Ares/Mars- the god of war and violence. He was the son of Hera and Zeus, brother to Hebe, the goddess of youth, and Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. Sometimes Eris the goddess of strife is his sister, though other times she is a daughter of Nyx not Zeus and Hera. Enyo a goddess of war is sometimes given as another sister.
He was the god of the dangerous, physical more bloody aspects of war whilst his sister and rival Athena was the goddess of the military aspect and generalship. Despite his status as a god of war he suffered loss and humiliation more often than not. He was on the side of the Trojans when they lost the Trojan War and was wounded during the war by Athena and by Diomede.
In the Illiad he was captured by the giants Otus and Ephialtes and held in a bronze urn for thirteen months until their stepmother Eriboea betrayed them and Hermes rescued him. It was then Artemis who tricked them into killing one another.
Hesiod says that Heracles beat him too, knocking him down three times and wounding him in his thigh.
He also failed to bring Hephaestus back when he tricked Hera into sitting on a charmed throne he had built, causing her to be permanently stuck to it. Ares tried to force Hephaestus back to free her but was driven away by flaming torches. In the end Dionysus brought him back drunk and possibly bribed him with Aphrodite as a bride, which angered both she and Ares leading to them being forced to have an affair.
Apollo beat him at boxing during the Olympic games.
Ares could be brave however, he killed Echidna's giant son Ekhidnades and killed Mimas during the Gigantes war. When Sisyphus came for Thanatos and Sisyphus tricked the death god into chaining himself up it was Ares who rescued him. Ares was tired of there being no death on the battlefield.
He showed favour to several people usually in war and especially family members. He gave Aeëtes, the son of Helios and king of Colchis, the sleepless dragon Drakon to guard the Golden Fleece, which hung in a grove sacred to Ares. He gave his son Diomedes, king of Thrace, four man-eating horses, which Diomedes fed strangers to. Heracles fed Diomedes to them and then captured the mares for his Eighth Labour.
The Amazons were his daughters, including their queen Hippolyte/Hippolyta who he gifted his belt/girdle. Heracles had to take this for his Ninth Labour, Hippolyte gave him to him willingly but Hera disguised herself as an Amazon and told the others that Heracles was kidnapping her queen so they attacked him and his men. Heracles killed Hippolyte in the struggle, alternatively they attacked because Heracles' companion Theseus kidnapped the Amazon Antiope for a wife or Hippolyte herself, which case he married her.
He gave his son-in-law Kadmus/Cadmus/Kadmos a spear at his wedding to his daughter Harmonia.
He supported his son Kyknos/Cycnus who killed his guests when he challenged Heracles to single combat.When Cycnus was killed by Heracles Ares tried to avenge him but was stopped by Zeus throwing a lightning bolt between them.
Another Kyknos/Cycnus, in the Shield of Heracles, was a son of Ares who was riding with Ares when they met Heracles and Iolaus. Apollo urged Heracles to fight Cycnus and Athena appeared telling Heracles that Zeus permitted him to kill Cycnus so long as he took no spoils from the fight. Heracles killed Cycnus and Ares attacked him but Athena deflected the blow. Heracles then wounded Ares in the thigh. Ares was then rescued by his sons Phobos and Deimos.
Oenomaus/Oinomaos/Oenamaus was another son of Ares and a king of Pisa. Ares gave him armour, weapons and a chariot. He raced against suitors for his daughters hand in this chariot and when they lost he killed them. He met his comeuppance when Pelops came for his daughter's hand, he asked his lover Poseidon to help and Poseidon gave him a chariot with winged horses. Hippodamia, who loved Pelops, got Oenomaus' charioteer Myrtilus to replace the linchpins in the chariot. The chariot broke and Oenomaus died cursing Myrtilus who was killed by Pelops.
Polyphonte was Ares' granddaughter, she forsook Aphrodite for Artemis becoming a chaste huntress. In outrage Aphrodite made her fall in love with a bear, the result was Artemis turning her and the wilderness on her and two half-bear sons- Orius and Agrius. The sons were cannibals who scorned the gods resulting in Zeus sending Hermes to punish them however he chose. Hermes was going to dismember them but Ares intervened and turned them into an eagle owl and a vulture and their mother into a small owl.
Ares showed his wrath to plenty of people too including his son-in-law Kadmus/Cadmus/Kadmos. Kadmus slayed a dragon, Drakon, sacred to Ares that guarded a spring sacred to him. The dragon killed Kadmus' companions. After killing it Kadmus sowed its teeth on Athena's instructions and from the teeth sprang warriors. Ares made Kadmus serve him for eight years as punishment. Kadmus cursed the fact that a dragon was so highly valued and that he should wish for that life himself, as a result he and Harmonia were turned into snakes by the gods, probably Ares himself.
