The god Ares, on an Athenian black figure vase from about 570 BC
What is Ares the god of?
Ares is the ancient Greek god of war , and so he is a rather irrational god. The god Ares enters into people and causes rage, so that they lose their tempers and want to go fight.
Order and chaos
Rhythm and pattern
More Greek gods
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Ares and Aphrodite
Ares is sometimes said to be Aphrodite‘s boyfriend, in that they’re both irrational, beyond reason. We capture the same feeling in our expression, “All’s fair in love and war.”
More about Aphrodite
The Judgment of Paris
Greek myths about Ares
Ares doesn’t appear in Greek stories much. He’s not a fully developed character so much as a metaphorical personification of anger. Ares was also the Greek name of the red planet that orbits near Earth, that we call Mars and the Babylonians called Nergal.
History of astronomy
Mesopotamian astronomy
The planet Mars
Ares, Mars, Tyr, and Thor
The Romans associated Ares with their god Mars. They also associated Mars with the Northern Europe god Tyr, but Tyr is a god of order and reason, and Ares definitely isn’t. In that way, he’s more like Thor.
The Roman god Mars
The Northern god Tyr
And more about Thor
Learn by doing: write about a time you lost your temper
More about Aphrodite
Bibliography and further reading about Ares:
D’aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths, by Edgar and Ingri D’Aulaire.
Greek Religion, by Walter Burkert (reprinted 1987). By a leading expert. He has sections on each of the Greek gods, and discusses their deeper meanings, and their function in Greek society.
Ancient Greek mythology tells a story about a man named Mikael Shadows born from two mortal parents during the century 23 B.C. He was one of seven people to be sacrificed for Ares, god of war. But instead became the first demigod after a human birth by an unknown deity. In exchange for this godly gift, there had to be a sacrifice made and that was his entire family. Mikael is the son of Melite (mother) and Codros (father), he is also the brother of Icarus (brother), Patron (brother) and Isadora (sister). It is said that Mikael will roam free on this earth until he seeks his true vengeance on Ares. Mikael Shadows, God of vengeance.
Thanks for sharing, Scott! (For those of you not in on the joke, this is a story someone wrote just recently that has been circulating on Reddit. More here: https://www.reddit.com/r/camphalfblood/comments/cvfw0j/the_earth_devil_the_story_of_mikael_shadows/)