Ares

A r e s BY Jimmy Fitzgibbon

  **__Background Information __** - Ares is often referred to as the Greek God of War. However this title is only half correct. Ares is a Greek God, but the title God of War is a little vague. He would be more accurately called the God of bloodlust and slaughter. The term Ares comes from an ancient abstract noun meaning in the throng of battle or war. Ares is the Child of Zeus and Hara, although one myth suggests that Hara conceived Ares by touching a certain type of flower ([|family tree] ). Ares character is best described when it is compared to the other Gods who deal with war. Athena represents wisdom and thoughtfulness during war. She protects the soldiers during the devastation and havoc of war. Ares’ sister Eris calls forth the war, and Zeus directs its course. On the other hand Ares is the complete opposite. Basically he is the embodiment of strength and bold force. He is more concerned with the savagery, confusion, and horrors of war. He delights in seeing the slaughter of men, and destruction of cities. Often times he would help one side and then the other just to see more destruction. His savage character made him hated by all of the other gods [|Ares Info]
 *  **__AIR__**-eez
 *  God of War
 *  Son of Zeus and Hera
 *  Bloodthirsty
 *  Loved Aphrodite
 *  Hated by the Gods
 *  Opposes Athena (Goddess of War)
 *  Good warrior

**__ Conflicts __** - This hatred soon leads to conflict between Ares and the other Greek Gods. At one point he and Athena had a disagreement over a certain war. Athena then threw a giant stone at him, which caused him to fall to the earth, and his body covered seven plertha,or seven hundred feet. Another incident involved Ares and Aloadae. They had gotten into a fight and Aloadae conquered and captured Ares. He kept him as a prisoner for thirteen months. Also he was wounded by Diomedes. During the Trojan War, Ares and Athena took opposite sides, Ares with the Trojans and Athena with the Greeks. Because of this Athena helped disarm Ares which set Diomedes up for an attack. Ares was vitally wounded, but he recovered. Finally he was conquered by Hercules. Ares was in numerous other fights, but these were the only insistences where Ares was defeated by the other gods and goddesses. [|Google Video]

**__ Aphrodite and Children __**- Although Ares had many lovers, Aphrodite the Goddess of Love and Beauty was his most well known and remembered. One day, when Ares returned from battle he made fun of another God. Aphrodite overheard this conversation and thought it was funny. After this moment Greek texts stated that the two were in love. However their love ran into a major problem. This problem dealt with another God named Hephaistos, who had been born crippled. He had won the marriage of Aphrodite. He accomplished this by returning Hera to Olympus after he captured her. However their marriage did not stop Ares and Aphrodite from commiting adultery. The secrecy of their affair did not last long, and soon Hephaistos knew about it. Hephaistos then used his craftmen skills to device a trap to catch Ares when he was with Aphrodite. The next day Ares was caught, and all of the Gods and Goddesses came to see what had happened. Many of them started to laugh becasue Ares, one of the quickest and most powerfull gods had been conquered by Hephaistos, a cripple. However Hephaistos let Ares go, due in part from the advice of Poseidon. The affair of Ares and Aphrodite lasted    beyond her marriage with Hephaistos.

During this time period Aphrodite bore him four sons and a daughter. Their names were Eros, Anteros, Deimos, Phobos and Harmonia. However these were not his only children because Aphrodite was not his only lover ( [|Ares Children] ) [|Info About Ares' Weapns And Armor] [|Basic Ares Info]



Work Cited <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';"> "Ares - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." __Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia__. 29 Jan. 2009. 29Jan. 2009 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares >. Atsma, Aaron. "ARES : Greek god of war ; mythology ; pictures : MARS." __THEOI GREEK MYTHOLOGY, Exploring Mythology & the Greek Gods in Classical Literature & Art__. 29 Jan. 2009 http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Ares.html. "olympians." __Yahoo! GeoCities: Get a free web site with easy-to-use site building tools__. 29 Jan. 2009 < http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Chaos/4103/olympians.html >. Rhymer, Eric. "Battle between Ares and Athena." __Untitled Document__. 29 Jan. 2009 < http://www.historylink102.com/greece2/ares_vs_athena.htm >.