Ares

In Greek mythology, Ares is the God of War. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, the son of Zeus and Hera. Homer portrayed him as a terrible, murderous barbarian who was disliked by his parents and all others; in contrast with the wise, reasonable war goddess, Athena.

Curiously, Homer's version of the character was considered a coward, shown in the Iliad screaming and retreating to Mount Olympus whenever he was wounded. He was born in Thrace, the home of a people just as warlike as he was. His bird has been identified as the vulture. His attendants included his sister Eris (discord), a battle goddess named Enyo, and his sons Deimos and Phobos.

Ares and Aphrodite
Aphrodite, the enchanting goddess of beauty and love, was married to the ugly, deformed god of fire, Hephaestus, Ares Brother. Ares and Aphrodite fell in love and had an affair. Hephaestus discovered his wife's infidelity had trapped the two lovers in an invisible net. There, he held them captive for all the other Olympians to see until Poseidon intervened.

Naming of the Areopagus
On a hill on the Athenian Acropolis, Ares was put on trial by the Olympians for the very first murder case. Ares had killed Halirrhothius, a son of Poseidon, for raping (or attempting to) a daughter of his, Alcippe. The goddesses (Hera, Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena and Artemis) voted for his innocence, whereas the gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes, Apollo and Dionysus) declared him guilty. Ares was thus acquitted. The hill later came to be known as the Areopagus (Rock of Ares) and functioned as the site of a Court of Appeal in ancient Athens. Another mythological case tried their was the murder of Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus by Orestes, who was acquitted after the intervention of Athena and Apollo.

Ares and the Amazons
Ares was affiliated with the Amazons, a tribe of warrior women. Two of its queens; Hippolyta (whose famous girdle was retrieved by Heracles) and her sister Penthesilea (who fought and died at Troy) were his daughters. Their mother was Otrera, another Amazon queen and daughter of Eurus.

The Aloadae
There was once a pair of giants called the Aloadae. They were twins and they believed that they were better than the gods. But each brother loved one goddess, Artemis and Hera. The Aloadae built a mountain as high as Mount Olympus and began to attack the Olympians. Then they decided that this was not working so they came over to Olympus. They locked Ares in a bronze jar and there he stayed for 13 months only to find that the other Olympians had found a way to trick the twins into killing each other. Hermes later freed him from the jar after 13 months.

Immortal Offspring
With Aphrodite With Enyo
 * Deimos
 * Phobos
 * Eros
 * Himeros
 * Anteros
 * Pothos
 * Peitho
 * Hymenaios
 * Enyalios

Notable Mortal Offspring
With Kyrene
 * Diomedes

With Otrera With Pyrene With Sterope With Rhea Silva (as Mars )
 * Hippolyta
 * Penthesilea
 * Cycnus
 * Oenomaus (m. Evarete)
 * Hippodamia (m. Pelops)
 * Atreus (m. Aerope)
 * Anaxibia (m. Strophius)
 * Pylades (m. Electra)
 * Agamemnon (m. Clytaemnestra)
 * Iphigenia
 * Electra (m. Pylades)
 * Orestes (m. Hermione)
 * Menelaus (m. Helen)
 * Hermione (m. Orestes)
 * Thyestes (m. Aerope)
 * Aegisthus (m. Clytaemnestra)
 * Romulus
 * Remus

Rome
Ares was called Mars in Roman mythology. Mars, in contrast to Ares, was said to have been the most revered Roman god. He was particularly important there because his sons by Rhea Silvia, Romulus and Remus, were the founders of the city of Rome, making Mars the city's patriarch. He was also associated with agriculture and his sacred month, the beginning of spring, is now called March after him.

In Modern Culture
Nowadays, Ares has appeared in many modern mediums, such as comics, books, movies and TV shows, mostly as the antagonist. In DC Comics, he is an enemy of Wonder Woman and is most frequently shown with a helmet with four horns, he is also portrayed by David Thewlis in Wonder Woman(2017) as the main antagonist who started World War 1. In Marvel Comics, he is the Olympian God of war and is a neutral character who is mostly associated with the Hercules comics.

He also appears in many books. He makes a cameo in the second book of the Olympus Bound trilogy by Jordanna Max Brodsky, Winter of the Gods, as the second victim of The Host (The main antagonistic cult) in their Mithraic sacrifice to make Cronus stronger. He also appears in the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. The Sons of Ares organization from the Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown is also named after the War God.

Gallery
Image gallery of Ares