God of War and Violence
Son of Zeus and Hera, embodiment of war’s bloody, chaotic side. The Greeks disliked him — even his own father despised him — but in Rome he transformed into Mars: father of Romulus, founder of the city, and a guardian of the state second only to Jupiter. The month of March is named for him.
On the field at Troy, Diomedes — with Athena’s help — drove a spear into Ares; the war god’s scream rang out like ten thousand men, and he fled clutching the wound back to Olympus to weep to Zeus, who told him, "Of all the gods, I hate you most." For the god of war, his win rate is oddly low.
Ares carried on a long affair with Aphrodite, goddess of love. The sun god saw and told on them; her husband Hephaestus forged an invisible golden net and caught the pair in the act, hanging them in mid-air for all the male gods to come and gawk. In the Roman version, Venus and Mars became a respectable couple instead.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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