Children of Ares
The War God's Bloodline
Ares fathered some of mythology's most violent and passionate figures, from the Amazons to Eros according to some traditions.
The Divine Offspring of Ares
Ares was one of the most prolific figures in Greek mythology when it came to producing offspring. His children — born of both divine and mortal unions — went on to become some of the most important figures in the mythological tradition. Each child inherited aspects of their father's divine nature, though often manifested in unexpected ways.
Divine Children
The children born of Ares's unions with other gods and goddesses were themselves powerful deities. These divine offspring often played crucial roles in the cosmic order of Greek mythology, serving as bridges between different aspects of the divine world. Their stories reveal the complex web of relationships that defined Olympian politics.
Mortal Children
Perhaps more famous than his divine children were Ares's mortal offspring — the demigods and heroes who walked among humanity with extraordinary gifts. These half-divine beings often faced tremendous challenges precisely because of their parentage, caught between the mortal and divine worlds.
Legacy and Influence
The children of Ares collectively shaped the mythological landscape of ancient Greece. Their stories were told and retold across centuries, each generation finding new meaning in the tales of divine parentage and mortal struggle. From founding cities to slaying monsters, these offspring left an indelible mark on Western storytelling.
Ancient Sources
The primary ancient sources for Ares's children include Hesiod's Theogony, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Apollodorus's Bibliotheca, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. Each source sometimes gives different accounts of parentage, reflecting the diversity of local mythological traditions across the Greek world.
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Divine Children of the War God
Ares has fewer divine children than Zeus or Poseidon, and most of them personify what war does to people. Hesiod's Theogony gives him three children by Aphrodite: Phobos and Deimos (Fear and Terror), who rout the close ranks of men in battle, and Harmonia, who married Cadmus of Thebes. The pairing of war and love producing both panic and harmony was not lost on ancient readers. In the Iliad Phobos is called Ares' son and drives his chariot; Deimos and Phobos yoke his horses in Book 15.
Later poets also called Eros and his brother Anteros sons of Ares and Aphrodite, though this is not the Hesiodic version, in which Eros is primordial. Ares is also sometimes paired with Enyo, the goddess of battle; some sources make Enyalios, a war-god title often used for Ares himself, their son.
Mortal Sons: Kings, Brigands and Warriors
Ares' mortal sons are typically violent rulers, many of whom die at the hands of heroes.
- Cycnus. A brigand who robbed travellers on their way to Delphi. In the Hesiodic Shield of Heracles, Heracles kills him and then wounds Ares himself in the thigh when the god tries to avenge his son. Several different men named Cycnus appear in myth; this one is the son of Ares and Pelopia.
- Diomedes of Thrace. King of the Bistones, owner of man-eating mares. Capturing them was the eighth of the Labours of Heracles, and in most versions Diomedes ends up fed to his own horses. He is unrelated to the Greek hero Diomedes of Argos.
- Oenomaus. King of Pisa near Olympia, who challenged each of his daughter Hippodamia's suitors to a chariot race and killed the losers. Pelops beat him by bribing his charioteer Myrtilus to sabotage the chariot, a story told on the east pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia.
- Tereus. King of Thrace who raped his sister-in-law Philomela and cut out her tongue; she and her sister Procne took revenge by serving him his own son, and all three were turned into birds.
- Ascalaphus and Ialmenus. Twin sons by Astyoche who led the Minyans of Orchomenus to Troy. When Ascalaphus is killed in Iliad 13, Ares learns of it in Book 15 and has to be held back by Athena from defying Zeus to avenge him.
- Phlegyas. Eponymous king of the violent Phlegyans, father of Ixion and of Coronis, the mother of Asclepius.
- Meleager. Usually the son of Oeneus and Althaea, but Apollodorus records that some said Ares was his true father.
Daughters: the Amazons and Alcippe
The Amazons were closely tied to Ares. Apollonius of Rhodes calls them daughters of Ares and a nymph named Harmonia (not the Theban queen), and their queens Penthesilea and Hippolyta are individually called his daughters. Penthesilea, whose mother was Otrere, came to Troy after Hector's death and was killed by Achilles, who was said to have fallen in love with her as she died. Hippolyta's war-belt, a gift from Ares, was the object of Heracles' ninth labour.
Alcippe, Ares' daughter by Aglauros, connects him to Athenian law. When Poseidon's son Halirrhothius raped her, Ares killed him, and Poseidon prosecuted Ares before the gods on the hill in Athens that was afterwards called the Areopagus, "Ares' hill." Ares was acquitted, and the Athenians regarded this as the first murder trial on that spot, where their homicide court continued to sit.
The Dragon of Thebes
The serpent that guarded the spring at Thebes, killed by Cadmus, was sacred to Ares and in some sources his offspring. Cadmus had to serve Ares for a period (eight years in Apollodorus) in atonement, and was then given Harmonia, Ares' daughter, as his wife. The warriors who sprang from the dragon's sown teeth, the Spartoi, founded Thebes' noble families, so the Thebans could claim descent from Ares on two sides.
Ancient sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 933–937 — Phobos, Deimos and Harmonia as children of Ares and Aphrodite.
- Hesiod (attributed), Shield of Heracles — Heracles kills Cycnus, son of Ares, and wounds Ares.
- Homer, Iliad 2.511–516, 13.518–526, 15.110–142 — Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, the death of Ascalaphus, and Ares' grief.
- Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2 — the Amazons as daughters of Ares and the nymph Harmonia.
- Apollodorus, Library 3.4.1–2, 3.14.2 — Cadmus, the dragon and Harmonia; Alcippe and the trial on the Areopagus.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.21.4 — the Athenian tradition of Halirrhothius and Ares' trial.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the most famous children of Ares?
Phobos and Deimos, Harmonia, the Amazon queens Penthesilea and Hippolyta, and sons such as Diomedes of Thrace, Cycnus and Oenomaus, most of whom are known for violence.
Did Ares have demigod children like Zeus did?
Yes, but they are seldom heroes. His mortal sons are mainly kings and brigands killed by heroes such as Heracles and Pelops; the Homeric twins Ascalaphus and Ialmenus are the main exceptions.
Are the Amazons daughters of Ares?
Several ancient sources say so, either as a whole people or through individual queens like Penthesilea and Hippolyta.
Is Eros a son of Ares?
In later tradition, often yes, with Aphrodite as mother. In Hesiod, Eros is a primordial being with no parents.