View source for Ares

{{Short description|God of war in ancient Greek religion}}
{{About|the ancient Greek god}}
{{Distinguish|Aries (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Ares
| image = Ares Canope Villa Adriana b.jpg
| alt = 
| tree = 
| caption = Cast of a Roman statue from Hadrian's Villa, copied from a Greek original. Traditionally identified as Ares or Hermes.
| god_of = God of war and courage
| member_of = the [[Twelve Olympians]]
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]], temples in mainland Greece, [[Crete]] and [[Asia minor]]
| symbols = [[Sword]], [[spear]], [[shield]], [[helmet]]
| parents = [[Zeus]] and [[Hera]]
| siblings = [[Hephaestus]], [[Eileithyia]], [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]] and [[Zeus#Offspring|several paternal half-siblings]]
| children = the [[Erotes (mythology)|Erotes]] ([[Eros]] and [[Anteros]]), [[Phobos (mythology)|Phobos]], [[Deimos (mythology)|Deimos]], [[Phlegyas]], [[Harmonia]], [[Enyalius]], [[Thrax (mythology)|Thrax]], [[Oenomaus]], [[Cycnus (son of Ares)|Cycnus]], and the [[Amazons]]
| mount = 
| Roman_equivalent = [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]
| day = [[Tuesday]] (''hēméra Áreōs'')
| planet = [[Mars]]
| spouse = [[Aphrodite]]<ref name="h202">Hard, p. 202</ref>
}}
{{Contains special characters}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}

'''Ares''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛər|iː|z}}; {{langx|grc|Ἄρης}}, ''Árēs'' {{IPA|el|árɛːs|}}) is the [[List of Greek deities|Greek god]] of [[war god|war]] and courage. He is one of the [[Twelve Olympians]], and the son of [[Zeus]] and [[Hera]]. Many Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war but can also personify sheer brutality and bloodlust, in contrast to his sister [[Athena]], whose martial functions include military strategy and generalship. An association with Ares endows places, objects, and other deities with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.

Although Ares's name shows his origins as [[Mycenae]]an, his reputation for savagery was thought by some to reflect his likely origins as a Thracian deity. Some cities in Greece and several in Asia Minor held annual festivals to bind and detain him as their protector. In parts of Asia Minor, he was an oracular deity. Still further away from Greece, the [[Scythians]] were said to ritually kill one in a hundred prisoners of war as an offering to their equivalent of Ares. The later belief that ancient Spartans had offered human sacrifice to Ares may owe more to mythical prehistory, misunderstandings, and reputation than to reality.

Although there are many literary allusions to Ares's love affairs and children, he has a limited role in [[Greek mythology]]. When he does appear, he is often humiliated. In the [[Trojan War]], [[Aphrodite]], protector of Troy, persuades Ares to take the Trojans' side. The Trojans lose, while Ares's sister Athena helps the Greeks to victory. Most famously, when the craftsman-god [[Hephaestus]] discovers his wife [[Aphrodite]] is having an affair with Ares, he traps the lovers in a net and exposes them to the ridicule of the other gods.

Ares's nearest counterpart in Roman religion is [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], who was given a more important and dignified place in [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]] as ancestral protector of the Roman people and state. During the [[Hellenization]] of [[Latin literature]], the myths of Ares were [[interpretatio graeca|reinterpreted]] by Roman writers under the name of Mars, and in later [[Western culture|Western art and literature]], the mythology of the two figures became virtually indistinguishable.

==Names==
The etymology of the name ''Ares'' is traditionally connected with the [[Greek language|Greek]] word {{lang|grc|ἀρή}} (''arē''), the [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] form of the [[Doric Greek|Doric]] {{lang|grc|ἀρά}} (''ara''), "bane, ruin, curse, imprecation".<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0073%3Aentry%3Da%29rh%2F ἀρή], Georg Autenrieth, ''A Homeric Dictionary''. {{LSJ|a)ra/|ἀρή|ref}}.</ref> [[Walter Burkert]] notes that "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."<ref name="Burkert, p. 169">Burkert, [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/169/mode/2up?view=theater p. 169].</ref> [[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]] has suggested a [[Pre-Greek]] origin of the name.<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, pp. 129–130.</ref> The earliest attested form of the name is the [[Mycenaean language|Mycenaean Greek]] {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀀𐀩}}}}, ''a-re'', written in the [[Linear B]] syllabic script.<ref>{{cite journal|title=A-re in the Linear B Tablets and the Continuity of the Cult of Ares in the Historical Period| url=http://www.utexas.edu/research/pasp/publications/pdf/are.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.utexas.edu/research/pasp/publications/pdf/are.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|first=Joannn|last=Gulizio|journal=Journal of Prehistoric Religion|volume=15|pages=32–38}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last=Raymoure| first=K.A.| url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/a/a-re/| title=a-re| work=Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B| publisher=Deaditerranean| year=2012| access-date=2014-03-08| archive-date=2016-03-18| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318004206/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/a/a-re/| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/default.aspx?static=12&wid=346723|title=The Linear B word a-re|website= Palaeolexicon, Word study tool of ancient languages}}</ref>

The [[adjective|adjectival]] [[epithet]], ''Areios'' ("warlike") was frequently appended to the names of other gods when they took on a warrior aspect or became involved in warfare: ''Zeus Areios'', ''Athena Areia'', even [[Aphrodite Areia]] ("Aphrodite within Ares" or "feminine Ares"), who was warlike, fully armoured and armed, partnered with [[Athena]] in [[Sparta]], and represented at [[Temple of Aphrodite, Kythira|Kythira]]'s temple to [[Aphrodite Urania]].<ref>Budin, Stephanie L. (2010). "Aphrodite Enoplion", In Smith, Amy C.; Pickup, Sadie (eds.). Brill's Companion to Aphrodite. Brill's Companions in Classical Studies. Boston, MA: Brill Publishers. pp. 79–116. {{ISBN|9789047444503}}.</ref>
In the ''[[Iliad]]'', the word ''ares'' is used as a [[common noun]] synonymous with "battle".<ref name="Burkert, p. 169"/>

In the [[Classical Greece|Classical period]], Ares is given the epithet [[Enyalios]], which seems to appear on the [[Helladic period|Mycenaean]] [[Knossos|KN]] V 52 tablet as {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀁𐀝𐀷𐀪𐀍}}}}, ''e-nu-wa-ri-jo''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chadwick|first=John|author-link=John Chadwick|title=The Mycenaean World|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1976|isbn=0-521-29037-6|url=https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/88 88]}} At [[Google Books]].</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/e/e-nu-wa-ri-jo/ |title=e-nu-wa-ri-jo |work=Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B |last=Raymoure |first=K.A. |publisher=Deaditerranean |access-date=2014-03-19 |archive-date=2021-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623193902/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/e/e-nu-wa-ri-jo/ |url-status=dead }} {{cite web |title=KN 52 V + 52 bis + 8285 (unknown) |website=DĀMOS: Database of Mycenaean at Oslo |url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/49 |publisher=[[University of Oslo]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319204420/https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/49 |archive-date=2014-03-19 }}</ref> Enyalios was sometimes identified with Ares and sometimes differentiated from him as another war god with separate cult, even in the same town; Burkert describes them as "doubles almost".<ref name="OCD-Ares" /><ref>Burkert, p. 44</ref>

==Epithets==
Source:<ref>Nilsson Vol I, p. 517–519</ref>

*'''aatos''' or '''atos polemoio''', insatiate at war.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da)%2Fatos1 Liddel Scott]</ref>
*'''alloprosallos''', leaning first to one side, then to the other.
*'''andreifontēs''', man-slaying.
*'''apotimos''', dishonoured by Sophocles.
*'''brotoloigos''', plague of man.
*'''enyalios''', warlike.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*)enua%2Flios Liddel Scott]</ref>
*'''Thēritas''', at Sparta. Laconic form of [[Thersites]], audacious.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*qhri%2Ftas Liddel Scott]</ref>
*'''mainomenos''', malignant.
*'''miaifonos''', blood-stained
*'''tykton kakon''', complete evil.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dtukto%2Fs Liddell Scott]</ref>

==Cult==
[[File:Ares Argentina Montemartini.jpg|thumb|Ares, 2nd–3rd century AD, after a Greek bronze original by Alkamenes dated 420 BC,{{citation needed|reason=need [[WP:SCHOLARSHIP]] source for unqualified claim that the original was by Alcamenes; compare the careful description of the [[Ares Borghese]]|date=August 2023}} excavated in 1925 in Rome's [[Largo di Torre Argentina]]]]
In mainland Greece and the [[Peloponnese]], only a few places are known to have had a formal temple and cult of Ares.<ref name="Burkert, p. 170">Burkert, [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/170/mode/2up?view=theater p. 170].</ref>{{refn|group=n|Burkert lists temples at or near Troizen, Geronthrai and Halicarnassus. The Oxford Classical Dictionary adds Argos, Megalopolis, Therapne and Tegea in the Peloponnese, Athens and Erythrae, and Cretan sites Cnossus, Lato, Biannos and perhaps Olus.<ref name="OCD-Ares">{{cite book |last1=Graf |first1=Fritz |editor1-last=Hornblower & Spawforth |title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=019866172X |page=152 |edition=Third |chapter=Ares}}</ref>}} [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (2nd century AD) notes an altar to Ares at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]],<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-grc1:5.15.6 5.15.6].</ref> and the moving of a [[Temple of Ares]] to the [[Ancient Agora of Athens|Athenian agora]] during the reign of [[Augustus]], essentially rededicating it (2 AD) as a [[Roman temple]] to the Augustan [[Mars Ultor]].<ref name="Burkert, p. 170"/> The [[Areopagus]] ("mount of Ares"), a natural rock outcrop in Athens, some distance from the Acropolis, was supposedly where Ares was tried and acquitted by the gods for his revenge-killing of [[Poseidon]]'s son, [[Halirrhothius]], who had raped Ares's daughter [[Alcippe (daughter of Ares)|Alcippe]]. Its name was used for the court that met there, mostly to investigate and try potential cases of treason.<ref>Berens, E.M.: Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, page 113. Project Gutenberg, 2007.</ref>

Numismatist [[Martin Price (numismatist)|M. Jessop Price]] states that Ares "typified the traditional Spartan character", but had no important cult in Sparta;<ref>Cf. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.19.7 3.19.7].</ref> and he never occurs on Spartan coins.<ref>Price, M. Jessop. "Greek Imperial Coins: Some Recent Acquisitions by the British Museum." The Numismatic Chronicle, vol. 11, 1971, p. 131. {{JSTOR|42664547}}. Accessed 4 Aug. 2021.</ref> Pausanias gives two examples of his cult, both of them conjointly with or "within" a warlike Aphrodite, on the Spartan acropolis.<ref>Budin, 2010. "Aphrodite Enoplion", pp. 86-116.</ref> Gonzalez observes, in his 2005 survey of Ares's cults in Asia Minor, that cults to Ares on the Greek mainland may have been more common than some sources assert.<ref>Gonzales, Matthew, "The Oracle and Cult of Ares in Asia Minor", ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'', 45, 2005, p. 282; "...Ares was not so neglected by the cities of mainland Greece as many would have us believe"</ref> Wars between Greek states were endemic; war and warriors provided Ares's tribute, and fed his insatiable appetite for battle.<ref>Millington, Alexander T., ''War and the Warrior: Functions of Ares in Literature and Cult'', University College, London, 2013, pp. 41-44, 230 ff [https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1427880/1/Alexander_Thomas_Millington_Ares_-_Full_PhD_Thesis_(corrected).pdf]</ref>

Ares's attributes are instruments of war: a helmet, shield, and sword or spear.<ref name=":2" /> [[Libanius]] "makes the apple sacred to Ares", but "offers no further comment", nor connections to any aetiological myth. Apples are one of Aphrodite's sacred or symbolic fruits. Littlewood follows [[Artemidorus of Daldis|Artemidorus]] claim that to dream of sour apples presages conflict, and lists Ares alongside [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] and the mythological "Apples of Discord".<ref>[[Libanius]], ''[[Progymnasmata]]'', ''Model Exercises in Greek Prose Composition and Rhetoric,'' Translated and with an Introduction and Notes by Craig A. Gibson, 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kRi-If9IAOYC&pg=PA263] p. 263, particularly note 270: and Littlewood, A. R. "The Symbolism of the Apple in Greek and Roman Literature." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 72 (1968): pp. 161-162. https://doi.org/10.2307/311078.</ref>

===Chained statues===
Gods were immortal but could be bound and restrained, both in mythic narrative and in cult practice. There was an archaic [[Sparta]]n statue of Ares in chains in the temple of [[Enyalios]] (sometimes regarded as the son of Ares, sometimes as Ares himself), which Pausanias claimed meant that the spirit of war and victory was to be kept in the city.{{refn|group=n|"Opposite this temple [the temple of Hipposthenes] is an old image of Enyalius in fetters. The idea the Lacedaemonians express by this image is the same as the Athenians express by their Wingless Victory; the former think that Enyalius will never run away from them, being bound in the fetters, while the Athenians think that Victory, having no wings, will always remain where she is".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.15.7 3.15.7].</ref>}} The Spartans are known to have ritually bound the images of other deities, including [[Aphrodite]] and Artemis (cf Ares and Aphrodite bound by Hephaestus), and in other places there were chained statues of Artemis and Dionysos.<ref>Gonzales, 2005, p. 282</ref><ref>Burkert, [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/92/mode/2up?view=theater p. 92].</ref>

Statues of Ares in chains are described in the instructions given by an oracle of the late Hellenistic era to various cities of [[Pamphylia]] (in Anatolia) including [[Syedra]], [[Lycia]] and [[Cilicia]], places almost perpetually under threat from pirates. Each was told to set up a statue of "bloody, man-slaying Ares" and provide it with an annual festival in which it was ritually bound with iron fetters ("by [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]] and Hermes") as if a supplicant for justice, put on trial and offered sacrifice. The oracle promises that "thus will he become a peaceful deity for you, once he has driven the enemy horde far from your country, and he will give rise to prosperity much prayed for". This Ares ''karpodotes'' ("giver of Fruits") is well attested in Lycia and Pisidia.<ref>Gonzalez, 2005, p. 282</ref>

===Sacrifices===
[[File:Parthenon frieze east IV fragment.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|Ares (right) with Demeter, Dionysus and Hermes on the [[frieze of the Parthenon]], {{Circa}} 447–433 BC, [[British Museum]]]]

Like most Greek deities, Ares was given animal sacrifice; in Sparta, after battle, he was given an ox for a victory by stratagem, or a rooster for victory through onslaught.<ref>Hughes, Dennis D., ''Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 1991, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003, p. 128, {{ISBN|0-203-03283-7}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Hughes is citing Plutarch, ''Instituta Laconica'' (trans. Babbit) Loeb, 1931, 25, 238F; "Whenever they overcome their enemies by out-generaling them, they sacrifice a bull to Ares, but when the victory is gained in open conflict, they offer a cock, thus trying to make their leaders habitually not merely fighters but tacticians as well". In ''The Life of Agesilaus'', 33.4: Plutarch claims that the Spartans thought victory was such ordinary work for them, they only sacrificed a rooster in recognition.}} The usual recipient of sacrifice before battle was Athena. Reports of historic human sacrifice to Ares in an obscure rite known as the ''Hekatomphonia'' represent a very long-standing error, repeated through several centuries and well into the modern era.{{refn|group=n|Among others, it has been repeated by ancient sources including [[Apollonius of Athens]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], [[Plutarch]], [[Clement of Alexandria]] and by many modern historians; see Hughes, "Human Sacrifice", 1991, pp.119-122 & notes 145, 146.}} The ''hekatomphonia'' was an animal sacrifice to Zeus; it could be  offered by any warrior who had personally slain one hundred of the enemy.{{refn|group=n|In the [[Protrepticus (Clement)|Protrepticus]], Clement of Alexandria writes: "Indeed, [[Aristomenes|Aristomenes the Messenian]] sacrificed 300 men to Zeus of [[Ithome]]...[including] [[Theopompus]] the [[Lacedaemonian]] (Spartan) king, a noble victim." The rite was supposedly performed three times by Aristomenes: Plutarch did not find it credible that one man could have slaughtered three hundred. The Spartans claimed that Theopompus had only been wounded}}<ref>Hughes, "Human Sacrifice", 1991, pp.119-122 & notes 145, 146 for a clear account of the error, and how and why it might have been perpetuated</ref><ref>Faraone, Christopher A. "Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of 'Voodoo Dolls' in Ancient Greece." ''Classical Antiquity'', vol. 10, no. 2, 1991, pp. 165–220. {{JSTOR|25010949}}. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021</ref> Pausanias reports that in Sparta, each company of youths sacrificed a puppy to Enyalios before engaging in a hand-to-hand "fight without rules" at the Phoebaeum.{{refn|group=n|"Here each company of youths sacrifices a puppy to Enyalius, holding that the most valiant of tame animals is an acceptable victim to the most valiant of the gods. I know of no other Greeks who are accustomed to sacrifice puppies except the people of [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]]; these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to the Wayside Goddess ([[Hecate]])".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.14.10 3.14.10].</ref>}}<ref>Graf, F. "Women, War, and Warlike Divinities." ''Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik'', vol. 55, 1984, p. 252. {{JSTOR|20184039}}. Accessed 13 Aug. 2021.</ref> The [[chthonic]] night-time sacrifice of a dog to Enyalios became assimilated to the cult of Ares.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/9344|title=Ares|date=2007-10-10|website=academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/9344|publisher=Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2017-01-16}}</ref> [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] claims, without detail, that Apollodorus of Athens (circa second century BC) says the [[Sparta]]ns made human sacrifices to Ares, but this may be a reference to mythic pre-history.<ref>Hughes, Dennis D., ''Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 1991, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003, p. 128, {{ISBN|0-203-03283-7}}. Hughes is citing Apollodorus of Athens, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historike, 244 F 125. English translation of Porphyry is in {{cite book |last1=Porphyry |title=[[On Abstinence from Eating Animals|On Abstinence from Killing Animals]] |page=[https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/porphyry_abstinence_02_book2.htm II.55]}}</ref>

===Thrace and Scythia===
A Thracian god identified by [[Herodotus]] ({{circa|484}} – {{circa|425 BC}}) as Ares, through ''[[interpretatio Graeca]]'', was one of three otherwise unnamed deities that Thracian commoners were said to worship. Herodotus recognises and names the other two as "Dionysus" and "Artemis", and claims that the Thracian aristocracy exclusively worshiped "Hermes".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Herodotus, The Histories, Book 5, chapter 7, section 1|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=5:chapter=7:section=1|access-date=2021-07-23|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>Oppermann, Manfred, Dimittrova, Nora M., ''religion, Thracian'', "Oxford Classical Dictionary, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5553 ..."Ares suggests the existence of a war-god, Dionysus probably stood for a deity of orgiastic character linked with fertility and vegetation, while Artemis was an embodiment of the major female deity, frequently interpreted as the Great Goddess"...</ref> In Herodotus's ''Histories'', the [[Scythian]]s worship an indigenous form of Greek Ares, who is otherwise unnamed, but ranked beneath [[Tabiti]] (whom Herodotus claims as a form of [[Hestia]]), Api and Papaios in Scythia's divine hierarchy. His cult object was an iron sword. The "Scythian Ares" was offered blood-sacrifices (or ritual killings) of cattle, horses and "one in every hundred human war-captives", whose blood was used to douse the sword. Statues, and complex platform-altars made of heaped brushwood were devoted to him. This sword-cult, or one very similar, is said to have persisted among the [[Alans]].<ref>Sulimirski, T. (1985). "The Scyths" in: Fisher, W. B. (Ed.) The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 2: The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-20091-1}}. pp. 158–159. Sulimirski is citing Herodotus, Book IV, 71-73, for the account of sacrifice to Ares.</ref> Some have posited that the "[[Sword of Mars]]" in later European history alludes to the [[Huns]] having adopted Ares.<ref>Geary, Patrick J. (1994). "Chapter 3. Germanic Tradition and Royal Ideology in the Ninth Century: The Visio Karoli Magni". Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages. Cornell University Press. p. 63. {{ISBN|978-0-8014-8098-0}}.</ref>

===Asia Minor===
In some parts of Asia Minor, Ares was a prominent [[oracle|oracular deity]], something not found in any Hellennic cult to Ares or Roman cult to Mars. Ares was linked in some regions or polities with a local god or cultic hero, and recognised as a higher, more prestigious deity than in mainland Greece. His cults in southern Asia Minor are attested from the 5th century BC and well into the later Roman Imperial era, at 29 different sites, and on over 70 local coin issues.<ref>Gonzales, 2005, pp.263, 271, 280-283.</ref> He is sometimes represented on coinage of the region by the "Helmet of Ares" or carrying a spear and a shield, or as a fully armed warrior, sometimes accompanied by a female deity. In what is now western Turkey, the Hellenistic city of [[Metropolis (Anatolia)|Metropolis]] built a monumental temple to Ares as the city's protector, not before the 3rd century BC. It is  now lost, but the names of some of its priests and priestesses survive, along with the temple's likely depictions on coins of the province.<ref>Millington, A.T. (2013) "Iyarri at the Interface: The Origins of Ares" in A. Mouton, I. Rutherford, & I. Yakubovich (eds.) ''Luwian Identities: Culture, Language and Religion Between Anatolia and the Aegean'' (Leiden) pp.555-557</ref>

===Crete===
A sanctuary of Aphrodite was established at [[Sta Lenika]], on [[Crete]], between the cities of [[Lato]] and [[Olus]], possibly during the [[Geometric period]]. It was rebuilt in the late 2nd century BC as a double-sanctuary to Ares and Aphrodite.<ref>Martha W. Baldwin Bowsky. "Portrait of a Polis: Lato Pros Kamara (Crete) in the Late Second Century B. C." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, vol. 58, no. 3, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1989, pp. 331–47, https://doi.org/10.2307/148222</ref> Inscriptions record disputes over the ownership of the sanctuary. The names of Ares and Aphrodite appear as witness to sworn oaths, and there is a Victory thanks-offering to Aphrodite, whom Millington believes had capacity as a "warrior-protector acting in the realm of Ares". There were cultic links between the Sta Lenika sanctuary, Knossos and other Cretan states, and perhaps with [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] on the mainland.<ref>This refers to a double-temple to Aphrodite and Ares reported by Pausanias. Its cult practises are unknown. See Fusco, U. (2017). The Sanctuary of Aphrodite and Ares (Paus. 2.25.1) in the Periurban Area of Argos and Temples with a Double Cella in Greece. Tekmeria, 13, 97-124. doi:https://doi.org/10.12681/tekmeria.1073.</ref> While the Greek literary and artistic record from both the Archaic and Classical eras connects Ares and Aphrodite as complementary companions and ideal though adulterous lovers, their cult pairing and Aphrodite as warrior-protector is localised to Crete.<ref name="Millington, Alexander T. 2013, pp.555-557">Millington, Alexander T., "Iyarri at the Interface: The Origins of Ares" in A. Mouton, I. Rutherford, & I. Yakubovich (eds.) ''Luwian Identities: Culture, Language and Religion Between Anatolia and the Aegean'' (Leiden) 2013, pp.555-557</ref><ref name="discovery.ucl.ac.uk">Millington, Alexander T., ''War and the Warrior: Functions of Ares in Literature and Cult'', University College, London, 2013, pp. 101-105 [https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1427880/1/Alexander_Thomas_Millington_Ares_-_Full_PhD_Thesis_(corrected).pdf]</ref>

===Aksum===
In Africa, [[Maḥrem]], the principal god of the [[kings of Aksum]] prior to the 4th century AD, was invoked as Ares in Greek inscriptions. The anonymous king who commissioned the [[Monumentum Adulitanum]] in the late 2nd or early 3rd century refers to "my greatest god, Ares, who also begat me, through whom I brought under my sway [various peoples]". The monumental throne celebrating the king's conquests was itself dedicated to Ares.<ref>[[Glen Bowersock]], ''The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam'' (Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 45, 47–48.</ref> In the early 4th century, the last pagan king of Aksum, [[Ezana]], referred to "the one who brought me forth, the invincible Ares".<ref>Bowersock, ''Throne of Adulis'', p. 69.</ref>

==Characterisation==
[[File:Ares Borghese2.gif|thumb|250px|The ''[[Ares Borghese]]'']]
Ares was one of the [[Twelve Olympians]] in the archaic tradition represented by the ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]].'' In [[ancient Greek literature|Greek literature]], Ares often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war and is the personification of sheer brutality and bloodlust ("overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering", as Burkert puts it), in contrast to his sister, the armored [[Athena]], whose functions as a [[knowledge deity|goddess of intelligence]] include military strategy and generalship.<ref>[[Walter Burkert]], ''Greek Religion'' (Blackwell, 1985, 2004 reprint, originally published 1977 in German), pp. 141; William Hansen, ''Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans'' (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 113.</ref> An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality;<ref>Hansen, ''Classical Mythology'', pp. 114–115.</ref> but when Ares does appear in myths, he typically faces humiliation.<ref name="Hansen, pp. 113">Hansen, ''Classical Mythology'', pp. 113–114.</ref>

In the ''Iliad'', Zeus expresses a recurring Greek revulsion toward the god when Ares returns wounded and complaining from the [[Trojan War|battlefield at Troy]]:
{{poem quote|Then looking at him darkly Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to him:
"Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar.
To me you are the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympus.
Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart, wars and battles.
...
And yet I will not long endure to see you in pain, since
you are my child, and it was to me that your mother bore you.
But were you born of some other god and proved so ruinous
long since you would have been dropped beneath the gods of the bright sky."<ref>''Iliad'', Book 5, lines 798–891, 895–898 in the translation of [[Richmond Lattimore]].</ref>}}

This ambivalence is expressed also in the Greeks' association of Ares with the [[Thracians]], whom they regarded as a barbarous and warlike people.<ref>''[[Iliad]]'' 13.301; [[Ovid]], ''Ars Amatoria'', II.10.</ref> [[Thrace]] was considered to be Ares's birthplace and his refuge after the affair with [[Aphrodite]] was exposed to the general mockery of the other gods.{{refn|group=n|Homer ''Odyssey'' viii. 361; for Ares/Mars and Thrace, see [[Ovid]], ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'', book ii.part xi.585, which tells the same tale: "Their captive bodies are, with difficulty, freed, at your plea, Neptune: Venus runs to Paphos: Mars heads for Thrace."; for Ares/Mars and Thrace, see also [[Statius]], ''Thebaid'' vii. 42}}

A late 6th-century BC funerary inscription from [[Attica]] emphasizes the consequences of coming under Ares's sway:{{poem quote|Stay and mourn at the tomb of dead Kroisos
Whom raging Ares destroyed one day, fighting in the foremost ranks.<ref>Athens, NM 3851 quoted in Andrew Stewart, ''One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works'', Introduction: I. "The Sources"</ref>}}

== Mythology ==
[[File:Ares Ludovisi Altemps Inv8602 n2.jpg|thumb|''The [[Ludovisi Ares]]'', Roman version of a Greek original c. 320 BC, with 17th-century restorations by [[Bernini]]]]

===Birth===
He is one of the [[Twelve Olympians]], and the son of [[Zeus]] and [[Hera]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''Theogony'' [https://archive.org/details/hesiod00hesi 921]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 5.890–896</ref> By contrast, Ares's Roman counterpart [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] was born from [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] alone, according to [[Ovid]].<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (Ovid)|Fasti]]'' 5.229–260</ref> A lesser known version found in Greek scholia to [[Aeschylus]]' ''[[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|Suppliants]]'' which is diametrically opposing the version by Ovid states that Ares was born to Zeus only, who drank from the "life-giving" waters of the [[Nile]], a river described as prone to producing male children.<ref>{{cite journal|pages=6–7|title=Ares and Other "Mothers' Sons" in Greek Mythology: A Structural Analysis|first1=Irune|last1=Valderrábano González|first2=Francisco Javier|last2=González García|journal=Classical World|volume=114|number=2|date=2021|doi=10.1353/clw.2021.0002}}</ref>

===Argonautica===
In the ''[[Argonautica]]'', the ''Golden Fleece'' hangs in a grove sacred to Ares, until its theft by [[Jason (mythology)|Jason]]. The Birds of Ares (''Ornithes Areioi'') drop feather darts in defense of the [[Amazons]]' shrine to Ares, as father of their queen, on a coastal island in the [[Black Sea]].<ref>''[[Argonautica]]'' (ii.382ff and 1031ff; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 30.</ref>

===Founding of Thebes===
Ares plays a central role in the [[founding myth]] of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], as the progenitor of the water-dragon slain by [[Cadmus]]. The dragon's teeth were sown into the ground as if a crop and sprang up as the fully armored [[indigenous peoples|autochthon]]ic [[Spartoi]]. Cadmus placed himself in the god's service for eight years to atone for killing the dragon.<ref name=":2">Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=80}}</ref> To further propitiate Ares, Cadmus married [[Harmonia]], a daughter of Ares's union with Aphrodite. In this way, Cadmus harmonized all strife and founded the city of Thebes.<ref name="Burkert, p. 169"/> In reality, Thebes came to dominate [[Boeotia]]'s great and fertile plain, which in both history and myth was a battleground for competing polities.<ref>Marchand, Fabienne, and Beck, Hans,''The Dancing Floor of Ares: Local Conflict and Regional Violence in Central Greece,'' Ancient History Bulletin, Supplemental Volume 1 (2020)
{{ISSN|0835-3638}}</ref> According to Plutarch, the plain was anciently described as "The dancing-floor of Ares".<ref>Plutarch, ''Marcellus'', 21.2</ref>

===Aphrodite===
In Homer's ''[[Odyssey]]'', in the tale sung by the bard in the hall of [[Alcinous]],<ref>''Odyssey'' 8.300</ref> the Sun-god [[Helios]] once spied Ares and Aphrodite having sex secretly in the hall of [[Hephaestus]], her husband.<ref>In the ''Iliad'', the wife of Hephaestus is Charis, "Grace," as noted by Burkert, [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/168/mode/2up?view=theater p. 168].</ref> Helios reported the incident to Hephaestus. Contriving to catch the illicit couple in the act, Hephaestus fashioned a finely-knitted and nearly invisible net with which to snare them. At the appropriate time, this net was sprung, and trapped Ares and Aphrodite locked in very private embrace.{{refn|group=n|name="Odyssey, 8.295"|{{cite web | title = Odyssey, 8.295 | url = http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+8.&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218 | quote = [In [[Robert Fagles]]'s translation]: ... and the two lovers, free of the bonds that overwhelmed them so, sprang up and away at once, and the Wargod sped Thrace, while Love with her telltale laughter sped to Paphos ...}}}}

But Hephaestus was not satisfied with his revenge, so he invited the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate pair. For the sake of modesty, the goddesses demurred, but the male gods went to witness the sight. Some commented on the beauty of Aphrodite, others remarked that they would eagerly trade places with Ares, but all who were present mocked the two. Once the couple was released, the embarrassed Ares returned to his homeland, Thrace, and Aphrodite went to Paphos.{{refn|group=n|name="Odyssey, 8.295"}}<ref name="Hansen, pp. 113"/> Afterwards, Hephaestus divorced Aphrodite, and she and Ares married.<ref name="h202" />

In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the young soldier [[Alectryon (mythology)|Alectryon]], who was Ares companion in drinking and even love-making, by his door to warn them of Helios's arrival as Helios would tell Hephaestus of Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep on guard duty.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gallagher|first=David|url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789042027091/B9789042027091-s006.xml|title=Avian and Serpentine|date=2009-01-01|publisher=Brill Rodopi|isbn=978-90-420-2709-1|language=en}}</ref> Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus. The furious Ares turned the sleepy Alectryon into a [[rooster]] which now always announces the arrival of the sun in the morning, as a way of apologizing to Ares.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Gallus'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:the-rooster 3], see also scholiast on [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Birds (play)|Birds]]'' 835; [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], ''Ad Odysseam'' 1.300; Ausonius, 26.2.27; Libanius, ''Progymnasmata'' 2.26.</ref>

The Chorus of [[Aeschylus]]'s ''[[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|Suppliants]]'' (written 463 BC) refers to Ares as Aphrodite's "mortal-destroying bedfellow". In the ''Illiad'', Ares helps the Trojans because of his affection for their divine protector, Aphrodite; she thus redirects his innate destructive savagery to her own purposes.<ref name="Millington, Alexander T. 2013, pp.555-557"/><ref name="discovery.ucl.ac.uk"/>

===Giants===
In one archaic myth, related only in the ''Iliad'' by the goddess [[Dione (Titaness)|Dione]] to her daughter Aphrodite, two chthonic giants, the [[Aloadae]], named Otus and Ephialtes, bound Ares in chains and imprisoned him in a bronze urn, where he remained for thirteen months, a [[lunar year]]. "And that would have been the end of Ares and his appetite for war, if the beautiful Eriboea, the young giants' stepmother, had not told [[Hermes]] what they had done," she related.<ref>''Iliad'' 5.385–391.</ref> In this, [Burkert] suspects "a festival of licence which is unleashed in the thirteenth month".<ref name = "rjblqd">Burkert, [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/169/mode/2up?view=theater p. 169]</ref><ref>Faraone, "Binding and Burying", 1991, pp. 166&ndash;220</ref> Ares was held screaming and howling in the urn until Hermes rescued him, and [[Artemis]] tricked the Aloadae into slaying each other. 

In [[Nonnus]]'s ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', in the war between [[Cronus]] and Zeus, Ares killed an unnamed giant son of [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]] who was allied with Cronus, and described as spitting "horrible poison" and having "snaky" feet.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca02nonnuoft/page/82/mode/2up?view=theater 18.274&ndash;288 (II pp. 82, 83)].</ref> <!--is this in Dionysiaca?:Zeus helped him heal afterwards.-->

In some versions of the [[Gigantomachy]], Ares was the god who killed the giant [[Mimas (Giant)|Mimas]].<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/276/mode/2up 3.1225–7 (pp. 276–277)]; [[Claudian]], ''Gigantomachia'' [https://archive.org/stream/claudia02clau#page/286/mode/2up 85–91 (pp. 286–287)].</ref>

In the 2nd century AD ''Metamorphoses'' of [[Antoninus Liberalis]], when the monstrous [[Typhon]] attacked Olympus the gods transformed into animals and fled to Egypt; Ares changed into a fish, the Lepidotus (sacred to the Egyptian war-god [[Anhur]]). Liberalis's [[koine]] Greek text is a "completely inartistic" epitome of [[Nicander]]'s now lost ''Heteroeumena'' (2nd century BC).<ref>Myers, Sarah, University of Michigan, reviewing Celoria's translation in ''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'', 1994 ([http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1994/94.01.03.html on-line text]).</ref><ref>Francis Celoria points out that in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', Venus [Aphrodite's Roman equivalent], hides herself as a fish. See Celoria, Francis, Antoninus Liberalis, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'', A Translation with a Commentary, 1992, pp. 87, 186, eBook Published 24 October 2018, London, Routledge, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9_Eolzuv0eQC&dq=Antoninus+Liberalis+Typhon&pg=PA71] DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315812755</ref>

===''Iliad''===
{{Trojan War}}
In [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', Ares has no fixed allegiance. He promises Athena and Hera that he will fight for the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]] but [[Aphrodite]] persuades him to side with the [[Troy|Trojans]]. During the war, [[Diomedes]] fights [[Hector]] and sees Ares fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes calls for his soldiers to withdraw.<ref>''Iliad'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.792-5.834 5.830–834], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.576-5.626 5.590–605], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21.400-21.433 21.410–414].</ref> Zeus grants Athena permission to drive Ares from the battlefield. Encouraged by Hera and Athena, Diomedes thrusts with his spear at Ares. Athena drives the spear home, and all sides tremble at Ares's cries. Ares flees to [[Mount Olympus]], forcing the Trojans to fall back.<ref>''Iliad'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.711-5.763 5.711–769], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.764-5.791 5.780–834], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.835-5.863 5.855–864].</ref> Ares overhears that his son Ascalaphus has been killed and wants to change sides again, rejoining the Achaeans for vengeance, disregarding Zeus's order that no Olympian should join the battle. Athena stops him. Later, when Zeus allows the gods to fight in the war again, Ares attacks Athena to avenge his previous injury. Athena overpowers him by striking him with a boulder.<ref>''Iliad'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:15.78-15.112 15.110–128], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:20.1-20.29 20.20–29], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21.361-21.399 21.391–408].</ref>

===Attendants===
[[Deimos (mythology)|Deimos]] ("Terror" or "Dread") and [[Phobos (mythology)|Phobos]] ("Fear") are Ares's companions in war,<ref>''Iliad'' 4.436f, and 13.299f [[Hesiod|Hesiod's]] ''[[Shield of Heracles]]'' 191, 460; [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], 10.51, etc.</ref> and according to [[Hesiod]], are also his children by [[Aphrodite]].<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Theogony]]'' 934f.</ref> [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]], the goddess of discord, or [[Enyo]], the goddess of war, bloodshed, and violence, was considered the sister and companion of the violent Ares.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wolfe|first=Jessica|date=2005|title=Spenser, Homer, and the mythography of strife|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A141260392/GPS?u=nm_p_losalamos&xid=ab4996a1|journal=Renaissance Quarterly|volume=58|issue=4|pages=1220–1288|doi=10.1353/ren.2008.0987|s2cid=161655379|via=Gale General Reference Center |issn=0034-4338|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In at least one tradition, Enyalius, rather than another name for Ares, was his son by Enyo.<ref>Eustathius on Homer, 944</ref>

Ares may also be accompanied by [[Kydoimos]], the daemon of the din of battle; the [[Makhai]] ("Battles"); the "Hysminai" ("Acts of manslaughter"); [[Polemos]], a minor spirit of war, or only an epithet of Ares, since it has no specific dominion; and Polemos's daughter, [[Alala]], the [[goddess]] or [[personification]] of the Greek war-cry, whose name Ares uses as his own war-cry. Ares's sister [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]] ("Youth") also draws baths for him.

According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], local inhabitants of [[Therapne]], [[Sparta]], recognized [[Thero (Greek mythology)|Thero]], "feral, savage", as a nurse of Ares.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.19.7 3.19.7&ndash;8].</ref>

===Offspring and affairs===
{{Primary sources section|Talk=Kids' table|find=Ares|find2=offspring mythology|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Areopagus from the Acropolis.jpg|thumb|185x185px|The [[Areopagus]] as viewed from the [[Acropolis]]]]
Though Ares plays a relatively limited role in [[Greek mythology]] as represented in literary narratives, his numerous love affairs and abundant offspring are often [[allusion|alluded]] to.<ref>Hansen, ''Classical Mythology'', pp. 113–114; Burkert, [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/169/mode/2up?view=theater p. 169].</ref>
The union of Ares and Aphrodite created the gods [[Eros]], [[Anteros]], [[Phobos (mythology)|Phobos]], [[Deimos (mythology)|Deimos]], and [[Harmonia]]. Other versions include [[Alcippe (mythology)|Alcippe]] as one of their daughters.

Ares had a romantic liaison with [[Eos]], the [[Dawn deities|goddess of the dawn]]. Aphrodite discovered them, and in anger she cursed Eos with insatiable lust for men.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D4 1.4.4]</ref>

[[Cycnus (son of Ares)|Cycnus]] (Κύκνος) of [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] was a mortal son of Ares who tried to build a temple to his father with the skulls and bones of guests and travellers. [[Heracles]] fought him and, in one account, killed him. In another account, Ares fought his son's killer but Zeus parted the combatants with a thunderbolt.<ref>''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]]'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D11 2.5.11], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D7%3Asection%3D7 2.7.7].</ref>

By a woman named Teirene he had a daughter named [[Thrassa]], who in turn had a daughter named [[Polyphonte]]. Polyphonte was cursed by Aphrodite to love and mate with a bear, producing two sons, [[Agrius and Oreius (mythology)|Agrius and Oreius]], who were hubristic toward the gods and had a habit of eating their guests. Zeus sent [[Hermes]] to punish them, and he chose to chop off their hands and feet. Since Polyphonte was descended from him, Ares stopped Hermes, and the two brothers came into an agreement to turn Polyphonte's family into birds instead. Oreius became an eagle owl, Agrius a vulture, and Polyphonte a [[strix (mythology)|strix]], possibly a small owl, certainly a portent of war; Polyphonte's servant prayed not to become a bird of evil omen and Ares and Hermes fulfilled her wish by choosing the woodpecker for her, a good omen for hunters.<ref name=":anl21">[[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#21 21].</ref><ref>Liberalis credits the Greek writer [[Boios]]' ''Ornithogonia'' (now lost) as his source; {{cite journal| last=Oliphant |first=Samuel Grant |year=1913 |title=The Story of the Strix: Ancient |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=44 |jstor=28254 |pages=133–149 |doi= 10.2307/282549 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press}}</ref>

====List of offspring and their mothers====
{{more citations needed section|Talk=Kids' table|date=September 2021}}
{{Primary sources section|Talk=Kids' table|find=Ares|find2=mythology consorts|date=September 2021}}
Sometimes poets and dramatists recounted ancient traditions, which varied, and sometimes they invented new details; later [[scholia]]sts might draw on either or simply guess.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bremmer|first1=Jan N.|title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary|date=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=019866172X|editor1-last=Hornblower & Spawforth|edition=Third|location=Oxford|pages=1018–1020|chapter=mythology}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Reeve|first1=Michael D.|title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary|date=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=019866172X|editor1-last=Hornblower & Spawforth|edition=Third|location=Oxford|pages=1368|chapter=scholia}}</ref> Thus while [[Phobos (mythology)|Phobos]] and [[Deimos (deity)|Deimos]] were regularly described as offspring of Ares, others listed here such as [[Meleager]], [[Sinope (mythology)|Sinope]] and [[Solymus]] were sometimes said to be children of Ares and sometimes given other fathers.

