Ares/Mars

Ares

Ares (in greco antico: Ἄρης, Árēs) nella religione greca è il figlio di Zeus ed Era. Viene molto spesso identificato tra i dodici Olimpi come il dio della guerra in senso generale, ma si tratta di un'imprecisione: in realtà Ares è il dio solo degli aspetti più violenti della guerra e della lotta intesa come sete di sangue. Ares era il dio più affascinante e bello tra gli dèi e per questo motivo faceva ingelosire Apollo,nonostante fosse suo "semifratello". Per i Greci, Ares era un dio del quale diffidare sempre. Il suo luogo di nascita e la sua vera residenza si trovavano in Tracia, ai limiti estremi della Grecia, paese abitato da genti barbare e bellicose; e proprio in Tracia Ares decise di ritirarsi dopo che venne scoperto con Afrodite. Anche Atena è la dea della guerra ma il suo campo di azione è quello delle strategie di combattimento e dell'astuzia applicata alle battaglie, mentre Ares si diverte e si esalta per gli scoppi di furia e violenza, più graditi da Ares se improvvisi e subdoli, che in guerra si manifestano, delle atrocità connesse o no alla guerra (risse, barbarie, razzie…), non a caso Eris è sua sorella, gregaria e anche, in alcuni testi, una delle sue amanti. Fra i suoi animali sacri c'erano il cane, il cinghiale e l'avvoltoio.
La parola "Ares" fino all'epoca classica fu usata anche come aggettivo, intendendosi come infuriato o bellicoso, ad esempio si ricordano le forme Zeus Areios, Athena Areia, o anche Aphrodite Areia. Alcune iscrizioni risalenti all'epoca Micenea riportano Enyalios, un nome che è sopravvissuto fino all'epoca classica come epiteto di Ares.
Pur essendo protagonista nelle vicende belliche, raramente Ares risultava vincitore. Era più frequente, invece, che si ritirasse dalla contesa, come quando combatté a fianco di Ettore contro Diomede, o nella mischia degli Dei sotto le mura di Troia: in entrambi i casi si rifugiò sull'Olimpo perché messo in seria difficoltà, direttamente o indirettamente, da Atena. Altre volte la sua furia brutale si trovò contrapposta e vanificata da eroi o semidei, per esempio dalla lucida astuzia e dalla forza di Eracle, come nell'episodio dello scontro dell'eroe con suo figlio Cicno.
I Romani identificarono Ares con il dio Marte, che era un'antica divinità degli indoeuropei, la cui figura aveva però assunto in territorio italico caratteri diversi, essendo in origine una divinità "rurale" pacifica e benefica già all'epoca venerato di più rispetto ad Ares. Fu anche assunta dagli Etruschi col nome di Maris.

Il culto di Ares

Nonostante la sua figura sia importante per poeti e aedi, il culto di Ares non era molto diffuso nell'antica Grecia, tranne a Sparta dove veniva invocato perché concedesse il suo favore prima delle battaglie e, nonostante sia presente nelle leggende riguardanti la fondazione di Tebe, è uno degli dei sul conto del quale gli antichi miti meno si soffermano.
A Sparta era presente una statua di Ares che lo raffigurava incatenato, a simboleggiare che lo spirito della guerra e della vittoria non avrebbero mai potuto lasciare la città; durante le cerimonie in suo onore venivano sacrificati cani, usanza mutuata dall'antica pratica di sacrificare cuccioli alle divinità ctonie.
Ad Atene il tempio di Ares nell'agorà, che il geografo Pausania ebbe modo di vedere nel II secolo, era in realtà un tempio dedicato a Marte. L'Areopago, ovvero la collina di Ares sulla quale predicò Paolo di Tarso, si trova invece ad una certa distanza dall'Acropoli e nei tempi antichi vi si svolgevano i processi e la sua presunta relazione con Ares potrebbe essere solo frutto di un'errata interpretazione etimologica.

I simboli di Ares

Ares aveva una quadriga trainata da quattro cavalli immortali dal respiro infuocato, legati al carro con finimenti d'oro. Tra tutti gli dei si distingueva per la sua armatura bronzea e luccicante e in battaglia abitualmente brandiva una lancia. I suoi uccelli sacri erano il barbagianni, il picchio, il gufo reale e, specialmente nel sud della Grecia, l'avvoltoio. Secondo le Argonautiche gli uccelli di Ares, muovendosi come uno stormo e lasciando cadere piume appuntite come dardi, difendevano il suo tempio costruito dalle Amazzoni su di un'isola vicina alla costa del Mar Nero. Spesso Ares viene rappresentato su pietra con il colore rosso, rosso come il sangue, simbolo degli atti feroci che si compiono in guerra.

Gli epiteti di Ares

Enialio (Ενυαλιος, traslitterato anche come Enialo) ossia "Guerriero", era un epiteto comune per Ares. È interessante notare che nelle tavolette Micenee in scrittura lineare B si trova il nome di un dio chiamato Enialio, mentre "ares" pare essere semplicemente il sostantivo usato per chiamare la guerra. Tuttavia in epoca classica la figura di Enialio era stata declassata al rango di eroe (e in questa veste appare nell'Iliade) mentre Ares era assunto al rango di divinità. Enialio sopravvisse poi come un titolo di culto esclusivamente in alcuni ambiti, come ad esempio il giuramento che gli efebi.
Altri epiteti di Ares sono:

• Brotoloigos (Βροτολοιγός, Il distruttore di uomini)
• Andreiphontês (Ανδρειφοντης, L'assassino di uomini)
• Miaiphonos (Μιαιφόνος, Colui che è macchiato di sangue)
• Teikhesiplêtês (Τειχεσιπλήτης, Colui che assalta le mura)
• Maleros (Μαλερός, Brutale)

Ares nella mitologia

La nascita

Ares era figlio del Re degli Dei, Zeus, e della Regina degli Dei, Era. Le sue sorelle erano Ebe e Ilizia.
Stando a Omero e Quinto Smirneo, Ares aveva una sorella gemella: Eris.
Secondo un altro mito, riportato da Ovidio e dal Primo Mitografo Vaticano, Eris e Ares sono stati concepiti da Era semplicemente toccando un fiore, senza che la dea giacesse con Zeus.

Genealogia (Esiodo)

Urano

Gea

Genitali di  Urano

CRONO

Rea

Zeus

Era

Poseidone

Ade

Demetra

Estia

a

b

Ares

Efesto

Meti

Atena

Latona

Apollo

Artemide

Maia

Ermes

Semele

Dioniso

Dione

a

b

Afrodite

Gli aiutanti di Ares

Dalla sua relazione focosa con Afrodite nacquero due figli, Deimos e Fobos, che personificavano gli spiriti del terrore e della paura. Sorella e degna compagna del sanguinario Ares era Enio, dea degli spargimenti di sangue, Bia, la violenza e Cratos, la forza bruta. Solitamente Ares scendeva in guerra accompagnato da Cidoimo (il demone del frastuono della battaglia), dai Makhai (spiriti della battaglia), dagli Hysminai (gli spiriti dell'omicidio), da Polemos (uno spirito della guerra minore) e dalla figlia di Polemos Alalà, personificazione del grido di guerra dei Greci e il cui nome Ares decise di usare come proprio grido di guerra. Suo fedele soldato fu anche Alettrione.

La fondazione di Tebe

Uno dei miti più importanti riguardo ad Ares è quello che tratta del suo coinvolgimento nella fondazione della città di Tebe in Beozia. L'eroe Cadmo aveva ricevuto dall'Oracolo di Delfi l'ordine di seguire una vacca e fondare una città nel luogo dove si fosse fermata. L'animale si fermò presso una fonte custodita da un drago acquatico sacro ad Ares. Cadmo uccise il mostro e, su consiglio di Atena, ne seminò al suolo i denti: da questi nacquero istantaneamente dei guerrieri, gli Sparti che aiutarono Cadmo a fondare quella che sarebbe appunto diventata Tebe. Cadmo, prima di diventarne il re dovette però servire Ares per otto anni per espiare l'affronto fattogli uccidendo il drago, nonché sposare la figlia del dio e di Afrodite, Armonia per appianare la discordia tra loro sorta.

Eracle e Cicno

Alcuni racconti parlano di un figlio di Ares che abitava in Macedonia, Cicno, che era così sanguinario da aver tentato di costruire un tempio dedicato al padre usando le ossa e i teschi dei viaggiatori da lui trucidati. Questo mostro venne a sua volta ucciso da Eracle: la morte del figlio suscitò l'ira di Ares che a sua volta si scontrò con il più grande degli eroi, finendone però ferito e sconfitto.

Il tradimento di Afrodite

Nella leggenda cantata dal bardo nel salone del palazzo di Alcinoo si narra che il dio del sole Helios una volta vide Ares e Afrodite che si incontravano di nascosto nella camera di Efesto e che andò subito a riferirglielo. Efesto studiò un sistema per sorprendere in flagrante la coppia e fabbricò una rete dorata con la quale legò i due amanti clandestini: aspettò e, durante un incontro amoroso, i due rimasero intrappolati nella rete e finirono così bloccati in una posizione assai intima e compromettente. Efesto, non ancora soddisfatto, chiamò gli altri dei dell'Olimpo per mostrare loro i due sfortunati amanti. Le dee per modestia si rifiutarono di andare, ma gli dei andarono senza indugio. Alcuni si abbandonarono a commenti sulla bellezza di Afrodite, altri osservarono che avrebbero volentieri preso il posto di Ares e, in buona sostanza, nessuno perse l'occasione di farsi beffe di loro. Una volta liberati Ares, imbarazzato e pieno di vergogna, se ne andò via tornando in Tracia, la sua terra natia.
Una versione della leggenda di epoca più tarda dice che Ares aveva messo di guardia alla porta il giovane Alectrione perché lo avvisasse dell'arrivo di Helios, dato che sapeva che se li avesse scoperti lo avrebbe rivelato ad Efesto, ma il giovane finì per addormentarsi. Ares, visto che Alectrione non aveva rispettato le consegne, si infuriò e per punirlo lo trasformò in un gallo, animale che da allora non dimentica mai al mattino di avvisare dell'arrivo del sole.

Ares rapito dagli Aloadi

Nell'Iliade la dea Dione riferisce alla figlia Afrodite che gli dei molto hanno sofferto a causa dei mortali e racconta del rapimento di Ares da parte di Oto ed Efialte.
Apollodoro ci racconta infatti che i due fratelli, semidei in quanto figli di Poseidone, ma detti Aloadi dal nome del secondo marito della loro madre Ifimedea, una volta dichiarata guerra all'Olimpo, decisero che per primo dovesse essere neutralizzato proprio Ares, e quindi si recarono in Tracia, dove rapirono il dio della guerra, lo incatenarono e lo misero in un vaso di bronzo dove restò imprigionato per tredici mesi, cioè un anno lunare.
E quella sarebbe stata la fine di Ares e dei suoi desideri di guerra se la bella Eribea, la matrigna dei due giganti, non avesse detto ad Hermes che cosa avevano fatto i due, spiega la dea alla figlia nel poema. Ares rimase chiuso nel vaso ad urlare e lamentarsi finché Ermes non andò a salvarlo mentre Artemide indusse nel contempo con un trucco Oto ed Efialte ad uccidersi l'un l'altro.

L'Iliade

Nell'Iliade Artemide mostra come in quella vicenda Ares non avesse stretto alleanze fisse con alcuno dei contendenti, e neppure mostrasse rispetto per Temi, la personificazione dell'ordine e della giustizia. Promise ad Atena ed Era di schierarsi dalla parte degli Achei, ma Afrodite fu abile a convincerlo a passare invece al fianco dei Troiani. Nel corso della guerra Diomede, mentre si stava scontrando con Ettore, vide Ares che combatteva nello schieramento troiano e ordinò così ai suoi uomini di ripiegare lentamente. Il dio guidò personalmente la mortale lama di Ettore contro numerosi guerrieri achei, uccidendo Teutrante, Oreste, Treco, Eleno, Enomao e Oresbio, mentre da solo massacrò il forte Perifante. Hera, la madre di Ares, si accorse di quest'inopportuna intromissione e chiese a Zeus il permesso di allontanare il figlio dal campo di battaglia. La dea esortò Diomede ad attaccare Ares, così l'eroe gli scagliò contro una lancia e il suo urlo di battaglia spaventò tanto i Troiani quanto gli Achei. Atena fece in modo che la lancia colpisse Ares, che urlando di dolore fuggì sull'Olimpo costringendo i Troiani a ritirarsi. Durante il contrattacco alle navi decide di scendere sulla terra per vendicare il proprio figlio affermando di non curarsi di ritorsioni da parte di Zeus, ma viene fermato da Atena che lo convince a restare dicendo che anche le altre divinità sarebbero state punite. Successivamente, quando Zeus permise agli dei di partecipare nuovamente alla guerra, Ares tentò di scontrarsi con Atena per vendicarsi della ferita precedentemente subita, ma fu nuovamente battuto e ferito quando la dea lo colpì scagliandogli contro un grosso masso.

Amanti e figli di Ares

1. Afrodite - Dea della bellezza, figlia di Zeus e Dione
   1. Eros (secondo molte leggende)
   2. Anteros (Personificazione dell'amore non corrisposto)
   3. Deimos
   4. Phobos
   5. Armonia
   6. Adrestia (secondo alcuni miti è la dea della vendetta, compagna di battaglie del dio della guerra)
   7. Imeros (gemello di Eros e uno degli Eroti)
   8. Pothos (come il fratello Himeros rappresenta il desiderio d'amore sessuale)
   9. Priapo (secondo una leggenda)
   10. Athys (trovato vicino alle rive di un fiume quando era in fasce)
2. Agraulo - Regina di Atene, amata da Ares e da Ermes
   1. Alcippe - Fanciulla violentata da Alirrozio, figlio di Poseidone
3. Altea - Moglie di Oineo, re di Calidone
   1. Meleagro - Eroe della caccia di Calidone
4. Arpina (o Sterope, secondo alcune leggende) - Ninfa, figlia del fiume Asopo
   1. Enomao - Re di Pisa, ucciso da Pelope (pare)
5. Astinome - Sacerdotessa troiana
   1. Calidone - Eponimo della regione di Calidone
6. Astioche - Figlia di Attore
   1. Ascalafo - Sovrano di Orcomeno, ucciso da Deifobo
   2. Ialmeno - Fondatore di una colonia sul Ponto Eusino
7. Atalanta - Eroina cacciatrice
   1. Partenopeo - Uno dei Sette contro Tebe
8. Bistonis - Ninfa della Tracia
   1. Tereo - Re di Tracia
9. Calliope - Musa
   1. Eagro - Dio fluviale (secondo una leggenda)
10. Critobule - Personaggio sconosciuto
    1. Pangeo - Eroe tracio
11. Demodice - Moglie di Creteo
    1. Eveno - Re d'Etolia
    2. Testio - Re di Pleurone
12. Dotide (o Crise) - Figlia dell'Almo
    1. Flegias - Eroe eponimo dei Flegei
13. Eos - Dea dell'Aurora
14. Filonome - Ninfa
    1. Licasto - Sovrano di Arcadia
    2. Parrasio - Gemello di Licasto
15. Ossa - Ninfa di una montagna
    1. Sitone (secondo alcune leggende)
16. Otrera - Regina e capostipite delle Amazzoni
    1. Ippolita - Uccisa dall'eroe Eracle
    2. Antiope - Rapita da Teseo e madre di Ippolito
    3. Melanippe - Uccisa da Telamone durante le fatiche di Eracle
    4. Lisippe (secondo alcune leggende)
    5. Pentesilea - Uccisa in duello da Achille
17. Pelopia - Figlia del re Pelia
    1. Cicno - Crudele brigante
18. Perimele - Principessa di Orcomeno
    1. Issione (secondo una leggenda)
19. Cirene o Pirene - Ninfa (a volte identificata con la Cirene figlia del re dei Lapiti)
    1. Diomede - Re di Tracia, ucciso da Eracle (secondo alcune leggende)
    2. Licaone - Re macedone, ucciso da Eracle
20. Protogenia - Figlia del re Calidone
    1. Ossilo - Pronipote di Eolo
21. Teogone - Fanciulla di Licia
    1. Tmolo - Re di Lidia
22. Triteia - Sacerdotessa di Atena
    1. Melanippo - Fondatore di Triteia
23. Rea Silvia - Vestale, discendente del semidio Enea, figlio della dea dell'amore e della bellezza Afrodite / Venere
    1. Romolo e Remo - Fondatori di Roma
24. Da madre sconosciuta
    1. Lico - Re di Libia
25. Da madre sconosciuta
    1. Solimo (secondo una leggenda)
26. Da madre sconosciuta
    1. Strimone - Re di Tracia, poi dio fluviale
27. Da madre sconosciuta
    1. Tereo - Re di Tracia
    2. Driante - Fratello del precedente
28. Da madre sconosciuta
    1. Trace - Capostipite tracio
29. Da madre sconosciuta
    1. Patacao (secondo una leggenda)
    2. Euritione - Centauro
    
    
    
     Scultura raffigurante Ares conservata nella Villa Adriana, a Tivoli
    Ares_Canope_Villa_Adriana.jpg: Jastrow derivative work: EricMachmer (talk) - Ares_Canope_Villa_Adriana.jpg
    Helmeted young warrior, so-called Ares. Roman copy from a Greek original—this is a plaster replica, the original is now stored in the Museum of the Villa. Canope at the Villa Adriana

Marte

Marte (in latino: Mars) è, secondo la religione romana del I secolo a.C., il dio della guerra, dei duelli e degli spargimenti di sangue, l'equivalente della divinità greca Ares. Secondo la mitologia romana più arcaica è anche il dio del tuono, della pioggia e della fertilità.  

Culto

Divinità sia italica che prettamente romana, padre mitico del primo re di Roma Romolo, era il dio guerriero per eccellenza, in parte associato a fenomeni atmosferici come la tempesta e il fulmine. Assieme a Quirino e Giove, faceva parte della cosiddetta "Triade Capitolina arcaica", che in seguito, su influsso della cultura etrusca, sarà invece costituita da Giove, Giunone e Minerva. Più tardi, identificandolo con il greco Ares, venne detto figlio di Giunone e Giove e inserito in un contesto mitologico ellenizzato.
Alcuni studiosi del passato (Wilhelm Roscher, Hermann Usner, e soprattutto Alfred von Domaszewski) hanno parlato di Marte anche nei termini di divinità "agraria", legata all'agricoltura, soprattutto sulla scorta del testo di una preghiera rimastaci nel De agri cultura di Catone, che lo invoca per proteggere i campi da ogni tipo di sciagura e malattia. Come dimostrato in seguito da Georges Dumézil, in realtà il collegamento fra Marte e l'ambito campestre non fa di lui una divinità neanche parzialmente legata alla terra, in quanto il suo ruolo è esclusivamente di difensore armato dei campi da mali umani e soprannaturali, senza diversificazione dalla sua natura intrinsecamente guerresca.
Il dio, inoltre, rappresentava la virtù e la forza della natura e della gioventù, che nei tempi antichi era dedita alla pratica militare. In questo senso era posto in relazione con l'antica pratica italica del uer sacrum, la Primavera Sacra: in una situazione difficile, i cittadini prendevano la decisione sacra di allontanare dal territorio la nuova generazione, non appena fosse divenuta adulta. Giunto il momento, Marte prendeva sotto la sua tutela i giovani espulsi, che formavano solo una banda, e li proteggeva finché non avessero fondato una nuova comunità sedentaria espellendo o sottomettendo altri occupanti; accadeva talvolta che gli animali consacrati a Marte guidassero i sacrani e divenissero loro eponimi: un lupo (hirpus) aveva guidato gli Irpini, un picchio (picus) i Piceni, mentre i Mamertini derivavano il loro nome direttamente da quello del dio. Sempre a Marte era dedicata la legio sacrata, cioè la legione Sannita, detta anche linteata, poiché era bianca.
Marte, nella società romana, assunse un ruolo molto più importante della sua controparte greca (Ares), probabilmente perché considerato il padre del popolo romano e di tutti gli italici in generale: Marte, accoppiatosi con la vestale Rea Silvia generò Romolo e Remo, che fondarono Roma. Di conseguenza Marte era considerato il padre del popolo romano e i romani si chiamavano tra loro Figli di Marte. I suoi più importanti discendenti, oltre a Romolo e Remo, furono Pico e Fauno.
Marte comparve spesso sulla monetazione romana, sia repubblicana che imperiale, con vari titoli: Marti conservatori (protettore), Marti patri (padre), Mars ultor (vendicatore), Marti pacifero (portatore di pace), Marti propugnatori (difensore), Mars victor (vincitore).
Il mese di marzo, il giorno di martedì, i nomi Marco, Marcello, Martino, il pianeta Marte, il popolo dei Marsi e il loro territorio Martia Antica (l'odierna Marsica) devono a lui il loro nome.

