The wolf of Mars
After asking about Mars and wolves and getting inspired to look around I'm just going to go all on in here on the subject just like on Twitter because by gods the more I think about the subject the more I love it.
Mars apparently was frequently accompanied by wolves, and not just because his offspring were raised by a wolf. Livy apparently described a statue of Mars on the Appian Way in which Mars was accompanied by wolves. Livy also, in The History of Rome, recounted a story where a wolf appeared as a reminder of Mars as the founder of the Roman people and an omen of their good fortune. In Rome there was also a "lupus martius", or "wolf of Mars", that was believed by Romans to be an omen of victory in battle. There is also Roman iconography featuring Mars mounted upon a wolf, or being carried on a chariot driven by wolves. See example from the 2nd century below:
This motif appears to have carried on in later depictions of Mars from well after the Christianisation of Rome and much the European continent. An example here would be "Mars on his chariot pulled by wolves", painted by Claude Audran the Younger in 1673.
Wolves were most definitely the sacred animal of Mars, a connection that is perhaps not entirely separate from the founding myth of Rome, where the sons of Mars are raised by a she-wolf.
I also cannot help but interpret resonances with a broader chthonic context relevant to the larger culture of ancient Italy. Mars, on his own, has his own chthonic context, in that he was regarded not just as a god of war but also of fertility and agriculture, patron of the virtus of the earth. He can also be seen as a descendant of similar Etruscan deities, such as Maris, who were chthonic and vegetative in nature. This link is discussed further in The Issue of Descent of the Deity Mars by Ekaterine Kobakhidze.
More importantly, in Etruscan culture, wolves were inherently chthonic symbols. They were believed to be liminal beings that could pass between presence in this world and in the underworld. Wolves were often seen by the ancient Etruscans as either demons or the spirits of the dead, or perhaps even as representing death itself. Etruscan gods of the underworld, such as Calu, Suri, and Aita, were also strongly identified with wolves. Aita himself, a god very similar to the Greek god Hades, is distinguished by his wearing of a wolf skin cap.
There may also be certain reflections of this association in ancient Greece. The goddess Athena, for instance is sometimes depicted wearing a wolf cap, such as in statues of Athena Albani. This wolfskin cap itself is traditionally worn by none other than Hades, and the Illiad refers to Athena wearing this "cap of Hades" to avoid being seen by Ares. Wolves were also strongly associated with Apollo, and the heads of wolves also featured in necromantic rituals aimed at invocation. To quote Greek and Roman Necromancy by Daniel Ogden:
Greek language lychomancy recipes borrow necromantic procedures. In one, the lamp is set on the (disembodied?) head of a wolf. Chthonic demons are summoned, and Hades is invoked. There are libations of wine, honey, milk, and rainwater, and offerings of flat and round cakes.
Not forgetting about Lupercalia, that Roman festival which revolved around the veneration of a wolf deity, Lupercus, possibly linked to Pan, Faunus, or Apollo, and celebrating the ritual purity of the community by way of the passage of ancestral spirits through the underworld.
The warrior association also invites consideration of the wolves with the bands of warriors academically referred to as "Koryos" or "Mannerbund". In Greece, for instance, adolescent war bands honoured Apollo as the master of the wolves that symbolised their fighting style. The Norse Ulfhednar, who saw themselves as shapeshifting into wolves, are often counted as another example of a similar war band. In Russia, on the steppes at what is now Krasnosamarskoe, there were midwinter rituals where people consumed the flesh of dogs or wolves to become dog-like or wolf-like themselves.
It's kind of difficult to imagine how it all leads together outside of pure UPG. I just happen find whatever thread runs between the wolf symbolism of Mars to be fascinating, though I can see how it mostly just connects to the founding myth of Rome.