The following is a list of Ares's offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source dates.
<div style=display:inline-table>
{{sticky header}}
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed sticky-header"
! scope="col" style="width: 100pt;" | Offspring
! scope="col" style="width: 90pt;" | Mother
! scope="col" style="width: 70pt;" | Source
! scope="col" style="width: 70pt;" | Date
! class="unsortable" scope="col" style="width: 10pt;" |
|-
| [[Phobos (mythology)|Phobos]]
| rowspan="5" | [[Aphrodite]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref name="p. 169">[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 934]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA169 p. 169].</ref>
|-
| [[Deimos (deity)|Deimos]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref name="p. 169"/>
|-
| [[Harmonia]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 934&ndash;7]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA169 p. 169]; Grimal, s.v. Ares, pp. 52&ndash;53; [[Scholia]] on [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 2.494, [= [[Hellanicus of Lesbos|Hellanicus]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA179 fr. 51a Fowler, pp. 179&ndash;181]; Gantz, p. 468.</ref>
|-
| [[Eros]]
| [[Simonides of Ceos|Simonides]]
|
| <ref>[[Simonides of Ceos|Simonides]], fr. 24 Diehls [= fr. ''[[Poetae Melici Graeci|PMG]]'' 575]; Gantz, p. 3; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA196 p. 196]; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/eros-e401810 s.v. Eros]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Ares, pp. 103&ndash;104.</ref>
|-
| [[Anteros]]
| [[Cicero|Cic.]] ''[[De Natura Deorum|DND]]''
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://archive.org/details/denaturadeorumac00ciceuoft/page/342/mode/2up?view=theater 3.59]; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/anteros-e123320 s.v. Anteros].</ref>
|-
| [[Odomantus]]
| rowspan="3" | [[Calliope]]
|
|
|
|-
| [[Mygdon of Thrace|Mygdon]]
|
|
|
|-
| [[Edonus]]
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Biston]]
| [[Terpsichore]]
| ''[[Etymologicum Magnum|Etym. Mag.]]''
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref name="179.59 p. 179">''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'', [https://archive.org/details/etymologikontome00etymuoft/page/n109/mode/2up?view=theater 179.59 (p. 179)].</ref>
|-
| [[Callirhoe (mythology)|Callirrhoe]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref name="s.v. Bistonia pp. 352, 353">[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=e2WGsl7oeEUC&pg=PA352 s.v. Bistonia (pp. 352, 353)].</ref>
|-
| [[Enyalius]]
| [[Enyo]]
|
|
| <ref>''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/enyalius-e330900 s.v. Enyalius].</ref>
|-
| Dragon of [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]]
| [[Erinys]] of [[Telphusa]]
|
|
|
|-
| [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]]
| ''No mother mentioned''
| ''[[Homeric Hymns|HH]]'' 8
|
| <ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]] to Ares'' (8), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg008.perseus-eng1:1 4].</ref>
|-
| [[Sinope (mythology)|Sinope]] (possibly)
| [[Aegina (mythology)|Aegina]]
| Schol. [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Ap. Rhod.]]
| 
| <ref name=":0">[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'' 2.946</ref>
|-
| Edonus
| rowspan="2" | [[Callirhoe (mythology)|Callirrhoe]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref name="s.v. Bistonia pp. 352, 353"/>
|-
| Odomantus
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref name="s.v. Bistonia pp. 352, 353"/>
|-
| rowspan="3" | Cycnus
| [[Cleobule|Cleobula]]
|
|
| <ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Murray|first=John|title=A Classical Manual, being a Mythological, Historical and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer, and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil with a Copious Index|year=1833|location=Albemarle Street, London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_u0gQAAAAIAAJ/page/70/mode/2up?view=theater 70]}}</ref>
|-
| [[Pelopia]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.7.7 2.7.7].</ref>
|-
| [[Pyrene (mythology)|Pyrene]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.11 2.5.11].</ref>
|-
| [[Diomedes of Thrace]]
| rowspan=2 | Cyrene
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.8 2.5.8].</ref>
|-
| Crestone
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' 499: Thrace was said to have been called Crestone after her.</ref>
|-
| The [[Amazons]]
| [[Harmonia_(nymph)|Harmonia]]
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[Oenomaus]]
| [[Sterope (Pleiad)|Sterope]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#84 84]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De Astronomica]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.21.5 2.21.5]; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/oenomaus-e829310 s.v. Oenomaus].</ref>
|-
| [[Harpina]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.22.6 5.22.6]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#73.1 4.73.1]; Gantz, p. 232.</ref>
|-
| [[Eurythoe]] the [[Danaïdes|Danaid]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' 157.</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Evenus of Aetolia|Evenus]]
| [[Sterope (Pleiad)|Sterope]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plutarch]]
| 
| <ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''Parallela minora'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg085.perseus-eng2:40 40].</ref>
|-
| [[Demonice]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.7.7 1.7.7].</ref>
|-
| [[Thrassa]]
| [[Tereine]]
| [[Antoninus Liberalis|Ant. Lib.]]
| data-sort-value=20 | 2nd/3rd cent. AD
| <ref name=":anl21"/>
|-
| [[Melanippus]]
| [[Triteia]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.22.8 7.22.8]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=melanippus-bio-4 s.v. Melanippus (4)].</ref>
|-
| [[Aeropus (mythology)|Aeropus]]
| [[Aerope (daughter of Cepheus)|Aerope]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.44.8 8.44.8]; Tripp, s.v. Ares; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=aphneius-bio-1 s.v. Aphneius].</ref>
|-
| [[Alcippe (Greek mythology)|Alcippe]]
| [[Aglaulus, daughter of Cecrops|Aglauros]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.14.2 3.14.2]; Peck, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=ares-harpers s.v. Ares].</ref>
|-
| [[Meleager]]
| [[Althaea (mythology)|Althaea]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Gantz, p. 328; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.8.2 1.8.2]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.3 14.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Calydon (son of Ares)|Calydon]]
| [[Astynome]]
|
|
| <ref>''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/calydon-e607430 s.v. Calydon (2)].</ref>
|-
| [[Ascalaphus]]
| rowspan=2 | [[Astyoche]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', s.vv. [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/ascalaphus-e203530 Ascalaphus (2)], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.37.7 9.37.7].</ref>
|-
| [[Ialmenus]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/ialmenus-e520830 Ialmenus]; Grimal, s.v. Ialmenus, p. 224; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.37.7 9.37.7].</ref>
|-
| [[Parthenopaeus]]
| [[Atalanta]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Gantz, p. 336; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.9.2 3.9.2].</ref>
|-
| [[Solymus]]
| [[Caldene]]
| ''[[Etymologicum Magnum|Etym. Mag.]]''
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'', [https://archive.org/details/etymologikontome00etymuoft/page/n345/mode/2up?view=theater 721.43&ndash;44 (p. 654)]; Grimal, s.v. Solymus, p. 424.</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Phlegyas]]
| [[Chryse (mythology)|Chryse]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.36.1 9.36.1]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA560 p. 560]; Grimal, s.v. Phlegyas, pp. 367&ndash;368.</ref>
|-
| [[Dotis]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.5.5 3.5.5]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA560 p. 560]; Grimal, s.v. Phlegyas, pp. 367&ndash;368.</ref>
|-
| [[Pangaeus (mythology)|Pangaeus]]
| [[Critobule]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plutarch]]
| 
| <ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0094.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3 3.2].</ref>
|-
| [[Molus of Aetolia|Molus]], [[Pylus (mythology)|Pylus]]
| [[Demonice]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.7.7 1.7.7]; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/thestius-e1211110 s.v. Thestius].</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" |[[Thestius]]
| [[Pisidice]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plutarch]]
|
| <ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0094.tlg001.perseus-eng1:22 22.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Demonice]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.7.7 1.7.7]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA413 p. 413]; Grimal, s.v. Thestius, p. 452; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/thestius-e1211110 s.v. Thestius].</ref>
|-
| [[Stymphalus|Stymphelus]]
| [[Dormothea]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plutarch]]
|
| <ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0094.tlg001.perseus-eng1:19 19.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Antiope (Amazon)|Antiope]]
| rowspan="4" | [[Otrera]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/antiope-e124830 s.v. Antiope (2)]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#30 30].</ref>
|-
| [[Hippolyta]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#30 30].</ref>
|-
| [[Melanippe]]
|
|
|
|-
| [[Penthesilea]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg002.perseus-eng1:e.5.1 E.5.1]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#112 112].</ref>
|-
| [[Sinope (mythology)|Sinope]]
| [[Parnassa]]
| [[Eumelus of Corinth|Eumelus]]
|
| <ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], 2.946&ndash;54c [= [[Eumelus of Corinth|Eumelus]], [https://archive.org/details/L497GreekEpicFragmentsVIIVcBC/page/n257/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 29 West, pp. 246, 247].</ref>
|-
| [[Lycaon (Greek myth)|Lycaon]]
| [[Pyrene (mythology)|Pyrene]]
|
|
| <ref>Grimal, s.v. Lycaon (3), p. 263.</ref>
|-
| [[Lycastus]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Philonome (mythology)|Phylonome]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plutarch]]
|
| <ref name="data.perseus.org">[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''Parallela minora'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg085.perseus-eng2:36 36]; Grimal, s.vv. Lycastus (2), Parrhasius.</ref>
|-
| [[Parrhasius (Greek myth)|Parrhasius]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plutarch]]
|
| <ref name="data.perseus.org"/>
|-
| [[Oxylus]]
| [[Protogeneia]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.7.7 1.7.7]; Grimal, s.v. Oxylus (1); ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/oxylus-e903020 s.v. Oxylus (1)].</ref>
|-
| [[Bithys]]
| [[Sete (mythology)|Sete]]
|
|
| <ref>eponym of the Thracian tribe of Bithyae in [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''Ethnica'' s.v. ''Bithyai''</ref>
|-
| [[Tmolus (son of Ares)|Tmolus]]
| [[Theogone]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plutarch]]
|
| <ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0094.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7 7.5].</ref>
|-
| [[Ismarus (Thrace)|Ismarus]]
| Thracia
|
|
| <ref name=":1" />
|-
| [[Alcon (mythology)|Alcon]] of [[Thrace]]
| rowspan="11" | ''No mother mentioned''
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#173 173].</ref>
|-
| [[Chalyps]]
|
|
| <ref>eponym of the [[Chalybes]] in [[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'', 2. 373.</ref>
|-
| [[Cheimarrhoos]]
| Schol. [[Hesiod|Hes.]], ''[[Works and Days|WD]]''
|
| <ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Hesiod]], ''Works and Days'' 1, p. 28.</ref>
|-
| [[Dryas (mythology)|Dryas]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.8.2 1.8.2]; Grimal, s.v. Dryas, p. 142.</ref>
|-
| [[Hyperbius]]
|
|
| <ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historia]]'' 7.57.</ref>
|-
| [[Lycus (son of Ares)|Lycus]] of [[Libya]]
|
|
| <ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''Greek and Roman Parallel Stories'', 23.</ref>
|-
| [[Nisos]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#198 198], [https://topostext.org/work/206#242 242]; Tripp, s.v. 
Nisus.</ref>
|-
| [[Oeagrus]]
| [[Nonnus]]
| data-sort-value=25 | 5th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' XIII.428.</ref>
|-
| [[Paeon (myth)|Paeon]]
| ''[[Etymologicum Magnum|Etym. Mag.]]''
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref name="179.59 p. 179"/>
|-
| [[Portheus]] ([[Porthaon]])
| [[Antoninus Liberalis|Ant. Lib.]]
| data-sort-value=20 | 2nd/3rd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#2 2].</ref>
|-
| [[Tereus]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.14.8 3.14.8]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA169 p. 169].</ref>
|}
</div>

