I. Who Was Ares?
Ares was the Olympian god of war — but not the noble, strategic kind of warfare that Athena represented. Ares embodied the raw, brutal, bloody chaos of battle: the screaming, the carnage, the mindless violence that consumed men on the field. He delighted in conflict for its own sake, and for this reason he was uniquely despised among the gods. According to Homer, even his own parents Zeus and Hera despised him, calling him the most hateful of all Olympians.
Despite his fearsome reputation, Ares was not particularly successful in battle among the gods. He was wounded by the mortal hero Diomedes during the Trojan War (with Athena's help), and he was famously trapped in a bronze jar by the twin giants Otus and Ephialtes for thirteen months. His losses in combat against Athena became a recurring theme, reinforcing the Greek belief that intelligent strategy would always triumph over brute force.
Yet Ares was not without his admirers. The Spartans, whose entire society was organized around warfare, revered him above all other gods. And his passionate love affair with Aphrodite, the most beautiful of goddesses, gave him a dimension of tenderness that complicated his savage image. Together they produced children who embodied both love and war: Eros, Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror), and Harmonia.
II. The Hated God
The Greeks' ambivalence toward Ares is revealing about their values. They respected martial courage and military skill — qualities embodied by Athena and heroes like Achilles — but they feared and distrusted the bloodlust and madness of battle. Ares represented what happened when war became an end in itself rather than a means to justice or defense. His retinue reflected this: he rode into battle accompanied by his sons Phobos and Deimos, his sister Eris (Strife), and the war goddess Enyo.
In contrast to his sister Athena — who won wars through cunning, planning, and protecting cities — Ares simply destroyed. He fought on whichever side suited him, changing allegiances in the Trojan War depending on his mood. The Greeks understood that war required both aspects: the wisdom to know when and how to fight, and the raw ferocity to carry it through. But they overwhelmingly preferred Athena's version.
III. Ares and Aphrodite
The love affair between Ares and Aphrodite is one of mythology's most enduring tales. Despite being married to Hephaestus, the goddess of love carried on a passionate, long-running affair with the god of war. When Hephaestus discovered the affair — informed by the all-seeing sun god Helios — he crafted an unbreakable golden net and trapped the lovers in bed together, then summoned all the gods to witness the spectacle. The male gods laughed, and several admitted they would happily take Ares's place.
IV. Key Myths
Ares in the Trojan War
Ares fought on the Trojan side for much of the war, supporting his mortal son Cycnus and other Trojan warriors. When the Greek hero Diomedes confronted him on the battlefield, Athena guided Diomedes' spear through Ares's divine armor. The god of war let out a scream so terrible it sounded like ten thousand warriors shouting at once, then fled to Olympus to complain to Zeus — who told him bluntly that he was the most detestable of all his children.
The Trial on the Areopagus
When Poseidon's son Halirrhothius attacked Ares's daughter Alcippe, Ares killed him in defense. Poseidon demanded justice, and the gods held a trial on a hill in Athens. Ares was acquitted, and the hill was named the Areopagus ("Hill of Ares") — which later became the seat of Athens's supreme court, a legacy that connects the god of war to the foundations of Western law.
"Of all the gods, you are the most hateful to me, for you love nothing but strife, war, and battles." — Zeus to Ares, Homer's Iliad (paraphrased)
Ares and Thrace
For the Greeks, Ares' true home was Thrace, the horse-rearing, warlike land to the north. In the Iliad he and his son Phobos are compared to warriors arming in Thrace. In the Odyssey, when Hephaestus finally releases the lovers from the net, Ares heads straight there while Aphrodite goes to Paphos in Cyprus. Herodotus says the Thracians honoured Ares above other gods. Placing him on the edge of the Greek world reflected how Greeks felt about him: necessary, powerful, and not quite one of "us".
Lesser-Known Myths
The dragon of Thebes. The serpent guarding the spring at Thebes was sacred to Ares, and some say it was his own offspring. When Cadmus killed it, he had to serve the god for an "eternal year", which Apollodorus specifies as eight years. Ares then gave Cadmus his daughter Harmonia in marriage, and the gods attended the wedding. Thebes' later tragedies were sometimes traced back to this killing (see Thebes).
Ares against Heracles. The Hesiodic Shield of Heracles describes Heracles killing Cycnus, a son of Ares who robbed travellers bound for Delphi. Ares attacked to avenge him, and Heracles wounded him in the thigh. Phobos and Deimos had to carry their father off the field. Ares is beaten by a mortal hero once again, as with Diomedes.
