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in: Gods, Mount Olympus Characters

Ares

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The god of war.

—Hesiod

Ares is a character in Hesiod and Homer's myth. He débuts, with his appearance in around 700 B.C. and usually ends at around the 9th Century.

Ares is the greek god of war in Greek Mythology.

History[]

Ares is a deity and the son of Zeus and Hera. When the Olympian gods defeated the titans in the titanomachy, the titans were destroyed and Mount Olympus was made. Various versions say that Zeus hated Ares, but according to this archive, he is not directly hated by Zeus, since he is his son.

Then looking at him darkly Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to him: Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar. To me you are the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympus. Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart, wars and battles.

And yet I will not long endure to see you in pain, since you are my child, and it was to me that your mother bore you. But were you born of some other god and proved so ruinous long since you would have been dropped beneath the gods of the bright sky.

In the tale sung by the bard in the hall of Alcinous, the Sun-god Helios once spied Ares and Aphrodite enjoying each other secretly in the hall of Hephaestus, her husband. He reported the incident to Hephaestus. Contriving to catch the illicit couple in the act, Hephaestus fashioned a finely-knitted and nearly invisible net with which to snare them. At the appropriate time, this net was sprung, and trapped Ares and Aphrodite locked in very private embrace.

But Hephaestus was not satisfied with his revenge, so he invited the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate pair. For the sake of modesty, the goddesses demurred, but the male gods went to witness the sight. Some commented on the beauty of Aphrodite, others remarked that they would eagerly trade places with Ares, but all who were present mocked the two. Once the couple were loosed, Ares, embarrassed, returned to his homeland, Thrace, and Aphrodite went to Paphos.

In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the youth Alectryon by his door to warn them of Helios's arrival, as Helios would tell Hephaestus of Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep. Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus. Furious Ares turned the sleepy Alectryon into a rooster, which now always announces the arrival of the sun in the morning.

Family[]

URANUS †---------------------------------------------------------------------------GAIA 

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CRONUS †---------------------------------------------------------------------------RHEA 

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HESTIA ________DEMETER__________ HERA_________ HADES_______ POSEIDON_______ZEUS--HERA 

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                                                                        ARES

Notes:

  • Solid lines denote parent-child blood relationships
  • Dashed lines denote marriage relationships that result in offspring
  • † denotes the deceased
  • Sorry for the closeness of the 6 names of the children

Trivia[]

Notes[]

  • Ares had many consorts and lovers.
    • One of his most famous lovers, is the beautiful Aphrodite, which she cheated with Ares, on Hephaestus.

Appearances[]

About[]

  • Ares had many children. 8 from Aphrodite.

References[]

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