Was Ares Worshipped in ancient Greece?
Ares was the ancient Greek god of war or, more properly, the spirit of battle. He represented the distasteful aspects of brutal warfare and slaughter. Ares was never very popular, and his worship was not extensive in Greece.
How did the Greek gods feel about Ares?
Since he was the savage god of senseless war, Ares was almost universally detested. At one point, after Ares is wounded in battle by Diomedes, even Zeus calls him “the most hateful of all the gods,” remarking that if he hadn’t been his son, he would have surely ended up in Tartarus with Cronus and the Titans.
What were Worshippers of Ares called?
CULT IN THRACE (NORTH OF GREECE) 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) : “They [the Thrakians] worship no gods but Ares, Dionysos, and Artemis.”
What is Ares the god of in Greek mythology?
Ares is the god of war, one of the Twelve Olympian gods and the son of Zeus and Hera. In literature Ares represents the violent and physical untamed aspect of war, which is in contrast to Athena who represents military strategy and generalship as the goddess of intelligence.
What is the counterpart of Ares in the Roman mythology?
The counterpart of Ares among the Roman gods is Mars, who as a father of the Roman people was given a more important and dignified place in ancient Roman religion as a guardian deity. During the Hellenization of Latin literature, the myths of Ares were reinterpreted by Roman writers under the name of Mars.
Who were the Olympians in Greek mythology?
The Olympians (´Ολυμπιαδεσσιν) were a group of twelve gods that ruled the world after the Titans. They lived in a palace on Mount Olympus (´Ολυμπου), built by the Cyclopes or possibly by Hephaestus. Six of them were children of Cronus and Rhea. The rest of the Olympians were mostly offspring of Zeus.
What does Zeus say about Ares in the Odyssey?
Ares was one of the Twelve Olympians in the archaic tradition represented by the Iliad and Odyssey. Zeus expresses a recurring Greek revulsion toward the god when Ares returns wounded and complaining from the battlefield at Troy: Then looking at him darkly Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to him: