λατρεία

Ares is the god of things that people generally don’t really enjoy. Bloodlust/battles lust, war. People don’t generally LOVE those. But, that doesn’t in the slightest mean Lord Ares himself isn’t lovely, or that he isn’t in charge of some amazing things! He’s also the god of courage, civil order, and masculinity.

Lord Ares wasn’t all too popular in Ancient Greece, sadly. (The Romans loved his counterpart, Mars. But, Ares and Mars are different deities from different Pantheons, and this post isn’t about Mars because I don’t worship the Roman pantheon. I just fucking love the Romans and will talk about them any chance I can, mwahaha >:3) But, Ares still has some classic associations!

•Helms

•Shields

•Swords, sometimes. Thanatos has swords more often, I believe.

•Vultures

•Serpents

I have a few other things I associate Lord Ares with, and I’m sure other people also associate some of these with him, too!

•Dogs

•Cherries. Specifically black cherries, because those are the tastier ones.

•Cinnamon

•Spicy food

•Cranberries (can’t explain, just cranberries…)

I like to assign my deities colors. I just really love colors and color pallets. All my altars are color coded.

•Red

•Copper/Bronze

•Gold

•Leather brown

•Black

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Even though this religion isn’t myth literal like many others, I still really enjoy the myths! When I was new, I thought I legitimately wasn’t allowed to. But, that’s not true at all! You’re still allowed to like the myths, just remember: The gods are NOT their myths.

Almost every source of history you’ll find on Ancient Greece and the gods will be heavily biased towards Athens. And if it’s heavily biased towards Athens, that means it will be heavily biased towards Athena.

The Ancient Greeks preferred Athena because she’s viewed as smarter, wiser, more practically. She’s the art of war, the strategy and technique. Ares is the soldiers. He’s the passion and emotion and war. So, he’s often portrayed as ‘stupid’ and a coward. (Athens and Sparta weren’t friends, and Sparta really liked Ares, so that’s also why he’s painted in such a terrible light.)

Lord Ares isn’t violence and hatred. He isn’t cruel and awful. He isn’t stupid. He’s very kind. Very fatherly. Protective. Smart. He reminds me a lot of my own father, actually.

So, here’s some of my favorite myths about Lord Ares!

The Murder of Halirrhothius (mentions SA and 🍇)

Ares had a daughter named Alikippe. Alikippe was walking near a spring by the Akropolis when a boy named Halirrhothius, son of Poseidon, sprang out.

Halirrhothius raped Alikippe. Alikipee, in distress, called out to her father Ares. Ares showed, saw what was happening to his dear daughter, and murdered Halirrhothius.

Now, if you aren’t too much of a history nerd, that might seem like a pretty normal reaction to you. Which, yes, I AGREE!

But, we’re talking Ancient Greece here. Rape wasn’t even considered a crime against the woman who lived through it. It was viewed more like we view destruction of property. The rapist was expected to pay the woman’s father or husband, because it was a crime against them.

Ares killing his daughter’s rapist is a GIANT deal. (I loved Ares so much before I worshipped him, and that’s one of the reasons why)

Poseidon was pissed that Ares killed his son, not caring that his son raped Ares’s daughter. He demanded Ares be tried in court.

Ares was brought to a hill where Athena would be the judge. When Athena heard Ares’s case, she acquitted Ares of the crime.

The hill was then named Areopagos (Hill of Ares), where Athenians would try people for homicide at!

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The Jar

Ominous title, I know.

There were two giants named Ephialtes and Otus. They were called the Aloadai.

The Aloadai, one day, went to mount Olympus, and started stacking nearby mountains on top of each other so they could reach the summit of mount Olympus.

Why they wanted to go to mount Olympus differs from source to source. Some sources say they just really wanted a fight, and some say they were going to capture Hera and Artemis to marry them.

Anyways, it doesn’t matter much, surprisingly.

Ares, being war and battle, rushed up to defend his home. The giants were prepared for this, sadly, and bound Ares up in shackles and put him in a jar. The quickly left Olympus and brought the jar home with them.

Now, here’s a little quiz. How long would it take you to go get your family member if you knew they had been kidnapped, even if you had no clue where they were?

Well, you’d try the moment you found out, right? Even if you don’t like that family member the best, if they haven’t done anything to you, you’d probably go look for them!

Well, in the myths, the Olympians did NOT share that idea. Ares was in that jar for 13 months. And you know that everyone probably noticed Ares being gone forever over a year.

Eventually, the Aloadai’s stepmother, Eriboea, noticed that there was a god in a jar in her home, and alerted Hermes.

Hermes came and snatched Ares back up, they went back to Olympus!

Also, very interestingly, all sources say that when Hermes rescues Ares, that Ares was basically dying. Didn’t know that could happen.

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The Amazons

There were a group of woman who dubbed themselves the Amazons. They weren’t concerned with being gentle, they were concerned with being aggressive, brutal, and fighting wars.

According to some sources, the woman who started this tribe of women was a daughter of Ares herself. So, the woman prayed to Ares a LOT. So much so that Ares became the god of the Amazons.

Basically, they looked at him and decided he was their dad. And he just kind of went with it. I love this story it makes me smile so much for some reason.

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I get that doing devotional activities can be really hard, especially if you don’t have a lot of energy. Here’s some easy things that you can do!

•Watch a documentary about a war

•Read up on what’s happening in Ukraine and Palestine

•Eat something spicy

•Let yourself be full of rage for a few minutes (don’t throw your bread across the room because you stubbed your toe, though…)

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I don’t use Epithets in my worship very often, but, I still have some favorites! I use the Latin spellings because it’s easier for me to read and write them if I do.

•Gynaecothoenas - Feasted by Women

•Laossous - He Who Rallies Men

•Enyalius - Warlike

•Aphneius - Abundant

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And, since I want this to be a one stop shop, here are the Homeric and Orphic hymns :)

Homeric

Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden- helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, Saviour of cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men, sceptred King of manliness, who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold courses through the aether wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death.

Orphic

Unbreakable, strong-spirited, mighty and powerful daimon,

delighting in arms, indomitable, man-slaying, wall-battering;

lord Ares, your is the din of arms, and ever bespattered with blood

you find joy in killing and in the fray of battle, O horrid one,

whose desire is for the rude clash of swords and spears.

Stay the raging strife, relax pain’s grip on my soul,

and yield to the wish of Kypris and to the revels of Lyasios,

exchanging the might of arms for the works of Deo,