Leggenda sulla nascita di Marte

Secondo il mito, Giunone era invidiosa del fatto che Giove avesse concepito da solo Minerva senza la sua partecipazione. Chiese quindi aiuto a Flora che le indicò un fiore che cresceva nelle campagne in Etolia che permetteva di concepire al solo contatto. Così diventò madre di Marte, che fece allevare da Priapo, il quale gli insegnò l'arte della guerra. La leggenda è di tradizione tarda come dimostra la discendenza di Minerva da Giove, che ricalca il mito greco. Flora, al contrario, testimonia una tradizione più antica: l'equivalente norreno Thor nasce dalla terra, Jörð e così le molte divinità elleniche.

Nomi

Marte era venerato con numerosi nomi sia dagli stessi latini, sia dagli altri popoli italici:

• Mars;
• Marmar;
• Marmor;
• Mamers, nome con cui era venerato dai popoli italici di stirpe osca;
• Marpiter;
• Marspiter;
• Mavors;
• Maris, benché non sia un nome italico ma etrusco, l'origine della parola è comunque italica, infatti il dio Maris deriva dall'italico Marte.

Epiteti

• Diuum deus: 'dio degli dei', nome con cui viene designato nel Carmen Saliare.
• Gradivus: 'colui che va', con valore spesso di 'colui che va in battaglia', ma può essere collegato anche al ver sacrum, quindi 'colui che guida, che va'.
• Leucesios: epiteto del Carmen Saliare che significa 'lucente', 'dio della luce', questo epiteto può essere anche legato alla sua caratteristica di dio del tuono e del lampo.
• Silvanus: in Catone, nel libro De agri cultura, 83 Marte viene soprannominato Silvanus in riferimento ai suoi aspetti legati alla natura e collegandolo con Fauno.
• Ultor: epiteto tardo, dato da Augusto in onore della vendetta per i cesaricidi (da ultor, -oris: vendicatore).

Rappresentazioni

Gli antichi monumenti rappresentano il dio Marte in maniera piuttosto uniforme; quasi sempre Marte è raffigurato con indosso l'elmo, la lancia o la spada e lo scudo, raramente con uno scettro talvolta è ritratto nudo, altre volte con l'armatura e spesso ha un mantello sulle spalle. A volte è rappresentato con la barba ma, nella maggior parte dei casi, è sbarbato. È raffigurato a piedi o su un carro trainato da due cavalli imbizzarriti, ma ha sempre un aspetto combattivo.
Gli antichi Sabini lo adoravano sotto l'effigie di una lancia chiamata "Quiris" da cui si racconta derivi il nome del dio Quirino, spesso identificato con Romolo. Bisogna dire che il nome Quirinus, come il nome Quirites, deriva da *co-uiria, cioè assemblea del popolo e indicava il popolo in quanto corpus di cittadini, da distinguere con Populus (dal verbo populari = devastare), che indica il popolo in armi.

Il ruolo di Marte a Roma

A Roma Marte era onorato in modo particolare. A partire dal regno di Numa Pompilio, venne istituito un consiglio di sacerdoti, scelti tra i patrizi, chiamati Salii, chiamati a vigilare su dodici scudi sacri, gli Ancilia, di cui si dice che uno sia caduto dal cielo. Questi sacerdoti erano riconoscibili dal resto del popolo per la loro tunica purpurea. I sacerdoti Salii, in realtà erano un'istituzione ben più antica di Numa Pompilio, risalivano addirittura al re-dio Fauno, che li creò in onore di Marte, costituendo così i primi culti iniziatici latini.
Nella capitale dell'impero, vi era anche una fontana consacrata al dio Marte e venerata dai cittadini. L'imperatore Nerone, una volta, si bagnò in quella fontana, gesto che fu interpretato dal popolo come un sacrilegio e che gli alienò la simpatia popolare. A partire da quel giorno, l'imperatore iniziò ad avere problemi di salute, secondo la gente dovuta alla vendetta del dio.

Festività

Era venerato fastosamente in marzo, il primo mese dell'anno nel calendario romano, che segnava la ripresa delle attività militari dopo l'inverno e che portava il suo nome, con le feriae Martis, Equirria, agonium martiale, Quinquatrus e tubilustrum.
Altre cerimonie importanti avvenivano in febbraio e in ottobre.
Gli Equirria si tenevano il 27 febbraio e il 14 marzo. Erano giorni sacri con significato religioso e militare; i romani vi mettevano molta enfasi per sostenere l'esercito e rafforzare la morale pubblica. I sacerdoti tenevano riti di purificazione dell'esercito. Si tenevano corse di cavalli nel Campo Marzio.
Le feriae Martis si tenevano dal 1º marzo al 24 marzo. Durante le feriae Martis i dodici Salii Palatini percorrevano la città in processione, portando ciascuno un Ancile, uno dei dodici scudi sacri, e fermandosi ogni notte ad una stazione diversa (mansio). Nel percorso i Salii eseguivano una danza con un ritmo di tre tempi (tripudium) e cantavano l'antico e misterioso Carmen Saliare. Il 19 marzo si teneva il Quinquatrus, durante il quale gli scudi venivano ripuliti. Il 23 marzo si teneva il Tubilustrium, dedicato alla purificazione delle trombe usate dai Salii e alla preparazione delle armi dopo la pausa invernale. Il 24 marzo gli ancilia venivano riposti nel sacrario della Regia.
L'October Equus si teneva alle idi di ottobre (15 ottobre). Si svolgeva una corsa di bighe e veniva sacrificato a Marte il cavallo di destra del trio vincente tramite un colpo di lancia del Flamine marziale. La coda veniva tagliata e il suo sangue sparso nel cortile della Regia. C'era una battaglia tradizionale tra gli abitanti della Suburra che volevano la coda per portarla alla Turris Mamilia e quelli della Via Sacra che la volevano per la Regia.
Il 19 ottobre si teneva l'Armilustrium, dedicato alla purificazione delle armi e alla loro conservazione per l'inverno.
Ogni cinque anni si tenevano in Campo Marzio le Suovetaurilia, dove davanti all'altare di Marte (Ara Martis) il censo veniva accompagnato da un rito di purificazione tramite il sacrificio di un bue, un maiale e una pecora.

Luoghi di culto

Tra le popolazioni italiche, si sa di un antico tempio dedicato al dio Marte a Suna, antica città degli Aborigeni, e di un oracolo del dio, nella città aborigena di Tiora.

Animali e oggetti sacri

• Lupo: si ricorda il nipote Fauno, il lupo per eccellenza e la lupa che ha allattato Romolo e Remo
• Picchio: il picchio è l'uccello del tuono e della pioggia oracolare, ha nutrito Romolo e Remo insieme alla lupa
• Cavallo: simbolo della guerra (si ricorda Nettuno e gli Equirria)
• Toro: altro animale molto importante per il ver sacrum e per tutti i popoli italici
• Hastae Martiae: sono le lance di Marte che si scuotevano in caso di gravi pericoli, tenute nel sacrario della Regia
• Lapis manalis: la pietra della pioggia, in quanto dio della pioggia

Offerte

A Marte si offrivano come vittime sacrificali vari tipi di animali: dei tori, dei maiali, delle pecore e, più raramente, cavalli, galli, lupi e picchi verdi, molti dei quali gli erano consacrati. Le matrone romane gli sacrificavano un gallo il primo giorno del mese a lui dedicato che, fino al tempo di Gaio Giulio Cesare, era anche il primo dell'anno.

Identificazioni con dei celtici

• Mars Alator: Fusione con il dio celtico Alator
• Mars Albiorix, Mars Caturix o Mars Teutates: Fusione con il dio celtico Toutatis
• Mars Barrex: Fusione con il dio celtico Barrex, di cui si ha notizia solo da un'iscrizione a Carlisle
• Mars Belatucadrus: Fusione con il dio celtico Belatu-Cadros. Questo epiteto è stato trovato in cinque iscrizioni nell'area del Vallo di Adriano
• Mars Braciaca: Fusione con il dio celtico Braciaca, trovato in un'iscrizione a Bakewell
• Mars Camulos: Fusione con il dio della guerra celtico Camulo
• Mars Capriociegus: Fusione con il dio celtico gallaico Capriociegus, trovato in due iscrizioni a Pontevedra
• Mars Cocidius: Fusione con il dio celtico Cocidio
• Mars Condatis: Fusione con il dio celtico Condatis
• Mars Lenus: Fusione con il dio celtico Leno
• Mars Loucetius: Fusione con il dio celtico Leucezio
• Mars Mullo: Fusione con il dio celtico Mullo
• Mars Nodens: Fusione con il dio celtico Nodens
• Mars Ocelus: Fusione con il dio celtico Ocelus
• Mars Olloudius: Fusione con il dio celtico Olloudio
• Mars Segomo: Fusione con il dio celtico Segomo
• Mars Visucius: Fusione con il dio celtico Visucio

Marte nell'arte

Pittura

• Marte di Diego Velázquez (1640)
• Marte che spoglia Venere con amorino e cane di Paolo Veronese
• Marte e Venere sorpresi da Vulcano di François Boucher (1754)
• Minerva protegge la Pace da Marte di Pieter Paul Rubens (1629-1630)
• Venere e Marte di Sandro Botticelli

Statua colossale di Marte: "Pirro" nei Musei capitolini a Roma. Fine del I secolo d.C.

sconosciuto - User:Jean-Pol GRANDMONT (2011)

Statua colossale di Marte (Pirro). Marmo, opera romana.

Ares (/ˈɛəriːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἄρης, Áres [árɛːs]) is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war, in contrast to his sister the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and generalship.
The Greeks were ambivalent toward Ares: although he embodied the physical valor necessary for success in war, he was a dangerous force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering." His sons Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror) and his lover, or sister, Enyo (Discord) accompanied him on his war chariot. In the Iliad, his father Zeus tells him that he is the god most hateful to him. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality. His value as a war god is placed in doubt: during the Trojan War, Ares was on the losing side, while Athena, often depicted in Greek art as holding Nike (Victory) in her hand, favoured the triumphant Greeks.
Ares plays a relatively limited role in Greek mythology as represented in literary narratives, though his numerous love affairs and abundant offspring are often alluded to. When Ares does appear in myths, he typically faces humiliation. He is well known as the lover of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was married to Hephaestus, god of craftsmanship. The most famous story related to Ares and Aphrodite shows them exposed to ridicule through the wronged husband's device.
The counterpart of Ares among the Roman gods is Mars, who as a father of the Roman people was given a more important and dignified place in ancient Roman religion as a guardian deity. During the Hellenization of Latin literature, the myths of Ares were reinterpreted by Roman writers under the name of Mars. Greek writers under Roman rule also recorded cult practices and beliefs pertaining to Mars under the name of Ares. Thus in the classical tradition of later Western art and literature, the mythology of the two figures becomes virtually indistinguishable.

Names

The etymology of the name Ares is traditionally connected with the Greek word ἀρή (arē), the Ionic form of the Doric ἀρά (ara), "bane, ruin, curse, imprecation". There may also be a connection with the Roman god of war, Mars, via hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *M̥rēs;^{[citation needed]} compare Ancient Greek μάρναμαι (marnamai), "I fight, I battle". Walter Burkert notes that "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war." R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name.
The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek, a-re, written in the Linear B syllabic script.
The adjectival epithet, Areios, 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. In the Iliad, the word ares is used as a common noun synonymous with "battle."
Inscriptions as early as Mycenaean times, and continuing into the Classical period, attest to Enyalios as another name for the god of war.

Character, origins, and worship

Ares was one of the Twelve Olympians in the archaic tradition represented by the Iliad and Odyssey. Zeus expresses a recurring Greek revulsion toward the god when Ares returns wounded and complaining from the battlefield at Troy:

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."

This ambivalence is expressed also in the Greeks' association of the god with the Thracians, whom they regarded as a barbarous and warlike people. Thrace was Ares's birthplace, his true home, and his refuge after the affair with Aphrodite was exposed to the general mockery of the other gods.
A late-6th-century BC funerary inscription from Attica emphasizes the consequences of coming under Ares's sway:

Stay and mourn at the tomb of dead Kroisos
Whom raging Ares destroyed one day, fighting in the foremost ranks.

Ares in Sparta

In Sparta, Ares was viewed as a model soldier: his resilience, physical strength, and military intelligence were unrivaled. An ancient statue, representing the god in chains, suggests that the martial spirit and victory were to be kept in the city of Sparta. That the Spartans admired him is indicative of the cultural divisions that existed between themselves and other Greeks, especially the Athenians (see Pelopponesian War).

Ares in the Arabian Peninsula

Ares was also worshipped by the inhabitants of Tylos. It is not known if he was worshipped in the form of an Arabian god (or which one) or if he was worshipped in his Greek form.

Attributes

The birds of Ares (Ornithes Areioi) were a flock of feather-dart-dropping birds that guarded the Amazons' shrine of the god on a coastal island in the Black Sea.

Cult and ritual

Although Ares received occasional sacrifice from armies going to war, the god had a formal temple and cult at only a few sites. At Sparta, however, each company of youths sacrificed a puppy to Enyalios before engaging in ritual fighting at the Phoebaeum. The chthonic night-time sacrifice of a dog to Enyalios became assimilated to the cult of Ares.
Just east of Sparta stood an archaic statue of the god in chains, to show that the spirit of war and victory was to be kept in the city.
The Temple of Ares in the agora of Athens, which Pausanias saw in the second century AD, had been moved and rededicated there during the time of Augustus. Essentially it was a Roman temple to the Augustan Mars Ultor. From archaic times, the Areopagus, the "mount of Ares" at some distance from the Acropolis, was a site of trials. Paul the Apostle later preached about Christianity there. Its connection with Ares, perhaps based on a false etymology, is etiological myth.^{[citation needed]} A second temple to Ares has been located at the archaeological site of Metropolis in what is now Western Turkey.

Attendants

Deimos ("Terror" or "Dread"), and Phobos ("Fear"), are his companions in war. According to Hesiod, they were also his children, born to him by Aphrodite. Eris, the goddess of discord, or Enyo, the goddess of war, bloodshed, and violence, was considered the sister  and companion of the violent Ares. In at least one tradition, Enyalius, rather than another name for Ares, was his son by Enyo.
Ares may also be accompanied by Kydoimos, the demon 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 ("Youth") also draws baths for him.
According to Pausanias, local inhabitants of Therapne, Sparta, recognized Thero, "feral, savage," as a nurse of Ares.

Founding of Thebes

One of the roles of Ares was expressed in mainland Greece as the founding myth of Thebes: Ares was the progenitor of the water-dragon slain by Cadmus, for the dragon's teeth were sown into the ground as if a crop and sprang up as the fully armored autochthonic Spartoi. To propitiate Ares, Cadmus took as a bride Harmonia, a daughter of Ares's union with Aphrodite. In this way, Cadmus harmonized all strife and founded the city of Thebes.

Consorts and children

The union of Ares and Aphrodite created the gods Eros, Anteros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, and Adrestia. While Eros's and Anteros's godly stations favored their mother, Adrestia preferred to emulate her father, often accompanying him to war.^{[citation needed]} Other versions include Alcippe as one of his daughters.
Upon one occasion, Ares incurred the anger of Poseidon by slaying his son, Halirrhothius, because he had raped Alcippe, a daughter of the war-god. For this deed, Poseidon summoned Ares to appear before the tribunal of the Olympic gods, which was held upon a hill in Athens. Ares was acquitted. This event is supposed to have given rise to the name Areopagus (or Hill of Ares), which afterward became famous as the site of a court of justice.
Accounts tell of Cycnus (Κύκνος) of Macedonia, a son of Ares who was so murderous that he tried to build a temple with the skulls and the bones of travellers. Heracles slaughtered this abominable monstrosity, engendering the wrath of Ares, whom the hero wounded in conflict.

List of Ares's consorts and children

Consorts	Children
1. Aphrodite	1. Phobos
	2. Deimos
	3. Harmonia
	4. Adrestia
	5. Eros (part of the Erotes)
	6. Anteros (part of the Erotes)
	7. Himeros (part of the Erotes)
	8. Pothos (part of the Erotes)
2. Aerope	1. Aeropus
3. Aglauros	1. Alcippe
4. Althaea	1. Meleager (possibly)
5. Anchiroe	1. Sithon (possibly)
6. Astyoche, daughter of Actor	1. Ascalaphus
	2. Ialmenus
7. Atalanta	1. Parthenopaeus (possibly)
8. Caldene, daughter of Pisidus	1. Solymus (possibly)
9. Calliope (Muse)	1.Mygdon
	2. Edonus (possibly)
	3. Biston (possibly)
	4. Odomantus (possibly)
10. Callirrhoe, daughter of Nestus	1. Biston (possibly)
	2. Odomantus (possibly)
	3. Edonus (possibly)
11. Critobule	1. Pangaeus
12. Cyrene	1. Diomedes of Thrace
	2. Crestone
13. Demonice	1. Euenus
	2. Thestius
	3. Molus
	4. Pylus
14. Dormothea	1. Stymphelus
15. Dotis / Chryse	1. Phlegyas
16. Enyo	1. Enyalius
17. Eos
18. Erinys of Telphusa (unnamed)	1. Dragon of Thebes (slain by Cadmus)
19. Harmonia	1. The Amazons
20. Leodoce (?)
21. Otrera	1. Hippolyta
	2. Antiope
	3. Melanippe
	4. Penthesilea
22. Parnassa / Aegina	1. Sinope (possibly)
23. Phylonome	1. Lycastus
	2. Parrhasius
24. Protogeneia	1. Oxylus
25. Pyrene / Pelopia	1. Cycnus
26. Sete, sister of Rhesus	1. Bithys, eponym of the Bithyae, a Thracian tribe
27. Sterope (Pleiad) / Harpinna, daughter of Asopus / Eurythoe the Danaid	1. Oenomaus
28. Persephone (wooed her unsuccessfully)
29. Tanagra, daughter of Asopus
30. Tereine, daughter of Strymon	1. Thrassa (mother of Polyphonte)
31. Theogone	1. Tmolus
32. Triteia	1. Melanippus
33. mothers unknown	1. Alcon of Thrace
	2. Chalyps, eponym of the Chalybes
	3. Cheimarrhoos, possible father of Triptolemus by Polyhymnia
	4. Dryas
	5. Hyperbius
	6. Lycus of Libya
	7. Nisos (possibly)
	8. Portheus (Porthaon)
	9. Tereus

Hymns to Ares

Homeric Hymn 8 to Ares (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic 7th to 4th centuries BC)

"Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden-helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, Saviour of cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men, sceptred King of manliness, who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold courses through the aether wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death."

Orphic Hymn 65 to Ares (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns 3rd century BC to 2nd century AD)

"To Ares, Fumigation from Frankincense. Magnanimous, unconquered, boisterous Ares, in darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars; fierce and untamed, whose mighty power can make the strongest walls from their foundations shake: mortal-destroying king, defiled with gore, pleased with war’s dreadful and tumultuous roar. Thee human blood, and swords, and spears delight, and the dire ruin of mad savage fight. Stay furious contests, and avenging strife, whose works with woe embitter human life; to lovely Kyrpis [Aphrodite] and to Lyaios [Dionysos] yield, for arms exchange the labours of the field; encourage peace, to gentle works inclined, and give abundance, with benignant mind."

Other accounts

Ares and Aphrodite

In the tale sung by the bard in the hall of Alcinous, the Sun-god Helios once spied Ares and Aphrodite enjoying each other secretly in the hall of Hephaestus, her husband. He 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.
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.
In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the young soldier Alectryon 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

Ares and the giants

In one archaic myth, related only in the Iliad by the goddess Dione to her daughter Aphrodite, two chthonic giants, the Aloadae, named Otus and Ephialtes, threw Ares into chains and put 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. "In this one suspects a festival of licence which is unleashed in the thirteenth month."
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 Ares also killed Ekhidnades, the giant son of Echidna, and a great enemy of the gods. Scholars have not concluded whether the nameless Ekhidnades ("of Echidna's lineage") was entirely Nonnus's invention or not.

Iliad

In the Iliad, Homer represented Ares as having no fixed allegiances, rewarding courage on both sides: he promised Athena and Hera that he would fight on the side of the Achaeans (Iliad V.830–834, XXI.410–414), but Aphrodite persuaded Ares to side with the Trojans. During the war, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly (V.590–605).
Athene or Athena, Ares's sister, saw his interference and asked Zeus, his father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield, which Zeus granted (V.711–769). Hera and Athena encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares (V.780–834). Diomedes thrust with his spear at Ares, with Athena driving it home, and Ares's cries made Achaeans and Trojans alike tremble (V.855–864). Ares fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.
When Hera mentioned to Zeus that Ares's son, Ascalaphus, was killed, Ares overheard and wanted to join the fight on the side of the Achaeans, disregarding Zeus's order that no Olympic god should enter the battle, but Athena stopped him (XV.110–128). Later, when Zeus allowed the gods to fight in the war again (XX.20–29), Ares was the first to act, attacking Athena to avenge himself for his previous injury. Athena overpowered him by striking Ares with a boulder (XXI.391–408).