Alcippe was a daughter of Ares raped by Halirrhothius/Halirrhothios, a son of Poseidon. Ares murdered him and had to stand trial for it. He was acquitted.
He was sometimes said to have killed Adonis, Aphrodite's lover, in the form of a boar out of jealousy. Occassionally Artemis is said to have killed him either jealous of his hunting skills or in revenge for the death of her follower Hippolytus.
He, Apollo and Hermes all tried unsuccessfully to woo Persephone. Ares offered her his spear and cuirass (armour which protects the torso) according to Panopolis Nonnus in the Dionysiaca.
He took many lovers, his most infamous being the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite. In one infamous incident her husband Hephaestus trapped the two in bed together in an invisible net after Helios reported their infedelity. With Ares he was sometimes the parent of Eros, a god of love, and Anteros, Deimos, Phobos and Harmonia. Anteros the god of unrequited love, Deimos the god of terror and twin of Phobos, the god of fear, and Harmonia the goddess of harmony and concord.
He had an affair with Eos, which led to Aphrodite cursing her with an insatiable appetite.
Enyo, the goddess of war and his female counterpart had Enyalius/Enyalio a minor war god sometimes equated with Ares himself.
Harmonia was a nymph with whom he had the Amazons.
Cyrene/Kyrene a nymph bore him Diomedes and possibly Kyknos/Cyncus.
Sterope/Asterope, another nymph or Pleiad, bore him Oinomaos and possibly Euenos.
Tanagra was a Naiad Ares and Hermes competed for in a boxing match, which Hermes won.
Tereine was a daughter of the river god Strymon, son of Okeanos, with Ares she had a daughter, Thrassa.
With Triteia, daughter of Triton, he had a son, Melanippus.
Aerope was a princess of Arcadia with whom Ares had a son, Aeropus. She died in childbirth but Ares had her corpse continue to supply milk for their son.
With princess Aglaulus, daughter of the Athenian king Cecrops, he had Alcippe/Alkippe, a daughter Poseidon's son raped. Aglaulus also had a son with Hermes, Ceryx/Keryx. With her sisters Herse and Pandrosus she was charged by Athena to guard a box and to never open it. Aglaulus and Herse opened and saw an infant with snakes or an infant half-human and half-snake, Erichthonius, they went insane and killed themselves. In another version, an oracle said a war Athens was at would end if someone sacrificed themselves so Aglaulus killed herself.
Althaea/Althaia, daughter of King Thestius and wife of King Oeneus of Calydon with Ares she had a son, Meleager. She also had Deianeira with Dionysus.
With Astyoche/Astyocheia/Astyokche, a granddaughter of Zeus, he had twins- Askalaphos/Ascakalaphus and Ialmenos/Ialmenus. They were Argonauts, suitors of Helen and warriors in the Trojan War, during which Ascalaphus perished. Ialmenus founded a colony in Colchis.
Parthenopeus is sometimes given as a son of Ares with Atalanta the huntress, other times he is her son with Meleager or Hippomenes. He was exposed by his mother and rescued by a shepherd and possibly raised with Heracles' son Telephus. He died attacking Thebes.
Demonice/Demonike/Demodice/Demodoce was a princess who gave Ares four sons- Evenus, Molus, Pylus, and Thestius.
With Dotis he had Phlegyas, a son who became king of the Lapiths and father of Ixion who killed his father-in-law Deioneus when he stole Ixion's horses when Ixion failed to pay him for his daughter Dia. Zeus invited him to dine with the gods and he lusted after Hera, Zeus tricked him sleeping with the cloud form of Hera, Nephele, as a result Centauros the first centaur was created and Ixion was punished by being bound to a fiery wheel in Tartarus. Phlegyas was also the father of Coronis who was a lover of Apollo but betrayed him for Ischys, Apollo killed her and in anger Phlegyas torched his temple and Apollo killed him.
Otrere/Otrera was an Amazonian queen who with Ares had the Amazons Hippolyta, Antiope, Melanippe and Penthesilea.
With the princess Phylonome he had the twins Lykastos/Lycastus and Parrhasios/Parrhasius. He seduced her in the form of a shepherd and she exposed her twins, fearful that her father would find them. A she-wolf suckled them and a shepherd raised them, and they became kings of Arcadia. The story is similar to that of Romulus and Remus, the Roman twin sons of Mars.
