Ares vs. Mars
Mars is identified with Ares, but the two occupy almost opposite positions in their own religions. Ares is a minor, generally unpopular figure among the Olympians, mocked and wounded in the Iliad. Mars fathered Romulus and Remus by the Vestal Rhea Silvia, giving him a direct genealogical stake in Rome's founding, and the Campus Martius, Rome's military training ground, takes its name from him directly.
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How They Compare
Mars is the single clearest example of a Roman god outranking his Greek counterpart in actual religious importance: the same war god who loses fights and gets mocked in the Iliad becomes, under Mars's name, second only to Jupiter in the god who supposedly fathered Rome's founders.
Side by Side
| Aspect | Ares | Mars |
|---|---|---|
| Standing among the gods | A disliked, secondary Olympian - even his father Zeus calls him the most hateful of his children in the Iliad. | Rome's second most important state god after Jupiter, essential to Roman civic and military identity. |
| Connection to Rome/a city | No myth ties Ares to founding any Greek city. | Father of Romulus and Remus by Rhea Silvia, giving Mars direct genealogical responsibility for Rome's founding. |
| Military institutions | Not tied to a specific standing institution in Greek city-states. | The Campus Martius (Field of Mars), Rome's military training and mustering ground, and the priestly Salii dancers who guard his sacred shields, are named for or dedicated to him directly. |
| Portrayal in epic | Wounded and humiliated in the Iliad, fighting on the losing Trojan side and mocked by other gods. | Treated with far more institutional respect in Roman religious practice, even though Roman poets retelling Greek epic material largely preserve Ares's original unflattering portrayal. |
Shared between both
- god of war
- associated with the wolf and the spear
- linked to Venus/Aphrodite in myth
- volatile, aggressive temperament
Why did the Greeks dislike Ares if he was a major Olympian?
Homer's Iliad has Zeus tell Ares directly that he is the most hateful of all the gods on Olympus, and Ares spends much of the epic being wounded, tricked, and humiliated rather than winning battles - Greek tradition generally preferred cunning, strategic war (Athena's domain) over Ares's raw, chaotic violence.
Homer, Iliad 5.888-898
How is Mars connected to Rome's founding?
Roman tradition holds that Mars fathered the twins Romulus and Remus with Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin, making him the direct divine ancestor of Rome's legendary founders - a genealogical stake in one specific city's origin that Ares has in no Greek foundation myth.
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.4
What is the Campus Martius?
The Field of Mars, a large public area in Rome used for military training, troop musters, and elections, named directly for the god. No Greek city organizes its central military and civic infrastructure around a space dedicated to Ares in a comparable way.
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 2.5
Who were the Salii?
A Roman priesthood of twelve dancing priests dedicated to Mars, who processed through the city each March striking sacred shields (ancilia) and singing an ancient hymn. This organized state priesthood has no equivalent tied to Ares in Greek religion.
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.20
Does Mars keep Ares's affair with Venus/Aphrodite?
Yes - the story of Mars and Venus caught in a net by Vulcan (Hephaestus) is retold in Roman sources largely unchanged from the Greek original, one of the few pieces of Ares's own narrative material that Mars inherits directly rather than replacing with civic material.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.171-189
The Two Figures
Related Terms
Referenced By
Sources
- Homer, Iliad 5.888-898
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.4
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.171-189