Renaissance

In Renaissance and 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 of these eras, Ares is replaced by the Roman Mars, a romantic emblem of manly valor rather than the cruel and blood-thirsty god of Greek mythology.

Vatican, Rome, Italy. Statue of Ares, Scopas's influence. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection

Brooklyn Museum

English: Vatican, Rome, Italy. Statue of Ares, Scopas' influence; Vatican, Rome. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection (S03_06_01_020 image 2561).

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Mars (Latin: Mārs, [maːrs]) was the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter and he was the most prominent of the military gods in the religion of the Roman army. Most of his festivals were held in March, the month named for him (Latin Martius), and in October, which began the season for military campaigning and ended the season for farming.
Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars was identified with the Greek god Ares, whose myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature and art under the name of Mars. But the character and dignity of Mars differed in fundamental ways from that of his Greek counterpart, who is often treated with contempt and revulsion in Greek literature. Mars was a part of the Archaic Triad along with Jupiter and Quirinus, the latter of whom, as a guardian of the Roman people, had no Greek equivalent. Mars' altar in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome that took its name from him, was supposed to have been dedicated by Numa, the peace-loving semi-legendary second king of Rome. Although the center of Mars' worship was originally located outside the sacred boundary of Rome (pomerium), Augustus made the god a renewed focus of Roman religion by establishing the Temple of Mars Ultor in his new forum.
Although Ares was viewed primarily as a destructive and destabilizing force, Mars represented military power as a way to secure peace, and was a father (pater) of the Roman people. In the mythic genealogy and founding myths of Rome, Mars was the father of Romulus and Remus with Rhea Silvia. His love affair with Venus symbolically reconciled the two different traditions of Rome's founding; Venus was the divine mother of the hero Aeneas, celebrated as the Trojan refugee who "founded" Rome several generations before Romulus laid out the city walls.
The importance of Mars in establishing religious and cultural identity within the Roman Empire is indicated by the vast number of inscriptions identifying him with a local deity, particularly in the Western provinces.

Birth

Like Ares who was the son of Zeus and Hera, Mars is usually considered to be the son of Jupiter and Juno. However, in a version of his birth given by Ovid, he was the son of Juno alone. Jupiter had usurped the mother's function when he gave birth to Minerva directly from his forehead (or mind); to restore the balance, Juno sought the advice of the goddess Flora on how to do the same. Flora obtained a magic flower (Latin flos, plural flores, a masculine word) and tested it on a heifer who became fecund at once. She then plucked a flower ritually using her thumb, touched Juno's belly, and impregnated her. Juno withdrew to Thrace and the shore of Marmara for the birth.
Ovid tells this story in the Fasti, his long-form poetic work on the Roman calendar. It may explain why the Matronalia, a festival celebrated by married women in honor of Juno as a goddess of childbirth, occurred on the first day of Mars' month, which is also marked on a calendar from late antiquity as the birthday of Mars. In the earliest Roman calendar, March was the first month, and the god would have been born with the new year. Ovid is the only source for the story. He may be presenting a literary myth of his own invention, or an otherwise unknown archaic Italic tradition; either way, in choosing to include the story, he emphasizes that Mars was connected to plant life and was not alienated from female nurture.

Consort

The consort of Mars was Nerio or Neriene, "Valor." She represents the vital force (vis), power (potentia) and majesty (maiestas) of Mars. Her name was regarded as Sabine in origin and is equivalent to Latin virtus, "manly virtue" (from vir, "man"). In the early 3rd century BC, the comic playwright Plautus has a reference to Mars greeting Nerio, his wife. A source from late antiquity says that Mars and Neriene were celebrated together at a festival held on March 23. In the later Roman Empire, Neriene came to be identified with Minerva.
Nerio probably originates as a divine personification of Mars' power, as such abstractions in Latin are generally feminine. Her name appears with that of Mars in an archaic prayer invoking a series of abstract qualities, each paired with the name of a deity. The influence of Greek mythology and its anthropomorphic gods may have caused Roman writers to treat these pairs as "marriages.

Venus and Mars

The union of Venus and Mars held greater appeal for poets and philosophers, and the couple were a frequent subject of art. In Greek myth, the adultery of Ares and Aphrodite had been exposed to ridicule when her husband Hephaestus (whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan) caught them in the act by means of a magical snare. Although not originally part of the Roman tradition, in 217 BC Venus and Mars were presented as a complementary pair in the lectisternium, a public banquet at which images of twelve major gods of the Roman state were presented on couches as if present and participating.
Scenes of Venus and Mars in Roman art often ignore the adulterous implications of their union, and take pleasure in the good-looking couple attended by Cupid or multiple Loves (amores). Some scenes may imply marriage, and the relationship was romanticized in funerary or domestic art in which husbands and wives had themselves portrayed as the passionate divine couple.
The uniting of deities representing Love and War lent itself to allegory, especially since the lovers were the parents of Concordia.^{[citation needed]} The Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino notes that "only Venus dominates Mars, and he never dominates her". In ancient Roman and Renaissance art, Mars is often shown disarmed and relaxed, or even sleeping, but the extramarital nature of their affair can also suggest that this peace is impermanent.

Essential nature

Virility as a kind of life force (vis) or virtue (virtus) is an essential characteristic of Mars. As an agricultural guardian, he directs his energies toward creating conditions that allow crops to grow, which may include warding off hostile forces of nature. As an embodiment of masculine aggression, he is the force that drives wars – but ideally, war that delivers a secure peace.^{[citation needed]}
The priesthood of the Arval Brothers called on Mars to drive off "rust" (lues), with its double meaning of wheat fungus and the red oxides that affect metal, a threat to both iron farm implements and weaponry. In the surviving text of their hymn, the Arval Brothers invoked Mars as ferus, "savage" or "feral" like a wild animal.
Mars' potential for savagery is expressed in his obscure connections to the wild woodlands, and he may even have originated as a god of the wild, beyond the boundaries set by humans, and thus a force to be propitiated. In his book on farming, Cato invokes Mars Silvanus for a ritual to be carried out in silva, in the woods, an uncultivated place that if not held within bounds can threaten to overtake the fields needed for crops. Mars' character as an agricultural god may derive solely from his role as a defender and protector, or may be inseparable from his warrior nature, as the leaping of his armed priests the Salii was meant to quicken the growth of crops^.

Sacred animals

The wild animals most sacred to Mars were the woodpecker, the wolf, and the bear, which in the natural lore of the Romans were said always to inhabit the same foothills and woodlands.
Plutarch notes that the woodpecker (picus) is sacred to Mars because "it is a courageous and spirited bird and has a beak so strong that it can overturn oaks by pecking them until it has reached the inmost part of the tree." As the beak of the picus Martius contained the god's power to ward off harm, it was carried as a magic charm to prevent bee stings and leech bites. The bird of Mars also guarded a woodland herb (paeonia) used for treatment of the digestive or female reproductive systems; those who sought to harvest it were advised to do so by night, lest the woodpecker jab out their eyes. The picus Martius seems to have been a particular species, but authorities differ on which one: perhaps Picus viridis or Dryocopus martius.
The woodpecker was revered by the Latin peoples, who abstained from eating its flesh. It was one of the most important birds in Roman and Italic augury, the practice of reading the will of the gods through watching the sky for signs. The mythological figure named Picus had powers of augury that he retained when he was transformed into a woodpecker; in one tradition, Picus was the son of Mars. The Umbrian cognate peiqu also means "woodpecker," and the Italic Picenes were supposed to have derived their name from the picus who served as their guide animal during a ritual migration (ver sacrum) undertaken as a rite of Mars. In the territory of the Aequi, another Italic people, Mars had an oracle of great antiquity where the prophecies were supposed to be spoken by a woodpecker perched on a wooden column.
Mars' association with the wolf is familiar from what may be the most famous of Roman myths, the story of how a she-wolf (lupa) suckled his infant sons when they were exposed by order of King Amulius, who feared them because he had usurped the throne from their grandfather, Numitor. The woodpecker also brought nourishment to the twins.
The wolf appears elsewhere in Roman art and literature in masculine form as the animal of Mars. A statue group that stood along the Appian Way showed Mars in the company of wolves. At the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC, the appearance of the wolf of Mars (Martius lupus) was a sign that Roman victory was to come.
In Roman Gaul, the goose was associated with the Celtic forms of Mars, and archaeologists have found geese buried alongside warriors in graves. The goose was considered a bellicose animal because it is easily provoked to aggression.

Sacrificial animals

Ancient Greek and Roman religion distinguished between animals that were sacred to a deity and those that were prescribed as the correct sacrificial offerings for the god. Wild animals might be viewed as already belonging to the god to whom they were sacred, or at least not owned by human beings and therefore not theirs to give. Since sacrificial meat was eaten at a banquet after the gods received their portion – mainly the entrails (exta) — it follows that the animals sacrificed were most often, though not always, domestic animals normally part of the Roman diet. Gods often received castrated male animals as sacrifices, and the goddesses female victims; Mars, however, regularly received intact males. Mars did receive oxen under a few of his cult titles, such as Mars Grabovius, but the usual offering was the bull, singly, in multiples, or in combination with other animals.^{[citation needed]}
The two most distinctive animal sacrifices made to Mars were the suovetaurilia, a triple offering of a pig (sus), ram (ovis) and bull (taurus), and the October Horse, the only horse sacrifice known to have been carried out in ancient Rome and a rare instance of a victim the Romans considered inedible.

