Pausanias (2nd century AD) notes an altar to Ares at Olympia, and the moving of a Temple of Ares to the Athenian agora during the reign of Augustus, essentially rededicating it (2 AD) as a Roman temple to the Augustan Mars Ultor. In mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, only a few places are known to have had a formal temple and cult of Ares.
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Inscriptions as early as Mycenaean times, and continuing into the Classical period, attest to Enyalios as another name for the god of war. In the Iliad, the word ares is used as a common noun synonymous with "battle." Ares’ attributes are a helmet, shield, and sword or spear. 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. The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek ??, a-re, written in the Linear B syllabic script.
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Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name. Walter Burkert notes that "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war." R. 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".
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Some cities in Greece and several in Asia Minor held annual festivals to bind and detain him as their protector. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.Īlthough Ares' name shows his origins as Mycenaean, his reputation for savagery was thought by some to reflect his likely origins as a Thracian deity. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war but can also personify sheer brutality and bloodlust, in contrast to his sister, the armored Athena, whose martial functions include military strategy and generalship. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. Antique fresco from Pompeii.Īres ( / ˈ ɛər iː z/ Ancient Greek: Ἄρης, Árēs ) is the Greek god of courage and war. Ares ( Mars) caresses Aphrodite ( Venus) sitting on a throne.