How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Lord of War

Some deities make worship complicated. They have numerous non-poetic epithets and extensively-documented cultus in the ancient world, leaving you dizzily wondering whether you are, in fact, praying to Apollon of the Mouse, or if he came to you in his aspect as Apollon of sacred Corinthian cake. Fewer titles and less widely-documented cultus can also complicate worship. As part of my New Year's resolution to honor Poseidon, Ares, Hephaistos, and Aphrodite more often, let's start by talking about Ares.

Helmeted in gold, destroyer of men, feasted by women, Ares presents his own complications to worship. In theory, one should not neglect any gods; yet, in spite of evidence that Northern Greece honored him quite highly, we have no festival evidence in the Athenian Calendar HMEPA. (Hesoid attributed no day of the month to him, either.) The Athenians had their own warrior deity to occupy their time―that virgin daughter of Zeus and Metis, Athene, whom they associated with strategy, weaving, and crafts. Large-scale Ares worship remained reserved for times of war, and even his small sanctuary at Athens emphasized many other deities as well:

[At Athens] is a sanctuary of Ares, where are placed two images of Aphrodite, one of Ares made by Alkamenes, and one of Athena made by a Parian of the name of Lokros. There is also an image of Enyo, made by the sons of Praxiteles. About the temple stand images of Herakles, Theseus, Apollon binding his hair with a fillet, and statues of Kalades, who it is said framed laws for the Athenians, and of Pindaros, the statue being one of the rewards the Athenians gave him for praising them in an ode.¹

Other major warlike deities listed here include Aphrodite (who, as Aphrodite Areia the Spartans depicted in full armor), Athene, Herakles, and Apollon. That a sanctuary existed in Athens means that people must have honored him off the battlefield, but why? Perhaps “Homeric Hymn #8: To Ares” presents a clue. This hymn begins with the familiar poetic epithets, but it ends with a very personal prayer to the God:

[. . .] remove wretched cowardice far from my person,
Also to conquer within me the treacherous usage of my spirit;
Help me as well to control the sharp passionate temper provoking
Me to embark upon blood-chilling mayhem, and give me the courage,
Blest, to remain in the comfortable legal prescriptions of peacetime,
Thereby avoiding the conflict of foes and a violent ending.²

From these lines, we can see quite clearly what prayers to Ares contain, and we can easily understand why people honor the deity during peacetime. Who wants to remain a coward, and who wants to be manipulated? Ares presents the worshiper with an opportunity for escape from these habits, allowing for a stronger attitude in complicated domestic and interpersonal dramas. He does not merely preside over slaughter and bloodthirstiness, giving all control over strategy to Athene, but remains a powerful strategist in his own right, able to increase or decrease ferocity as the situation calls for it. Make no mistake, though―Athene and Ares have very different ways of approaching things, and craftiness is still reserved for her and Hermes.

Outside of Attica, Ares remains a male-centric deity, but women also have a place in worship. Homeric Hymn #8 describes him as the “sceptered commander of masculine virtue,” which makes sense when we remember that war remains an activity dominated by men.³ Some locations had festivals that emphasized this: at Geronthai in Lakedaimonia, the yearly festival forbade women from entering his sacred precinct during the rites, which were reserved exclusively for men.⁴ As women can join the armed services, however, they can also honor Ares: in the Tegean marketplace in Arkadia, an image of Ares bore the epithet Gynaikothonias, or “Feasted by the Women,” because the women took arms during an invasion and drove the outsiders away. When it came time for Ares's celebratory ritual feasting, they would not let men join the celebration or have portions of the sacrificial meat.⁵

Our tempers can, at times, get the best of us, but Ares's strength is all about using that emotional rawness to his own advantage on the battlefield. Mortals, while not always on a literal battlefield, can ask him for assistance when their personal fights seem overwhelmed, and they can propitiate him when tensions between coworkers or family members make work or home seem like a fallout zone. Many historical sources honor Ares with traditional blood sacrifice, but the Orphic Hymn to Ares recommends frankincense as an offering. While pure frankincense can be difficult to find in modern times, many incense blends list their ingredients, and it is wise to find one that contains a good amount of that powerful bloodless item.

For more information on how to honor Ares, here are some places to start:

Neokoroi's Ares Page
Ares at Theoi.com
Homeric Hymn VIII: To Ares
Orphic Hymn to Ares

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1. Pausanias. Description of Greece. Trans. Jones, 1.8.4. Retrieved from “CULT OF ARES: Ancient Greek Religion.” The Theoi Project. Accessed 1 Jan 2009. http://www.theoi.com/Cult/AresCult.html.
2. “Homeric Hymn VIII: To Ares.” Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns. Trans. Daryl Hine. (Chicago: University of Chiago Press, 2005), ln. 12-17.
3. Ibid., 6.
4. Pausanias, 3.22.6. Retrieved from “CULT OF ARES: Ancient Greek Religion.” The Theoi Project. Accessed 1 Jan 2009. http://www.theoi.com/Cult/AresCult.html.
5. Ibid., 8.48.4.