==Mars==
[[File:Wall painting - Ares and Aphrodite - Pompeii (VII 2 23) - Napoli MAN 9249 - 03.jpg|thumb|Wall-painting in [[Pompeii]], c. 20 BC – 50s AD, showing Mars and Venus. The Roman god of war is depicted as youthful and beardless, reflecting the influence of the Greek Ares.]]

The nearest counterpart of Ares among the [[List of Roman deities|Roman gods]] is [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], a son of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], pre-eminent among the [[Religion in the Roman military|Roman army's military gods]] but originally an agricultural deity.<ref>[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Beard]], Mary, North, John A., Price, Simon R. F., ''Religions of Rome: A History'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 47–48</ref> As a father of [[Romulus]], Rome's legendary founder, Mars was given an important and dignified place in [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], as a [[tutelary deity|guardian deity]] of the entire Roman state and its people. Under the [[Hellenization|influence of Greek culture]], Mars was [[interpretatio graeca|identified with]] Ares,<ref name=Lar>''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', [[The Book People]], Haydock, 1995, p. 215.</ref> but the character and dignity of the two deities differed fundamentally.<ref>Kurt A. Raaflaub, ''War and Peace in the Ancient World'' (Blackwell, 2007), p. 15.</ref><ref>Paul Rehak and John G. Younger, ''Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), pp. 11–12.</ref> Mars was represented as a means [[Pax Romana|to secure peace]], and he was a father ''(pater)'' of the Roman people.<ref>[[Isidore of Seville]] calls Mars ''Romanae gentis auctorem'', the originator or founder of the Roman people as a ''[[gens]]'' (''Etymologiae'' 5.33.5).</ref> In one tradition, he fathered [[Romulus and Remus]] through his rape of [[Rhea Silvia]]. In another, his lover, the goddess [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], gave birth to [[Aeneas]], the [[Trojan War|Trojan prince and refugee]] who "founded" Rome several generations before Romulus.

In the [[Hellenization]] of [[Latin literature]], the myths of Ares were [[interpretatio graeca|reinterpreted]] by Roman writers under the name of Mars. Greek writers under [[Roman Empire|Roman rule]] also recorded [[cult (religious practice)|cult practices]] and beliefs pertaining to Mars under the name of Ares. Thus in the [[classical mythology|classical tradition]] of later [[Western culture|Western art and literature]], the mythology of the two figures later became virtually indistinguishable.<ref>The scene in which Ares and Aphrodite are entrapped by Hephaestus' net (Homer, ''Odyssey''  VIII: 166-365 is also in Ovid's Latin language ''Metamorphoses'' IV: 171-189  [https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/old-master-paintings-n08952/lot.74.html]</ref>

==Renaissance and later depictions==
In [[Renaissance]] and [[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]] works of art, Ares's symbols are a spear and helmet, his animal is a dog, and his bird is the [[vulture]]. In literary works<!--examples would be more enlightening than this generality--> of these eras, Ares is replaced by the Roman [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], a romantic emblem of manly valor rather than the cruel and blood-thirsty god of Greek mythology.

==In popular culture==
{{main|Ares in popular culture}}<!--items that belong at that article should not be added here, as they may be deleted without comment-->

==Genealogy==
{{Family tree of the Olympians|title=Ares's family tree|collapsed=no|cap_ares=y}}

==See also==
* [[Family tree of the Greek gods]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|group=n}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary'', edited and translated by Francis Celoria, Routledge, 1992. {{ISBN|978-0-415-06896-3}}. [https://topostext.org/work/216 Online version at ToposText].
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus: The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]]; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]], ''Greek Religion'', [[Harvard University Press]], 1985. {{ISBN|0-674-36281-0}}. [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* ''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'', Friderici Sylburgii (ed.), Leipzig: J.A.G. Weigel, 1816. [https://archive.org/details/etymologikontome00etymuoft/page/2/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* [[Timothy Gantz|Gantz, Timothy]], ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
* Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-631-20102-1}}. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* [[William Hansen (classicist)|Hansen, William]], ''Handbook of Classical Mythology'', [[ABC-CLIO]], 2004. {{ISBN|978-1-57607-226-4}}. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004. {{ISBN|9780415186360}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1-28 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/78/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* [[Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1-1.32 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]], ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:1.1-1.43 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 8 ''to Ares'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg008.perseus-eng1:8 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''[[De Astronomica]]'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. [https://topostext.org/work/207 Online version at ToposText].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''[[Fabulae]]'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at ToposText].
* {{cite book | title = Libanius's Progymnasmata: Model Exercises in Greek Prose Composition and Rhetoric | author = [[Libanius]] | translator = Craig A. Gibson | date = 2008 | isbn = 978-1-58983-360-9 | publisher = [[Society of Biblical Literature]] | location = [[Atlanta]] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kRi-If9IAOYC}}
* [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]], Volume II: Books 16&ndash;35'', translated by [[W. H. D. Rouse]], [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL354/1940/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99391-4}}. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca02nonnuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive (1940)].
* ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', revised third edition, Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (editors), [[Oxford University Press]], 2003. {{ISBN|0-19-860641-9}}. [https://archive.org/details/oxfordclassicald0000unse_w0u7/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Harry Thurston Peck|Peck, Harry Thurston]], ''[[Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities]]'', New York, Harper and Brothers, 1898. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0062 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''De fluviis'', in ''Plutarch's morals, Volume V'', edited and translated by [[William Watson Goodwin]], Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1874. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0094.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]], ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''Stephani Byzantii Ethnica: Volumen I Alpha - Gamma'', edited by Margarethe Billerbeck, in collaboration with Jan Felix Gaertner, Beatrice Wyss and Christian Zubler, De Gruyter, 2006. {{ISBN|978-3-110-17449-6}}. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110202816 Online version at De Gruyter]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=e2WGsl7oeEUC Google Books].
* Tripp, Edward, ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). {{ISBN|0-690-22608-X}}. [https://archive.org/details/crowellshandbook00trip/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
{{refend}}
{{commons category}}
{{Twelve Olympians}}
{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Subject bar |portal1=Ancient Greece|portal22=Myths|commons=y |wikt=y }}
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[[Category:Ares| ]]
[[Category:Characters in the Odyssey]]
[[Category:Children of Hera]]
[[Category:Sons of Zeus]]
[[Category:Consorts of Aphrodite]]
[[Category:Consorts of Eos]]
[[Category:Deeds of Poseidon]]
[[Category:Deities in the Iliad]]
[[Category:Dog gods]]
[[Category:Greek mythology of Thrace]]
[[Category:Greek war deities]]
[[Category:Martian deities]]
[[Category:Planetary gods]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Twelve Olympians]]
[[Category:War gods]]