Mars VS Ares
Ares VS Mars
Mars proudly standing guard over the peace
Ares standing over the skulls of his victims
Mars and Ares were gods of war
representing the Greek’s and Roman’s views of war. Their weapon of choice was
the spear and was the symbol that their worshipers used to represent them. Although
they shared similar roles in their respective pantheons, the traits that defined
them were vastly different. Ares was the god of war but only the physical or
violent, untamed aspects of it leaving the more civilized parts such as
military strategy to his sister, Athena. Mars on the other hand was the god of
the use of violence for peace. He was the protector of agriculture, the discipline
and the strategy of the roman’s warfare and the masculinity of men.
Their roles in the minds of
their worshippers greatly differed too. Ares was treated with contempt and revulsion,
a bloodthirsty, destructive force that struck fear into the hearts of men. There
weren’t a lot of myths regarding him and when he was in it, he was usually
humiliated such as when he got beaten up by Athena in the Trojan war. Mars
however was a model to the people, a shining light that guided people and
protected the courageous. He was the most prominent of the war gods and was
second to only Jupiter himself. A very important god for an empire built on
conquest and war. Mars didn’t have many myths either but Romans didn’t have
many myths that weren’t part of the creation myth. The founders of Rome
however, Romulus and Remus were believed to be children of Mars.
Many people believe the Roman
and Greek Pantheons to be identical but gods usually represent a civilization’s
beliefs and so no 2 pantheons are identical and that is especially true for a
civilization full of philosophers and mathematicians compared to an empire
forged through conquest. Ares and Mars are the culmination of 2 civilizations
view of warfare and have personalities and traits that vastly differ.
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