Ares(Mars)Greek God of war and killing
Ares is not always a popular Greek god. He is a god of war along with Zeus and Athena. Zeus and Athena take on the moral and theological aspects of warfare while he takes on the brutality and harsh realities of war. Out of all of the other Greek gods he is the renegade, the one you don't like, but still want on your side. He is known to have been in a long love affair with Aphrodite, Hephaestus's wife, one of their children being Eros. And he also has been rumored to have kept Eos (Dawn) as a mistress, much to Aphrodite's distress. The Greek god of war is often associated with the area of Thrace. Aphrodite is linked along with him as his cult partner. Caught by HephaestusThis story is told in Homer's Odyssey, Book 8. Hephaestus heard from Helius (the Sun) of his wife, Aphrodite, cheating on him with the Greek god of war in his own bed. So he thought of a way to capture the two in the act and humiliate them in front of the other gods. Due to his lameness, Hephaestus is not as fast as Ares and he couldn't fight the god of brutal war. So instead he went to his forge and constructed chains that could neither be loosened or broken. Then he went to his bedside and spread the chains around the bedpost and hung them from the ceiling. The chains were made with such skill as to be invisible, even to the other gods, like a spider's web. After doing this he pretended to set out on a mission to Lemnos, a land that was dear to him. The Greek god of war had been watching Hephaestus's house and seized his opportunity seeing that Hephaestus had left. He went into the house and sat by Aphrodite, persuading her to go to bed with him. Once in bed they were snared by the chains Hephaestus had forged. Very quickly they realized that they weren't able to move or escape Hephaestus's chains. Hephaestus returned home, saddened by this deception. He called out to the other Greek gods to come over and witness his cunning work in catching the god of war in his bed with his wife. Gods such as Poseidon, Hermes, and Apollo came to witness the event, but all of the goddesses stayed at home out of modesty. The other gods laughed at the ingenious skill of Hephaestus and Poseidon was able to persuade Hephaestus to let the two out of their bonds, promising that they would pay for their injustice to him. Once freed, Ares and Aphrodite split apart and ran away to their separate sanctuaries. LinksAres Experience Ancient Greece Home Page Ancient Greek Gods Jenny Ervin Contact Me
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