Protogeneia was a princess with whom Ares had the son Oxylus/Oxylos.
With Pyrene/Pelopia he had Cycnus, she may have been just another name for Cyrene/Kyrene.
With Calliope/Callirrhoe he had three sons- Biston, Odomas and Edonus.
He also had Lycus/Lykos, a Libyan king who sacrificed strangers to his father. His daughter Callirrhoe who rescued Diomedes from being sacrificed to her father. Diomedes sailed off without thanks and she killed herself.
Dryas was another son, part of the Calydonian Boar Hunt and fought with the Lapiths against the centaurs. His brother Tereus, thinking Dryas wanted to kill his son, killed him.
Tereus was a Thracian king married to Procne. He desired Procne's sister Philomela, he raped her, cut her tongue out and held her captive. She wove the story of her rape into a tapestry and sent it to Procne in secret. Procne killed their son Itys in revenge and fed him to Tereus. Tereus tried to kill the sisters but the gods turned all three into birds, Tereus became a hoopoe, Procne a swallow and Philomela a nightingale.
Sithon was possibly another son of Ares and Achiroe, a naiad, (who may have actually been Sithon's wife), or Poseidon and Ossa. He promised his daughter Pallene's hand to whoever could beat him in combat. He beat all suitors until he became old then he had the suitors fight each other. She fell in love with Cleitus and her tutor bribed his rival Dryas' charioteer to loosen the wheels of the chariot. As a result Dryas lost. Sithon found out what happened and planned to kill Pallene but Aphrodite either appeared in front of the inhabitants or sent a heavy shower causing him to change his mind. Alternatively Dionysus seduced her and killed Sithon.
He was given a list of attendants- Achlys, the personification of misery and sadness, possibly a daughter of Nyx; Androktasiai, personifications of manslaughter and daughters of Eris; Alala, the personification of war-cry daughter of the daemon (spirit) of war Polemos, Enyo's brother; Eris; Enyo; Hebe; Homados, the personification of battle noise; the Hysminai, personifications of battle; Kydoimos/ Cydoemus, personification of confusion; Keres, death spirits and daughters of Nyx; Machai/Mache/Makche, daughters of Eris and daemons of battle and combat; Palioxis, personification of backrush in battle; and Proioxis, the personification of onrush in battle.
He was described in the Illiad as being hated by Zeus and was usually seen as a weak, petty, angry god who was driven by rage. His symbols included the shield, spear and his animals were the boar, dog and serpent.
His Roman counterpart was Mars, the god of war and agriculture. Unlike Ares, Mars was held in high regard, second only to Jupiter. He was part of the Archaic Triad with Jupiter and Quirinus (a Roman god of state and possibly war). Mars was not a force of brutal warfare but rather war to bring about peace. He was a son of just Juno (according to Ovid) as Hephaestus was sometimes just a son of Hera, brought about when Jupiter gave birth to Minerva. Juno asked the goddess Flora for help and Flora, after testing a magical flower on a cow, used on Juno thus impregnating her.
He was given Nerio as a wife. She was a goddess of war and the personification of valor and was sometimes linked to Bellona and Minerva. Bellona was Enyo's Roman counterpart and as Enyo was sometimes given as a daughter of Zeus and Hera so Bellona was sometimes said to be a daughter of Jupiter and Juno.
His role as a war god and agriculture god were linked in that he was said to drive off forces hostile to crops. Thus unlike Ares he was a defender and ironically more like Athena.
His most famous children were Romulus and Remus, brothers who founded Rome. They were born after Mars' affair with Rhea/Rea Silvia a princess of Alba Longa forced to become a Vestal Virgin by her uncle Amulius after he seized the throne from her father Numitor and killed her brother. Mars seduced her in the forest and once she had the twins her uncle imprisoned her and ordered a servant to kill the babes. The servant cast them into a river and they were found and suckled by the she-wolf Lupa before being rescued by the shepherd Faustulus who raised them with his wife Acca Larentia. Sometimes Larentia and the she-wolf are said to be one, a prostitue called lupa by the shepherds.
Romulus and Remus overthrew their uncle and reinstated their grandfather and presumably freed their mother. Ovid says the river Anio took Rhea in whilst other sources imply she became or was a minor deity of the forest.
Romulus and Remus argued over where to found Rome and Remus insulted Romulus' walls leading to Romulus murdering him.
Mars' sacred animals were the woodpecker and the wolf. His spear was considered as symbolic and sacred as Jupiter's lightning bolt and Poseidon's trident.
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