of the four were great Olympians. That was @Hephaestus (god of the forge), and Ares who was the least favored of them all. Hebe was the goddess of youth, and Eileithyia was the goddess of birth-pain. Along with his two sisters and his brother, he had many half siblings, all of which were fathered by Zeus. Ares had many people in his family, half of which were mortal. Since his father was Zeus, he had an inordinate amount of half brothers and sisters. Ares was not only a son, but a father. He had nine children, four of which were divine. Two of his children were known for accompanying him into battle. Those children were Phobos (god of fear), and Deimos (god of terror) (Bolton). He was also the father to Harmonia, goddess of harmony. One of his non-human children was the dragon who guarded the spring of Ismene in Thebes (Astma). His five human children were very powerful too, though. Most of them were kings, queens, and princes. Over all, Ares had an extremely large family.

Ares was involved in a lot of myths, some of which were with mortals or other gods, but others were with monsters. One of the myths was about Ares and the Giants Aloadai. In this myth, Ares fights with sons of Aloeus. Their names are Ephialtes and Otos. The two giants manage to capture the god and tie him up in a huge pot. They tie him up with chains that were too strong for the god to break free from. He was held captive there for 3 months and 10 days. Then, the giants’ stepmother (Eribois) found the god lying in the cauldron and went to talk to the other gods. They sent Hermes, the messenger god, and he snatched Ares away from the evil giants.

This god was involved in more myths with other people more than with monsters. For example, one of his most famous myths is “The love-affair of Ares and Aphrodite.” This myth goes that Ares and @Aphrodite were committing adultery when the god of the sun, Helios, saw them. He went and told @Hephaestus, Aphrodite’s husband, who became furious. He was so mad that he made a seemingly invisible net to catch them “in the act.” The net was made out of incredibly thin bronze which was too thin to see. The net was rigged to close when it got the slightest touch to catch Aphrodite with Ares. While they were stuck to the bed, @Hephaestus went and opened the doors to the room. He then brought in all the other gods to show off his catch (Astma).

Ares was the god of many things, but mainly of war. Even though he was the least favored of them all, he was needed to be one of the 12 Olympians. He was the son of Zeus and @Hera and had nine children. Two of them accompanied their father because they were the gods of terror and fear. Ares only cared for war and bloodshed and we should not learn anything from him, except what not to do.

Works Cited: Astma, Aaron J. “ARES : Summary of the Olympian God.” THEOI GREEK MYTHOLOGY, Exploring Mythology & the Greek Gods in Classical Literature & Art. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <@http://www.theoi.com/Summary/Ares.html>.

“Ares.” Encyclopedia Mythica: Mythology, Folklore, and Religion. 3 Mar. 1997. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <@http://pantheon.org/articles/a/ares.html>.

“Ares * The Immortals * Greek Mythology: From the Iliad to the Fall of the Last Tyrant.” Messagenet Communications Research. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <@http://messagenetcommresearch.com/myths/bios/ares.html>.

Bolton, Lesley. The Everything Classical Mythology Book: Greek and Roman Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters from Ares to Zeus. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2002. Print.

<span style="color: #a40404; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Minster, Christopher. “Ares and Athena: The Two Greek Gods of War.” Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers’ Network. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. <@http://www.suite101.com/content/ares-and-athena-a81778>. <span style="color: #a40404; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">