The ancient Greeks loved to fight and considered the battle a difficult matter, in connection with this they had different gods responsible for it. True, they came up with a special god for each type of war (offensive, defensive, fair, unjust). But Athena ruled over the fighting, waged wisely and ending in victory, and the blind, furious battle with an incomprehensible outcome was led by the son of Zeus - Ares.
Introduction
This god ruled over a bloodthirsty war in rage, where people killed each other on the battlefield with particular cruelty. The son of Zeus and Hera adored the process itself and the action itself, he was not interested in the reasons and the end of the battle. The joy of Ares was brought by the cries of the soldiers, the sounds of weapons, and he received true pleasure both from the courage of the soldiers and from their death. All these characteristics of him did not cause positive emotions either in humans or in other gods. He is the unloved son of Zeus, whom he wanted to throw into Tartarus, but could not because of family ties.
Alas, the facts about Ares are characterized by fragmentation and inconsistency. For most historians and other scholars, the son of Zeus was not of particular interest, since the ancient Greeks were not inclined to worship this god, they were simply afraid of him. But the poets of Ancient Greece sang Ares in their poems and odes. In this article, we will try to collect a holistic image of a strong and aggressive god of war.
Who is this Ares?
The son of Zeus personifies violent belligerence, original wildness and ferocious cruelty. The attributes of Ares belong to the fire torch, and such weapons as a spear or animals (dog or kite). On the Mount of Olympics, from time to time, the council of the twelve gods took place, and the son of Zeus, Ares, was the third in him.
God’s childhood
Ares bore little resemblance to the other inhabitants of Olympus, distinguished by wisdom and prudence. The origin of God was shrouded in mystery and controversy. It was believed that the son of Zeus and Hera was born in Thrace, where the harsh climate prevailed, and harsh people lived. He spent his childhood in this country. Young Ares was not as handsome and charming as Apollo. The son of Zeus possessed his special beauty. Dark hair, fair skin, a burning look, the correct oval of the face - all this created an image of severity and equanimity.
Ares Character
The son of God (Zeus) looked after his appearance, exquisitely dressed in elegant outfits. Hera's moody pet did not know refusal, he was allowed all or almost all. Such an incorrect maternal upbringing influenced the fact that negative character traits appeared in full.
Boasting, aggressiveness, authoritarianism, rudeness, intemperance, cruelty to human weaknesses and defenselessness, fear of pain - all these qualities were possessed by the unloved son of Zeus. You can draw an analogy of this god with a feisty dog, whose hair is heaving on end, there is a terrible grin, a loud bark and who is ready to instantly bite the victim, but as soon as he feels resistance, he immediately tightens his tail and runs away.
Ares's shameful flight history
As victims, Zeus's most unloved son preferred birds. When he was a child, he awaited the eagle of his father or his peacock mother, Apollonian raven, Athena's owl or Aphrodite's dove and wanted to shoot a bird with a slingshot. And the other sons of Zeus came up with a punishment for Ares. The names of Apollo, Dionysus and Hephaestus made the supreme god proud.
Apollo offered young Ares a bet that he would not be able to crawl out onto the western slope of Mount Olympus and break at least one egg of gulls nesting there. The warlike god took a bet because the slope, in his opinion, was not very steep and difficult to climb, and the seagulls seemed nice and completely non-aggressive. Ares quickly climbed to the top, but the sweet and calm seagulls were not so defenseless. Hearing the cry of a bird whose egg was stolen by Ares, the whole flock flocked around a young god. The seagulls screamed shrilly and bombarded the kidnapper with a sparse white droppings. Ares was suffocated by the stinky smell, blinded by the flapping of thousands of bird wings. He could not do anything, and therefore the escape was, although shameful, but the only option. Apollo accompanied the escape with stinging ridicule.
Zeus could not think of anything what to do with such a bully son who did not possess any talents and did not want to learn at all. The boy’s mother stood up for her beloved son and begged the ruler of Olympus for the post of Minister of Military Affairs, because her son was an ideal candidate. So Ares (son of Zeus) became the god of war, dissecting space on a shiny chariot with a couple of magnificent horses that breathed fire.
The maturity of a warlike god
The fierce Ares rejoices only when cruelty flourishes on the battlefield. Rumor has it that he, in sparkling robes and with a huge shield, rushes with great fury in the thick of the battle, where the air is filled with screams, groans, and the roar of weapons.