Temples and topography in Rome

The earliest center in Rome for cultivating Mars as a deity was the Altar of Mars (Ara Martis) in the Campus Martius ("Field of Mars") outside the sacred boundary of Rome (pomerium). The Romans thought that this altar had been established by the semi-legendary Numa Pompilius, the peace-loving successor of Romulus. According to Roman tradition, the Campus Martius had been consecrated to Mars by their ancestors to serve as horse pasturage and an equestrian training ground for youths. During the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), the Campus was a largely open expanse. No temple was built at the altar, but from 193 BC a covered walkway connected it to the Porta Fontinalis, near the office and archives of the Roman censors. Newly elected censors placed their curule chairs by the altar, and when they had finished conducting the census, the citizens were collectively purified with a suovetaurilia there. A frieze from the so-called "Altar" of Domitius Ahenobarbus is thought to depict the census, and may show Mars himself standing by the altar as the procession of victims advances.
The main Temple of Mars (Aedes Martis) in the Republican period also lay outside the sacred boundary and was devoted to the god's warrior aspect. It was built to fulfill a vow (votum) made by a Titus Quinctius in 388 BC during the Gallic siege of Rome. The founding day (dies natalis) was commemorated on June 1, and the temple is attested by several inscriptions and literary sources. The sculpture group of Mars and the wolves was displayed there. Soldiers sometimes assembled at the temple before heading off to war, and it was the point of departure for a major parade of Roman cavalry held annually on July 15.
A temple to Mars in the Circus Flaminius was built around 133 BC, funded by Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus from war booty. It housed a colossal statue of Mars and a nude Venus.
The Campus Martius continued to provide venues for equestrian events such as chariot racing during the Imperial period, but under the first emperor Augustus it underwent a major program of urban renewal, marked by monumental architecture. The Altar of Augustan Peace (Ara Pacis Augustae) was located there, as was the Obelisk of Montecitorio, imported from Egypt to form the pointer (gnomon) of the Solarium Augusti, a giant sundial. With its public gardens, the Campus became one of the most attractive places in the city to visit.
Augustus chose the Campus Martius as the site of his new Temple to Mars Ultor, a manifestation of Mars he cultivated as the avenger (ultor) of the murder of Julius Caesar and of the military disaster suffered at the Battle of Carrhae. When the legionary standards lost to the Parthians were recovered, they were housed in the new temple. The date of the temple's dedication on May 12 was aligned with the heliacal setting of the constellation Scorpio, the sign of war. The date continued to be marked with circus games as late as the mid-4th century AD.
A large statue of Mars was part of the short-lived Arch of Nero, which was built in 62 AD but dismantled after Nero's suicide and disgrace (damnatio memoriae).

Iconography and Symbol

In Roman art, Mars is depicted as either bearded and mature, or young and clean-shaven. Even nude or seminude, he often wears a helmet or carries a spear as emblems of his warrior nature. Mars was among the deities to appear on the earliest Roman coinage in the late 4th and early 3rd century BC.
On the Altar of Peace (Ara Pacis), built in the last years of the 1st century BC, Mars is a mature man with a "handsome, classicizing" face, and a short curly beard and moustache. His helmet is a plumed neo-Attic-type. He wears a military cloak (paludamentum) and a cuirass ornamented with a gorgoneion. Although the relief is somewhat damaged at this spot, he appears to hold a spear garlanded in laurel, symbolizing a peace that is won by military victory. The 1st-century statue of Mars found in the Forum of Nerva (pictured at top) is similar. In this guise, Mars is presented as the dignified ancestor of the Roman people. The panel of the Ara Pacis on which he appears would have faced the Campus Martius, reminding viewers that Mars was the god whose altar Numa established there, that is, the god of Rome's oldest civic and military institutions.
Particularly in works of art influenced by the Greek tradition, Mars may be portrayed in a manner that resembles Ares, youthful, beardless, and often nude. In the Renaissance, Mars' nudity was thought to represent his lack of fear in facing danger.

The spear of Mars

The spear is the instrument of Mars in the same way that Jupiter wields the lightning bolt, Neptune the trident, and Saturn the scythe or sickle. A relic or fetish called the spear of Mars was kept in a sacrarium at the Regia, the former residence of the Kings of Rome. The spear was said to move, tremble or vibrate at impending war or other danger to the state, as was reported to occur before the assassination of Julius Caesar. When Mars is pictured as a peace-bringer, his spear is wreathed with laurel or other vegetation, as on the Ara Pacis or a coin of Aemilianus.

Priesthoods

The high priest of Mars in Roman public religion was the Flamen Martialis, who was one of the three major priests in the fifteen-member college of flamens. Mars was also served by the Salii, a twelve-member priesthood of patrician youths who dressed as archaic warriors and danced in procession around the city in March. Both priesthoods extend to the earliest periods of Roman history, and patrician birth was required.

Festivals and rituals

The festivals of Mars cluster in his namesake month of March (Latin: Martius), with a few observances in October, the beginning and end of the season for military campaigning and agriculture. Festivals with horse racing took place in the Campus Martius. Some festivals in March retained characteristics of new year festivals, since Martius was originally the first month of the Roman calendar.^{[citation needed]}

• February 27: Equirria, involving chariot or horse races;
• March 1: Mars' dies natalis ("birthday"), a feria also sacred to his mother Juno;
• March 14: a second Equirria, again with chariot races;
• March 14 or 15: Mamuralia, a new year festival when a figure called Mamurius Veturius (perhaps the "old Mars" of the old year) is driven out;
• March 17: an Agonalia or Agonium Martiale, an obscure type of observance held at other times for various deities;
• March 23: Tubilustrium, a purification of the deploying army March 23;
• October 15: the ritual of the October Horse, with a chariot race and Rome's only known horse sacrifice;
• October 19: Armilustrium ("purification of arms").

Mars was also honored by chariot races at the Robigalia and Consualia, though these festivals are not primarily dedicated to him. From 217 BC onward, Mars was among the gods honored at the lectisternium, a banquet given for deities who were present as images.^{[citation needed]}
Roman hymns (carmina) are rarely preserved, but Mars is invoked in two. The Arval Brothers, or "Brothers of the Fields," chanted a hymn to Mars while performing their three-step dance. The Carmen Saliare was sung by Mars' priests the Salii while they moved twelve sacred shields (ancilia) throughout the city in a procession. In the 1st century AD, Quintilian remarks that the language of the Salian hymn was so archaic that it was no longer fully understood.

Name and cult epithets

The word Mārs (genitive Mārtis), which in Old Latin and poetic usage also appears as Māvors (Māvortis), is cognate with Oscan Māmers (Māmertos). The Old Latin form was believed to derive from an Italic *Māworts, but can also be explained as deriving from Maris, the name of an Etruscan child-god; scholars have varying views on whether the two gods are related, and if so how. Latin adjectives from the name of Mars are martius and martialis, from which derive English "martial" (as in "martial arts" or "martial law") and personal names such as "Martin".^{[citation needed]}
Mars also gave his name to the third month in the Roman calendar, Martius, from which English "March" derives. In the most ancient Roman calendar, Martius was the first month. The planet Mars was named for him, and in some allegorical and philosophical writings, the planet and the god are endowed with shared characteristics. In many languages, Tuesday is named for the planet Mars or the god of war: In Latin, martis dies ("Mars's Day"), survived in Romance languages as martes (Spanish), mardi (French), martedi (Italian), marţi (Romanian), and dimarts (Catalan). In Irish (Gaelic), the day is An Mháirt, while in Albanian it is e Marta. The English word Tuesday derives from Old English "Tiwesdæg" and means "Tiw's Day", Tiw being the Old English form of the Proto-Germanic war god *Tîwaz, or Týr in Norse.

In Roman religion

In Classical Roman religion, Mars was invoked under several titles, and the first Roman emperor Augustus thoroughly integrated Mars into Imperial cult. The 4th-century Latin historian Ammianus Marcellinus treats Mars as one of several classical Roman deities who remained "cultic realities" up to his own time. Mars, and specifically Mars Ultor, was among the gods who received sacrifices from Julian, the only emperor to reject Christianity after the conversion of Constantine I. In 363 AD, in preparation for the Siege of Ctesiphon, Julian sacrificed ten "very fine" bulls to Mars Ultor. The tenth bull violated ritual protocol by attempting to break free, and when killed and examined, produced ill omens, among the many that were read at the end of Julian's reign. As represented by Ammianus, Julian swore never to make sacrifice to Mars again—a vow kept with his death a month later.

Mars Gradivus

Gradivus was one of the gods by whom a general or soldiers might swear an oath to be valorous in battle. His temple outside the Porta Capena was where armies gathered. The archaic priesthood of Mars Gradivus was the Salii, the "leaping priests" who danced ritually in armor as a prelude to war. His cult title is most often taken to mean "the Strider" or "the Marching God," from gradus, "step, march."
The poet Statius addresses him as "the most implacable of the gods," but Valerius Maximus concludes his history by invoking Mars Gradivus as "author and support of the name 'Roman'": Gradivus is asked – along with Capitoline Jupiter and Vesta, as the keeper of Rome's perpetual flame – to "guard, preserve, and protect" the state of Rome, the peace, and the princeps (the emperor Tiberius at the time).
A source from Late Antiquity says that the wife of Gradivus was Nereia, the daughter of Nereus, and that he loved her passionately.

Mars Quirinus

Mars Quirinus was the protector of the Quirites ("citizens" or "civilians") as divided into curiae (citizen assemblies), whose oaths were required to make a treaty. As a guarantor of treaties, Mars Quirinus is thus a god of peace: "When he rampages, Mars is called Gradivus, but when he's at peace Quirinus."
The deified Romulus was identified with Mars Quirinus. In the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, however, Mars and Quirinus were two separate deities, though not perhaps in origin. Each of the three had his own flamen (specialized priest), but the functions of the Flamen Martialis and Flamen Quirinalis are hard to distinguish.

Mars Grabovius

Mars is invoked as Grabovius in the Iguvine Tablets, bronze tablets written in Umbrian that record ritual protocols for carrying out public ceremonies on behalf of the city and community of Iguvium. The same title is given to Jupiter and to the Umbrian deity Vofionus. This triad has been compared to the Archaic Triad, with Vofionus equivalent to Quirinus. Tables I and VI describe a complex ritual that took place at the three gates of the city. After the auspices were taken, two groups of three victims were sacrificed at each gate. Mars Grabovius received three oxen.

Mars Pater

"Father Mars" or "Mars the Father" is the form in which the god is invoked in the agricultural prayer of Cato, and he appears with this title in several other literary texts and inscriptions. Mars Pater is among the several gods invoked in the ritual of devotio, by means of which a general sacrificed himself and the lives of the enemy to secure a Roman victory.
Father Mars is the regular recipient of the suovetaurilia, the sacrifice of a pig (sus), ram (ovis) and bull (taurus), or often a bull alone. To Mars Pater other epithets were sometimes appended, such as Mars Pater Victor ("Father Mars the Victorious"), to whom the Roman army sacrificed a bull on March 1.
Although pater and mater were fairly common as honorifics for a deity, any special claim for Mars as father of the Roman people lies in the mythic genealogy that makes him the divine father of Romulus and Remus.

Mars Silvanus

In the section of his farming book that offers recipes and medical preparations, Cato describes a votum to promote the health of cattle:

Make an offering to Mars Silvanus in the forest (in silva) during the daytime for each head of cattle: 3 pounds of meal, 4½ pounds of bacon, 4½ pounds of meat, and 3 pints of wine. You may place the viands in one vessel, and the wine likewise in one vessel. Either a slave or a free man may make this offering. After the ceremony is over, consume the offering on the spot at once. A woman may not take part in this offering or see how it is performed. You may vow the vow every year if you wish.