Knocked down by Athena. In Iliad Book 21, during the battle of the gods, Ares charges Athena. She strikes him in the neck with a huge boundary stone and he falls, covering seven acres. Aphrodite helps him away and is knocked down in turn. In Book 15 Ares hears that his son Ascalaphus has been killed and starts arming to avenge him against Zeus's orders. Athena strips the helmet off his head and the shield off his shoulders and pushes him back into his seat.
The bronze jar. The page above mentions the Aloadae. In Homer's version, Dione tells the story to comfort the wounded Aphrodite. Ares would have died in the jar if their stepmother Eeriboea had not told Hermes, who stole him out "worn down" by the chains.
His wider family. Besides his children with Aphrodite, Ares was said to father the Amazons (through the nymph Harmonia in Apollonius, distinct from Cadmus's wife), including Penthesilea; Diomedes of Thrace, owner of the man-eating mares; Phlegyas; Oenomaus of Pisa; and in one tradition recorded by Apollodorus, Meleager. For the full list see children of Ares.
Cult: More Worship Than His Reputation Suggests
Ares had fewer temples than most Olympians, but the evidence is wider than "the Spartans liked him". At Sparta stood an old statue of Enyalios in chains. Pausanias says the idea was that the war spirit would never leave the city. Spartan youths sacrificed puppies to Enyalios before their ritual fights at the Phoebaeum. At Geronthrae in Laconia there was a sanctuary of Ares with a festival from which women were barred. At Tegea in Arcadia, Pausanias saw an image of Ares Gynaikothoinas ("feasted by women"), named after Tegean women who armed themselves and defeated a Spartan attack, then sacrificed to the god without the men.
In Athens, a fifth-century temple of Ares stands in the Agora. Archaeologists have shown it was built elsewhere, probably at Acharnae, and moved stone by stone to the city centre in the Augustan period, when Mars Ultor was being honoured in Rome. Athenian ephebes also named Ares and Enyalios among the divine witnesses in their oath.
Ares in Art, and What Mars Was Not
Archaic vases often show Ares as a bearded hoplite; later sculpture moves toward a younger, more relaxed figure. The Ludovisi Ares in Rome (seated, with Eros at his feet) and the Borghese Ares in the Louvre are well-known Roman copies of Greek types. Botticelli's Venus and Mars in the National Gallery, London, where the war god sleeps while satyrs play with his armour, takes up the theme of love disarming war.
The most common error is to treat Ares and Mars as identical in standing. Mars was among Rome's most honoured gods, father of Romulus and Remus, linked to agriculture as well as war, and celebrated in the month that still bears his name. Romans associated much of Ares' myth with Mars, but they did not share the Greek disdain for him. For his rivalry with Athena, see Athena vs Ares.
Ancient sources
- Homer, Iliad Books 5, 15 and 21: Ares is wounded by Diomedes, scolded by Zeus as most hateful of the gods, restrained by Athena after Ascalaphus' death, and felled by Athena's stone.
- Homer, Odyssey Book 8: Demodocus' song of Ares, Aphrodite and Hephaestus's net, ending with Ares leaving for Thrace.
- Hesiod (attributed), Shield of Heracles: Heracles kills Cycnus and wounds Ares.
- Apollodorus, Bibliotheca Book 3: Cadmus, the dragon of Ares, the eight years of service, and Harmonia.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece Books 1, 3 and 8: the chained Enyalios at Sparta, the puppy sacrifices, Geronthrae, and Ares Gynaikothoinas at Tegea.
- Herodotus, Histories Book 5: the Thracians' worship of Ares.
Frequently asked questions
Why did the Greeks dislike Ares?
He stood for the blind fury of slaughter, not the disciplined courage or strategy the Greeks admired. Homer has Zeus call him the most hateful of all the gods for loving strife and battle.
Did Ares ever win a fight in mythology?
He rarely wins against major figures: Athena, Diomedes and Heracles all defeat him. Among his successes, he killed Halirrhothius and was acquitted, and he fought effectively for the Trojans in parts of the Iliad.
Who were the children of Ares?
With Aphrodite he had Phobos, Deimos and Harmonia, and in some sources Eros and Anteros. With other partners he fathered the Amazons, Cycnus, Diomedes of Thrace, Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, among others. See Phobos and Deimos.
Is Enyalios the same as Ares?
Sometimes. Homer uses Enyalios as a name for Ares, but some cults and Aristophanes treat him as a separate war god. He is often linked with Enyo.
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