On the battlefield of the god of war accompany Deimos and Phobos. These are the two sons of Ares. Deimos personifies horror, and Phobos - fear. Also in the retinue of this god you can see Eris (the goddess of contention) and Enio (the goddess who sows murders). Such a fraternity flies among the warriors, they fall, perish, and the god of war rejoices and rejoices. Ecstasy Ares gets when a warrior hit by his weapon dies, and blood flows from a wound to the ground. Fear, horror, disgust - all these emotions were caused by God among the ancient Greeks.
Ares was terrible hatred for the goddess of the world - Eiren. But the friendship with Erida was not smooth either, because he rejected that part of the goddess, which was revered by people as a force that compels them to compete in peaceful work. Even the son of Zeus and Leda, Polydeus, succumbed to the influence of Ares on the battlefield. The gods loved to watch the lives of mortals, the battles, and when they were bored, they themselves could organize the reasons for the wars. Some of them even descended from Olympus to help their favorites. But for Ares, war was the main meaning of life, he did not think about its causes, whether it was fair or not. The sight of blood made God mad, and he began to kill fighters on both sides, not understanding who was right and who was to blame.
It happened that Ares, hiding in a crowd of soldiers, uttered a terrible cry, as if several thousand people shouted it. This cry made an indelible impression on the fighters, and they with great fury began to kill everyone in a row, regardless of gender and age. Warriors did not even consider the value of the lives of people from the enemy side who could become slaves. Even animals did not receive mercy. Warriors simply turned into killers.
Is it any wonder that the ancient Greeks considered the god Ares to blame for all their troubles and misfortunes? Then they got a decision. They wanted to get rid of the bloodthirsty god, so that in the mortal world, happiness and peace finally came. But ordinary people could not cope with the deity. The giants Ephialtes and Otos agreed to help. They captured Ares and put him in a copper prison. For thirteen months there was a bloodthirsty god imprisoned in scary chains and probably could have died there, but the stepmother of the giants, Eribey, gave news to Hermes, who liberated the half-dead Ares. All this time there was peace and tranquility on earth. Thirteen months were the happiest and most fruitful for mortals.
No less than the devastated people, Ares hated the daughter of Zeus, Athena Pallas. The goddess helped the Greek heroes, for example, her attention was given to Perseus - the son of Zeus and Danai. She personified an honest and just war, was a skilled worker and skillfully owned military affairs, because twice defeated Ares in the fray.
The ancient Greek hero Hercules - the son of Zeus - also fought with the god of war, and he fled in fear to the celestials.
War and Love - Ares and Aphrodite
The beautiful Aphrodite was the wife of a limping blacksmith - Hephaestus. But she gave birth to four children (Phobos, Deimos, Harmony, Eros) from Ares, a passionate, pugnacious, and frantic god. An explosive mixture that is unlikely to bring anything good is crazy love and crazy war.
The secretive and hardworking Hephaestus did not even suspect the betrayal of Aphrodite. But once the couple in love lingered in bed and met together the appearance of the sun (Helios), which told of the betrayal of the blacksmith. Offended and angry Hephaestus forged a strange little thing in his forge - the thinnest and at the same time very durable web, which he attached to the family box. When the happy Aphrodite returned home, her husband informed her of his trip to the island of Lemnos. The wife did not want to go with him, and as soon as Hephaestus left the threshold, she called for Ares, who appeared very quickly in the halls of Aphrodite.
The lovers enjoyed each other the whole night, and the next morning they saw that the bed and they themselves were under the thinnest web. Naked and helpless they were caught by Hephaestus, who arranged all this. He called all the gods to show the betrayal of Aphrodite and Ares. The goddesses remained at home, and the gods decided to look at such an action. The blacksmith God delivered an ultimatum to Zeus (her father) to return all the wedding gifts, and only then he would let his wife go. Many gods - both Apollo and Hermes - would like to be in Ares’s place, even in such a web, but next to Aphrodite. Here is a conversation led by the sons of Zeus, whose names were mentioned. But such talk was pissed off the Supreme God, he refused to return the wedding gifts of Hephaestus and said that it was not good to intervene in the family conflict. Another god who was present at this demonstration, Poseidon, having seen the naked body of Aphrodite, fell in love with the charming goddess right away and burned with sharp envy for Ares. The sea god pretended to sympathize with Hephaestus and offered help. He claimed that he would do everything to ensure that Ares paid for his freedom a price no less than the wedding gifts of Hephaestus. If the god of war does not do this, then Poseidon himself will give the required amount and marry the beautiful goddess.
After the release of the captives, Ares did not even think about repaying the debt, because if the supreme god does not pay, then why should he do it. Nobody paid Hephaestus the ransom, but he was not very upset, because he loved his wife and did not want to let her go anywhere, let alone get divorced.
