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--mythology-- Alright, the planet Mars is named after the Roman god Mars, who is generally based upon the Greek god Ares. Therefore, the following information pertains to Ares. Article excerpted from Greek Mythology and Religion (Ares), published by Haïtalis, texts by Maria Mavromataki. " For the ancient Greeks, Ares was the god of war, the figure behind all violence, battles and other conflicts among men. The son of Zeus and Hera, he had inherited his mother’s difficult, mercurial temperament, which made him unpopular with mankind and even among the gods. Zeus himself tells Ares, in the Iliad, that "I do not fight other gods, as you do, because you always want to see quarreling, pain and war. You have your mother’s unbending and intolerable obstinacy!" As a result, Ares was never worshipped to any great extent, and no Greek city had him as its patron. The god’s cult, such as it was, seems to have begun in Thrace, where - according to Homer - Ares lived. From there, knowledge of him spread to Boeotia and then throughout Greece, ultimately leading to his establishment as one of the twelve gods of Olympus. Ares’ properties are partly connected with his origins, since for the ancient Greeks Thrace was a place of rough people and crude customs. Furthermore, it was from Thrace that the storms of winter came to lash the south of Greece. Ares was often compared to a storm, thundering down across the field of battle and causing the clanging of weapons that shook the earth and heaven alike. Even when supine on the earth he inspired terror in the human heart, for his body occupied two acres of ground. In the human imagination, this vast warrior, armed to the teeth, spread death wherever he went, whether flames were bursting out of his chest or whether he was simply racing by in his chariot drawn by golden horses. Unlike Athena, who had devised methodical and orderly ways of waging war, Ares loved bloodshed and chaotic fighting. In the Trojan War, however, he was seriously wounded by Athena as he strove to help the Trojan side, thus proving that technique was capable of overcoming brute force. continue... |
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