Ares+The+God+of+War

 by Nick
 * ARES: THE GOD OF WAR**

Out of the many gods, the most robust and manly of them all has to be the War god Ares. He leads men into war, leads them to victory, and back home again. Although he lies, he cares for the ones he is close to and will do anything to help them.

Ares family is a very large one, full of children and siblings and parents. He had forty children. Seven of his children became gods; the other 33 of them were mortals, but high class mortals, such as kings and queens. His mother and father were none other than Zeus and Hera. Ares did not have a wife, rather he liked to have affairs, one goddess he had an affair with was Aphrodite. He also had two siblings, Hebe and Hephaestus. Ares had quite a large family, but most of it is from his large offspring amount.

In the myth called “Ares and the Giant Echidnades” Ares is said to kill a giant son of Ekhinda. The myth says that Ares had previously fought giants but in this myth it highlighted the fight between Ares and Echidnades. The myth also says something about Kronos blocking one of Zeus’s thunderbolts with a huge mass, I am not sure if the huge mass was the Ares or the giant. This myth was extremely confusing but I could get from the last sentence that Ares did in fact kill the Echdnades.

Ares was born a war loving being. He would go to people and make them mad so that a fight would start. He loved Greek Military tacticsgoing into battles and fights. He had an affair with  Aphrodite, he murdered a man to avenge his daughter's rape. He also was wounded in the Trojan War, but under his tough image he was a coward. He ran to his mom when he got burnt. He was barely ever spoken of unless the worshipers needed his help in battle; he was not worshiped, but prayed to only when needed.

Ares and Agraulos had a daughter named Alkippe. One day Halirrhothios and a nymph named Eurtye tried to rape Alkippe. Ares caught Halirrhothios and killed him. Poseidon was so enraged he had him tried on Areopagos, or hill of Ares, with the 12 main gods. He was charged and went through the full trial and at the end was found not guilty. This myth is called “Ares Wrath: Halirrhothios”.

Another interesting fact that was found found about Ares is that he is a bold faced liar; he promised that in the Trojan War he would fight against the Trojans, to Athena and Hera. It turns out he was fighting with them instead of against them. Athena found this out and was outraged and ended up wounding Ares. After he was wounded he left the battle and did not return. He did not get to lead the Trojans into battle, or the Greeks for that matter.

Ares the war god. If he has a cause that is worth very much to him, like avenging his daughter’s rape, then he will follow the problem all the way through to his solution. If the problem is not that important to him, such as fighting with either side in the Trojan war, than he will leave and let the problem sort itself out.

1. N.S. Gill, [], December 9th 2009 2. J.M. Hunt, [], December 9th, 2009 3. [], December 8th 2009 4. [], December 8th 2009 5. [], December 8th 6. [], December 8th