After this adventure, Ares returned to his homeland, and Aphrodite settled in Cyprus, where she became virgin again after swimming in the sea. The described situation did not affect the goddess in any way, because she continued to feel a strong passionate attraction to the warlike god and always protected him, because of which Athena constantly made fun of and mocked Aphrodite. Ares was also madly jealous and loving.
Ares' jealousy
In the myths of the ancient Greeks, one story is described when the windy Aphrodite fell in love with the wonderful young man Adonis. He also liked Persephone, the wife of the underground patron - Hades. The dispute of the two goddesses was to be settled by Zeus, but he refused to execute such an obscene court and turned the matter over to the muses. They decided that for two seasons in the year Adonis would live with Aphrodite, one season with Persephone, and one as he wanted. But the stupid goddess of love, by hook or by crook, convinced Adonis to spend the season intended for the young man himself with her. Thus, the young lover spent more time with Aphrodite. It turns out that the court did not adhere to the muse's decision. Persephone, learning about this, became indignant and went on a conversation to Ares. She spoke about the love affairs of Aphrodite to the god of war. Blinded by jealousy, Ares turned into a wild boar and killed Adonis during a hunt right in front of the goddess of love. That was the whole of Ares! The son of Zeus and Callisto also felt the wrath of the god of war.
Children of warlike god
Ares became the father of four offspring, whose mother was Aphrodite. Deimos and Phobos were constantly with their father on the battlefield, in the thick of the battle. Daughter Harmony was something like a mother and brought people happiness even more than the goddess of love. Son Eros had a daddy character and was engaged in my mother's specialization in the field of inciting love. This boy with shiny wings, a golden bow and arrow was notable for playfulness, cunning and sometimes even cruelty. It was as light as a summer breeze. No one could hide from his arrows of love. Eros is very dexterous and is not inferior in the art of shooting to the very god Apollo. The arrows of a cute boy bring to people not only love and joy, but often suffering, possibly even death. After birth, Zeus wanted to kill the baby, knowing about the troubles and sorrows that Eros will bring to the gods and people.
Mother Aphrodite did not give offense to her son and hid him in a dense forest, where he was raised by lionesses. And Eros remained safe and sound. Now he flies around the world and brings peace and love, and grief, and good, and evil, conquering with his arrows and very young, and even old people. The son of Aphrodite and Ares activates a force that draws people, gods or gods to people to each other. This is not so important.
To the offspring of Ares, historians attribute the goddess of bloody revenge to Erinius and the terrible dragon. With him in a duel Cadmus, whose sister was abducted. He and several other young men gathered in search. On the way, they lost each other, and Cadmus fell to Delphi, where the oracle advised him to follow the cow and, where it stops, build a city. With only a few servants, he was unable to make this prediction. But then it got worse, because a dragon got out of the cave and ate all the servants.
Seeing all this, the young man began an overwhelming battle with the dragon and thanks to incredible efforts he defeated him. Lying on the grass, without any strength, Cadmus heard the woman's domineering voice. He helped the young man to get up and pull out the teeth of the dragon, which then Cadmus dotted the field. From the teeth grew warriors who fought with each other, some of them died, and with those that remained, the young man laid the city. It was named after the hero - Kadmey.
After Cadmus killed the dragon, he was to become the servant of the bloodthirsty god Ares for many years. At the end of the service, the young man married the daughter of Ares and the goddess of love Aphrodite - Harmony.
Conclusion
In the presented article, an attempt was made to assemble a holistic image of the warlike god Ares. Born in the harsh Thrace, he was ferocious and cruel. This is the beloved son of Hera's mother, but hated for her own father. Ares scared mortal people and disgusted immortal gods. The meaning of the life of this god was war, its very process, battles and battles, the cries of warriors, the clang of weapons, the cries of victims. But before greater strength, Ares gave in and walked away, although, of course, he did not like this at all.
Another element in which Ares was completely immersed was the love of the incredibly beautiful and feminine goddess Aphrodite. Jealousy for her incinerated God, and he, captivated by this frantic feeling, swept away everything in his path. Rage, deceit, cruelty are qualities of a bloodthirsty Ares who will not stop at nothing. Blood and death most attract the god of war.
It is simply impossible to list all the sons of Zeus, even historians cannot do this. We will name the most famous of them. These are Ammon, Hercules, Dardan, Dodon, Kariy, Locker, Meliteus, Perseus, Tantalum, Epaph, etc.