The image above is Ares as depicted in the video game Hades.



Ares is the ancient Greek god of war (or, as Encyclopedia Britannica artfully put it, the spirit of battle) and courage; while multiple myths and modern renditions alike characterize Him as bloodthirsty and savage, solely the negative aspects of His area of rule, the lack of unaninimity throughout all mythos makes this contestable. In His syncretised Roman depiction He is known as Mars, and He carries many of his previous associations, though with a distinctly protective and paternal perspective that contrasts many Greek myths. The symbols typically associated with Lord Ares include battle attire and weaponry (e.g., helmets, shields, swords, spears), dogs, vultures, and snakes. Likely owing to his denigration and depiction as a being of pure evil and violence as seen in many Greek myths, Ares was rarely worshipped among ancient Greeks, and thus had no festival celebrated in His honor; nonetheless, there were still numerous instances in which localized cults dedicated to His worship formed throughout ancient Greece and Peloponnesia.

Ares was the first-born son of Zeus (king of the gods and god of thunder and the sky) and Hera (queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage, women, and pregnancy), alongside His siblings, Hephaestus (the god of fire, blacksmithing, and metalworking), Eileithyia (the goddess of childbirth and midwifery), and Hebe (the goddess of youth). Despite His status as the first-born child of His family, He frequently faced disfavor from His parents, as well as His siblings and fellow gods; this was likely a result of His inherently rebellious nature, a trait which had the potential to upheave the deeply hierarchical systems of Olympus. Despite this minor setback, He went on to father many children (primarily with his eventual wife, Lady Aphrodite, though he had a few other flings which resulted in the birth of a child), including Eros (the god of lust), Anteros (the god of requited love), Phobos (the god of fear), Deimos (the god of terror), Harmonia (the goddess of harmony), and, perhaps surprisingly, the Amazons.

As for the myths that surround Lord Ares, they are unfortunately few and far between, likely a result of infrequent worship in His favor. Accordingly, many myths in which Ares plays a major part are not particularly flattering in nature, though they do often display His power and ability to some extent; perhaps most notably is His involvement in the myth of the Trojan War, in which He supported the city of Troy (despite His initial stated loyalty to the Achaeans) alongside Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes. Despite the many gods fighting in favor of Troy, the Trojans eventually lost the war, due in part to the humiliations suffered by Ares. During the course of the war, Lord Ares was wounded twice by His sister Athena (the goddess of wisdom and strategy), eventually rendered unable to battle. Worse still, at the end of the war, Zeus rebuked Ares for His involvement and defection from Achaea, claiming that He was simply bloodthirsty, and had no standards of discernment——a frankly unrealistic claim, seeing as He had intended to protect the honor of His beloved and fight for the side he truly favored.

I, as the Webmistress creating this shrine, feel the need to provide an additional note to provide additional context as to my worship of Lord Ares. With the typical characterization of Ares within both mythology and modern fiction, one might assume that I am some sort of violence-loving warmonger, when this is nowhere near the case. Rather, I am (as most decent individuals are) against war and the needless suffering it causes; every war that has occurred throughout human history (and especially within recent human history), is undeniably horrific and produced agony that could have been otherwise avoided. However, as I have come to understand from my relationship with Lord Ares as well as more formal research, Ares does not favor unnecessary, dishonorable violence. Instead, as the god representing the spirit of battle, He favors fighting for what is right, for who needs to be fought for, for the defense of self and loved ones. Protests against those who harm the marginalized, as just one example, are simply another form of battle——another field necessitating bravery and, when it comes down to it, the willingness to do what is needed to advance the birthright freedoms of all. That is to say, I do not worship Ares as a lover of violence, as one might assume; I worship him as an activist, as a marginalized individual, battling against the horrors perpetrated by systematic bigotry.