That Mars Silvanus is a single entity has been doubted. Invocations of deities are often list-like, without connecting words, and the phrase should perhaps be understood as "Mars and Silvanus". Women were explicitly excluded from some cult practices of Silvanus, but not necessarily of Mars. William Warde Fowler, however, thought that the wild god of the wood Silvanus may have been "an emanation or offshoot" of Mars.

Mars Ultor

Augustus created the cult of "Mars the Avenger" to mark two occasions: his defeat of the assassins of Caesar at Philippi in 42 BC, and the negotiated return of the Roman battle standards that had been lost to the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. The god is depicted wearing a cuirass and helmet and standing in a "martial pose," leaning on a lance he holds in his right hand. He holds a shield in his left hand. The goddess Ultio, a divine personification of vengeance, had an altar and golden statue in his temple.
The Temple of Mars Ultor, dedicated in 2 BC in the center of the Forum of Augustus, gave the god a new place of honor. Some rituals previously conducted within the cult of Capitoline Jupiter were transferred to the new temple, which became the point of departure for magistrates as they left for military campaigns abroad. Augustus required the Senate to meet at the temple when deliberating questions of war and peace. The temple also became the site at which sacrifice was made to conclude the rite of passage of young men assuming the toga virilis ("man's toga") around age 14.
On various Imperial holidays, Mars Ultor was the first god to receive a sacrifice, followed by the Genius of the emperor. An inscription from the 2nd century records a vow to offer Mars Ultor a bull with gilded horns.

Mars Augustus

Augustus or Augusta was appended far and wide, "on monuments great and small," to the name of gods or goddesses, including Mars. The honorific marks the affiliation of a deity with Imperial cult. In Hispania, many of the statues and dedications to Mars Augustus were presented by members of the priesthood or sodality called the Sodales Augustales. These vows (vota) were usually fulfilled within a sanctuary of Imperial cult, or in a temple or precinct (templum) consecrated specifically to Mars. As with other deities invoked as Augustus, altars to Mars Augustus might be set up to further the well-being (salus) of the emperor, but some inscriptions suggest personal devotion. An inscription in the Alps records the gratitude of a slave who dedicated a statue to Mars Augustus as conservator corporis sui, the preserver of his own body, said to have been vowed ex iussu numinis ipsius, "by the order of the numen himself".
Mars Augustus appears in inscriptions at sites throughout the Empire, such as Hispania Baetica, Saguntum, and Emerita (Lusitania) in Roman Spain; Leptis Magna (with a date of 6–7 AD) in present-day Libya; and Sarmizegetusa in the province of Dacia.

Provincial epithets

In addition to his cult titles at Rome, Mars appears in a large number of inscriptions in the provinces of the Roman Empire, and more rarely in literary texts, identified with a local deity by means of an epithet. Mars appears with great frequency in Gaul among the Continental Celts, as well as in Roman Spain and Britain. In Celtic settings, he is often invoked as a healer. The inscriptions indicate that Mars' ability to dispel the enemy on the battlefield was transferred to the sick person's struggle against illness; healing is expressed in terms of warding off and rescue.

Celtic Mars

Mars is identified with a number of Celtic deities, some of whom are not attested independently.

• Mars Alator is attested in Roman Britain by an inscription found on an altar at South Shields, and a silver-gilt votive plaque that was part of the Barkway hoard from Hertfordshire. Alator has been interpreted variously as "Huntsman" or "Cherisher".
• Mars Albiorix appears in an inscription from modern-day Sablet, in the province of Gallia Narbonensis. Albiorix probably means "King of the Land" or "King of the World", with the first element related to the geographical name Albion and Middle Welsh elfydd, "world, land".
• Mars Barrex is attested by a single dedicatory inscription found at Carlisle, England. Barrex or Barrecis probably means "Supreme One" (Gaulish barro-, "head").
• Mars Belatucadrus is named in five inscriptions in the area of Hadrian's Wall. The Celtic god Belatucadros, with various spellings, is attested independently in twenty additional inscriptions in northern England.
• Mars Braciaca appears in a single votive inscription at Bakewell, Derbyshire. The Celtic epithet may refer to malt or beer, though intoxication in Greco-Roman religion is associated with Dionysus. A reference in Pliny suggests a connection to Mars' agricultural function, with the Gaulish word bracis referring to a type of wheat; a medieval Latin gloss says it was used to make beer.

• Mars Camulus is found in five inscriptions scattered over a fairly wide geographical area. The Celtic god Camulus appears independently in one votive inscription from Rome.
• Mars Cocidius is found in five inscriptions from northern England. About twenty dedications in all are known for the Celtic god Cocidius, mainly made by Roman military personnel, and confined to northwest Cumbria and along Hadrian's Wall. He is once identified with Silvanus. He is depicted on two votive plaques as a warrior bearing shield and spear, and on an altar as a huntsman accompanied by a dog and stag.
• Mars Condatis occurs in three inscriptions from Roman Britain. The cult title is probably related to the place name Condate, often used in Gaul for settlements at the confluence of rivers. The Celtic god Condatis is thought to have functions pertaining to water and healing.
• Mars Corotiacus is an equestrian Mars attested only on a votive from Martlesham in Suffolk. A bronze statuette depicts him as a cavalryman, armed and riding a horse which tramples a prostrate enemy beneath its hooves.
• Mars Lenus, or more often Lenus Mars, had a major healing cult at the capital of the Treveri (present-day Trier). Among the votives are images of children offering doves. His consort Ancamna is also found with the Celtic god Smertrios.
• Mars Loucetius. The Celtic god Loucetios, Latinized as -ius, appears in nine inscriptions in present-day Germany and France and one in Britain, and in three as Leucetius. The Gaulish and Brythonic theonyms likely derive from Proto-Celtic *louk(k)et-, "bright, shining, flashing," hence also "lightning," alluding to either a Celtic commonplace metaphor between battles and thunderstorms (Old Irish torannchless, the "thunder feat"), or the aura of a divinized hero (the lúan of Cú Chulainn). The name is given as an epithet of Mars. The consort of Mars Loucetius is Nemetona, whose name may be understood as pertaining either to "sacred privilege" or to the sacred grove (nemeton), and who is also identified with the goddess Victoria. At the Romano-British site in Bath, a dedication to Mars Loucetius as part of this divine couple was made by a pilgrim who had come from the continental Treveri of Gallia Belgica to seek healing.
• Mars Medocius Campesium appears on a bronze plaque at a Romano-Celtic temple at Camulodunum (modern Colchester; see Mars Camulus above). The dedication was made between 222 and 235 AD by a self-identified Caledonian, jointly honoring Mars and the Victoria (Victory) of Severus Alexander. A Celto-Latin name Medocius or Medocus is known, and a link between Mars' epithet and the Irish legendary surgeon Miodhach has been conjectured. Campesium may be an error for Campestrium, "of the Campestres", the divinities who oversaw the parade ground, or "of the Compeses" may refer to a local place name or ethnonym.
• Mars Mullo is invoked in two Armorican inscriptions pertaining to Imperial cult. The name of the Celtic god Mullo, which appears in a few additional inscriptions, has been analyzed variously as "mule" and "hill, heap".
• Mars Neton or Neto was a Celtiberian god at Acci (modern Guadix). According to Macrobius, he wore a radiant crown like a sun god, because the passion to act with valor was a kind of heat. He may be connected to Irish Neit.
• Mars Nodens has a possible connection to the Irish mythological figure Nuada Airgetlám. The Celtic god Nodens was also interpreted as equivalent to several other Roman gods, including Mercury and Neptune. The name may have meant "catcher", hence a fisher or hunter.
• Mars Ocelus had an altar dedicated by a junior army officer at Caerwent, and possibly a temple. He may be a local counterpart to Lenus.
• Mars Olloudius was depicted in a relief from Roman Britain without armor, in the guise of a Genius carrying a double cornucopia and holding a libation bowl (patera). Olloudius is found also at Ollioules in southern Gaul.
• Mars Rigisamus is found in two inscriptions, the earliest most likely the one at Avaricum (present-day Bourges, France) in the territory of the Bituriges. At the site of a villa at West Coker, Somerset, he received a bronze plaque votum. The Gaulish element rig- (very common at the end of names as -rix), found in later Celtic languages as rí, is cognate with Latin rex, "king" or more precisely "ruler". Rigisamos is "supreme ruler" or "king of kings".

• Mars Rigonemetis ("King of the Sacred Grove"). A dedication to Rigonemetis and the numen (spirit) of the Emperor inscribed on a stone was discovered at Nettleham (Lincolnshire) in 1961. Rigonemetis is only known from this site, and it seems he may have been a god belonging to the tribe of the Corieltauvi.
• Mars Segomo. "Mars the Victorious" appears among the Celtic Sequani.
• Mars Smertrius. At a site within the territory of the Treveri, Ancamna was the consort of Mars Smertrius.
• Mars Teutates. A fusion of Mars with the Celtic god Teutates (Toutatis).
• Mars Thincsus. A form of Mars invoked at Housesteads Roman Fort at Hadrian's Wall, where his name is linked with two goddesses called the Alaisiagae. Anne Ross associated Thincsus with a sculpture, also from the fort, which shows a god flanked by goddesses and accompanied by a goose – a frequent companion of war gods.
• Mars Visucius. A fusion of Mars with the Celtic god Visucius.
• Mars Vorocius. A Celtic healer-god invoked at the curative spring shrine at Vichy (Allier) as a curer of eye afflictions. On images, the god is depicted as a Celtic warrior.

"Mars Balearicus"

"Mars Balearicus" is a name used in modern scholarship for small bronze warrior figures from Majorca (one of the Balearic Islands) that are interpreted as representing the local Mars cult.These statuettes have been found within talayotic sanctuaries with extensive evidence of burnt offerings. "Mars" is fashioned as a lean, athletic nude lifting a lance and wearing a helmet, often conical; the genitals are perhaps semi-erect in some examples.
Other bronzes at the sites represent the heads or horns of bulls, but the bones in the ash layers indicate that sheep, goats, and pigs were the sacrificial victims. Bronze horse-hooves were found in one sanctuary. Another site held an imported statue of Imhotep, the legendary Egyptian physician. These sacred precincts were still in active use when the Roman occupation began in 123 BC. They seem to have been astronomically oriented toward the rising or setting of the constellation Centaurus.

Wall painting (mid-1st century AD) from which the House of Venus and Mars at Pompeii takes its name

Marie-Lan Nguyen

Marte e Venere sorpresi dagli dei - Joachim Wtewael - XVII secolo - olio su rame

Creato: tra il 1603 e il 1604

 Statua di Marte nudo in un affresco di Pompei.

Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany - Fresco of a statue of Mars in the House of Venus, Pompeii

Statue of Mars (Ares) the god of war is painted standing on a garden plinth. He has spear shield and crested helm.

Ares Ludovisi, copia marmorea romana di un originale greco risalente a circa il 320 a.C., restaurato da Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Roma, Museo Nazionale Romano)

Marie-Lan Nguyen (settembre 2009)

Cosiddetto "Ares Ludovisi" o "Marte Ludovisi". Marmo pentelico, copia romana del 320 a.C ca. Alcuni restauri del 1622, in marmo di Carrara (per esempio l'elsa della spada), sono opera di Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Di recente è stato proposto di identificare la statua come parte di un gruppo composto da Achille con a fianco la madre Teti.

 A relief depicting Mars and Venus on a black-slip bowl from Campania, Italy, 250-150 BC, British Museum

AgTigress - Own work

Campanian ware; black-slip bowl with relief-moulded decoration of Mars and Venus. About 250-150 BC. British Museum, London. GR 1900.7-27.5

Gli amori di Venere e Marte, 1628, dipinto di Cornelis van Haarlem, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum

www.rijksmuseum.nl 

Antoninianus

Classical Numismatic Group, Inc

The Areopagus as viewed from the Acropolis.

ajbear AKA KiltBear https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajbear/ - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajbear/299116407/

Areopagus from the Acropolis (Athens)

 She-wolf and twins from an altar to Venus and Mars

Marie-Lan Nguyen (2006)

Representation of the lupercal: Romulus and Remus fed by the she-wolf,Lupa, surrounded by representations of the Tiber and the Palatine. Panel from an alter dedicated to the divine couple of Mars and Venus. Marble, Roman artwork of the end of the reign of Trajan (98-117 CE), later re-used under the Hadrianic era (117-132 CE) as a base for a statue of Silvan. From the portico of the Piazzale dei Corporazioni in Ostia Antica.

 Marte spogliato da Venere e dalle Grazie, opera di Jacques Louis David, 1824, Bruxelles, Musée des Beaux-Arts

Opera propria Photo: Szilas, in the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique

 La obra representa a Marte, el dios de la guerra, y es una de las obras de temática mitológica del pintor sevillano Diego Velázquez.

 Prado

 1638 circa

Kupferstich (1795) von Tommaso Piroli (1752 – 1824) nach einer Zeichnung (1793) von John Flaxman (1755 – 1826).

H.-P.Haack - Antiquariat Dr. Haack Leipzig 

 The procession of the suovetaurilia, a sacrifice of a pig, ram, and bull, led by a priest with his head ritually covered

Dictionnaire des Antiquités romaines et grecques - Dictionnaire des Antiquités romaines et grecques, Paris, 1883³.

Suovetaurilia

 Ares

God of War

Marte_che_spoglia_Venere_con_amorino_e_cane

 Paolo Veronese
1580 circa

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Peace and War (1629)

 Remains of the Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus, Rome

 Pharnabazus coin as Ares

  Ares (Marvel Comics)

Venus and Mars National Gallery

Sandro Botticelli 

1482-1483 circa 

Medieval representation of Mars, sitting on a rainbow with a sword and a sceptre, excites men to war.

Anonymous - http://www.pizan.lib.ed.ac.uk/otea.html

Mars, sitting on a rainbow with a sword and a sceptre, excites men to war

15th century

 Cosplay of Ares, God of War, at 2012 C2E2 Marvel Costume Contest.

Chris Favero

 Ares Miaiphonos by GENZOMAN

 Mars in Gaziantep, Turkey

karpidis - originally posted to Flickr as Mars

Statue of Mars in Gaziantep, Turkey.

The Spear of Mars, which represents the spear and shield of Mars, is also the symbol for the planet Mars and Male gender. 

BoucherFrancois MarsEtVenus

circa 1754

Ares: The God of War (Mars) Greek Mythology Ep.10 - See U in History ...

YouTube

Ares: The God of War (Mars) Greek Mythology Ep.10 - See U in History

   

 Roman statue of the God Mars from York, England dating from the early fourth century.

Kaly99 at the English Wikipedia

Statue of Roman God Mars in the Yorkshire Museum found in Blossom Street York and dates from the early 4th century. Taken by Kaly99. Article Eboracum

The so-called Mars of Todi, an Etruscan bronze of the early 4th century BC, probably depicting a warrior

Jean-Pol GRANDMONT and one more author - Own work

Museo Pio-Clementino, Ara Casali, fronte. Al centro, nella corona, il nome del dedicante TI CLAUDIUS FAVENTINUS. In alto, Apollo con il carro del sole e Vulcano; sotto Venere in catene e Marte

Lalupa - Own work

ARES

 Allegory with Mars, Venus and Cupido, by Paris Bordone

 Creato: 1560 circa

Venus being seduced by Mars, fresco from Pompeii, 1st century AD

Sailko - Own work

Ancient Roman fresco in the Museo Archeologico (Naples), showing the seduction of Venus by Mars in the presence of a handmaiden and a cupid, 1st century AD, from Pompeii.

Mars, Venus and Vulcan, by John Singleton Copley 1754

John Singleton Copley - Sotheby's

 Ares

Mars and Venus by Agostino Carracci

A statue to Mars Ultor from Balmuildy on the Antonine Wall has been scanned and a video produced.

John Annan - https://archive.org/stream/romanfortatbalmu00mill#page/n139/mode/2up

Statue of Mars Ultor, Balmuildy

 Costantino Cedini - Venus und Mars werdem im Netz überrascht

Costantino Cedini - Book scan: Chiara Guarnieri (Herausgeber): Bildlexikon der Kunst, Bd. 8: Astrologie, Magie und Alchemie, Berlin: Parthas-Verlag 2005

 Created: 18th/19th century

 ARES

 'Mars and the Vestal Virgin', oil on canvas painting by Jacques Blanchard, ca. 1630 

 A bronze Mars from Gaul

© Marie-Lan Nguyen 

Guillemot, Alexandre Charles - Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan 1827

 ARES

Vulcan, Venus, and Mars, by Tintoretto

anni '50 del XVI sec.

 Bronze statuette of Mars Balearicus

Olaf Tausch Original uploader was Cynwolfe at en.wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia (Original text : Commons)

Mars Balearicus, Kopie einer Kriegerstatue aus Son Favar (Gemeinde Capdepera) aus dem 4. bis 3. Jahrhundert v. Chr., im Regionalmuseum von Artà (Museu Regional d’Artà), Gemeinde Artà, Mallorca, Spanien

Überraschung der Venus bei Mars durch Vulkan. Hinterglasgemälde. Zürich 1631.

Hans Konrad Gyger

ARES

Imperial couple as Mars and Venus. Louvre Museum (Paris, France). 120-140 AC, reworked in 170-175. Former Borghese collection : bought in 1807. MR 316. Ma 1009.

Tangopaso - Self-photographed

Hephaestus traps Ares and Aphrodite 

Tapestries in Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro Portugal

Joseolgon - Own work

Ares, god of war by Eyari 

Digital Art / Drawings & Paintings / Fantasy©2012-2018 Eyari

 Mars à Lille, fin du 17ème siècle

Vassil - Opera propria

Statue de Mars ornant la Porte de Paris à Lille, fin du 17ème siècle.

 Italia del nord, marte e venere, agata, 1580

I, Sailko

 Ancient Roman glyptics in the Museo archeologico nazionale (Florence)

 Sailko - Own work

 Johann Baptist Straub: Mars, um 1772

Rufus46 - Opera propria

Johann Baptist Straub: Mars, um 1772, Lindenholz, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in München

 Ares, Sandstein-Medaillon vom Arbeitshaus von 1830 in Bremen

Quarz - Own work

Mars and Venus by Johan Tobias Sergel (detail).

Johan Tobias Sergel. - Svenska Turistföreningens årsskrift 1967

Ares torso by es:Carlos García Muela sculptor located in Ciudad Real AVE station garden.

Javier martin - Own work release donated to Wikipedia foundation

 Ceiling decoration depicting w:Albrecht von Wallenstein as Mars, the god of war, riding the sky in a chariot pulled by four horses (a quadriga). Artist: w:Baccio del Bianco. The ceiling decoration is in the Main Hall of the w:Wallenstein Palace in Prague, currently the home of the Czech Senate.QuartierLatin1968 modifying a file by Power.corrupts - This file was derived from: Albrecht Wallenstein as Mars.JPG

Attic black-figured volute-krater, ca. 540–510 BCE, signed by the Nikosthenes Potter, depicting Zeus separating Athena and Ares while Kyknos on the far right is fleeing from Herakles (not visible in this view). The original photo was taken by user:Jastrow (2006). This version of the image has been resized, slightly cropped, and edited for better color

Nikosthenes Potter (signed)

Michiel Sweerts - mars destroying the arts

circa 1650-52

This is a photograph of an architectural monument. It is on the list of cultural monuments of Hamburg, no. 21907

Bild: © Ajepbah 

Joseph Benoit Suvee - Battle Between Minerva and Mars, 1771

Joseph-Benoît Suvée - Unknown

Frontispiece to the 1825/1826 (see below) edition of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Lord Byron, published by W. Dugdale, Russell Court, Drury Lane. The engraving is by I. H. Jones.

I.H. Jones

Hans Thoma Mars

Hans Thoma - Festkalender von Hans Thoma, Verlag von E. A. Seemann, Leipzig. Mappe mit 31 farbigen Tafeln.

 

 Statue of a warrior called Ares Somzée or the Ephebe of Mariemont. It is a Roman marble copy (1st-2nd century) of an ancient Greek bronze statue (5th century BC) Musée Royal de Mariemont

 Ad Meskens - Own work

 

 Antoon Claeissens - Mars Vanquishing Ignorance

 1605

 

 Mars [Ares]. Engraving by G.H. Frezza, 1704, after P. de Petris after F. Albani. Iconographic Collections

 

 Sala di Marte, Amico Aspertini, Rocca Isolani, MInerbio, Bologna, Italy

 Ginogiano - Own work

 

Mars and Venus, Print, Engraving, 28.1 x 19.53 cm. In the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Jacob Matham

circa 1590

 

  Bartholomeus Spranger - Mars op het slagveld 1580

 

 In 1815, Antonio Raffaele Calliano created this painting, known as "Achilles in his chariot rides over the body of the slain Hector" for the throne room of the Royal Palace of Caserta, or Reggia di Caserta, in Southern Italy. The original image was taken and uploaded by user:Livioandronico2013 15:58, 9 August 2015 This version of the image has been cropped to remove the framing.Antonio Raffaele Calliano

Protected by Ares, Achilles Overwhelms Hector 1815