File:Ares by GENZOMAN.jpg

Summary
In Greek mythology, Árēs (Ancient Greek: Ἄρης [árɛːs], Μodern Greek: Άρης [ˈaris]) is the son of Zeús and Hera. Though often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Árēs is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war." He is also know under this titles: Brotoloigos (Destroyer of men), Androfontes (Killer or men), Miaiphonos (Bloodstained), Teikhesiplêtês (assailant of walls), Maleros (brutal) and Teritas (beast)

He is an important Olympian god in the epic tradition represented by the Iliad. The reading of his character remains ambiguous, in a late 6th-century funerary inscription from Attica: "Stay and mourn at the tomb of dead Kroisos/ Whom raging Árēs destroyed one day, fighting in the foremost ranks". The Romans identified him as Mars, the god of war and agriculture, whom they had inherited from the Etruscans; but, among them, Mars stood in much higher esteem. (See also Athena.)

Among the Hellenes, Árēs was always distrusted. Although Árēs' half-sister Athena was also considered a war deity, her stance was that of strategic warfare, whereas Árēs's tended to be one of unpredictable violence. Athena and Árēs were enemies. His birthplace and true home was placed far off, among the barbarous and warlike Thracians, to whom he withdrew after his affair with Aphrodite was revealed.

"Árēs" remained an adjective and epithet in Classical times, which could be applied to the war-like aspects of other gods: Zeus Areios, Athena Areia, even Aphrodite. In Mycenaean times, inscriptions attest to Enyalios, a name that survived into Classical times as an epithet of Árēs. Vultures and dogs, both of which prey upon carrion in the battlefield, are sacred to him.