Essay Sample about Ares: The God of War

Ares was a Greek god that was the god of war and courage. He was the son of Zeus and Hera and was one of the 12 olympians. Ares had some symbols and animals that represent him. He was hated by mostly everyone including most of his family but he did have a relationship with Aphrodite. They would fool around and then Ares and Aphrodite had kids. He was in the Trojan war with his sister Athena but he ended up losing that war. He fought in a battle against Hercules. He also killed  Poseidon's son for his daughter's sake. And he wasn't really worshipped other than in northern Greece, but some people did worship him despite the social moral. Ares in drawings are usually really exaggerated. 

Ares was the god of war so a lot of the symbols that represent him are to do with war. Some of the symbols that represent him are the sword and shield or the spear. He also has a helmet to represent him and also a chariot. All of these are symbols of him obviously because he likes war.  And some of the sacred animals of ares are the dog, boar, the vulture and poisonous snakes.

Ares was the son of Zeus, but Zeus or hera were not too fond of Ares nor were his brothers or sisters. Ares was the most hated son out of all of them, mainly because of his bloodlust and constant violence.“Since he was the savage god of senseless war, Ares was almost universally detested”-greekmythology.com. Ares was more than just the most hated son; he is considered the most hated god. Ares was always trying to get the attention of Zeus and that would make him act out and that made Zeus not like him even more. Zeus and Hera hated Ares because he was psychopathic, rude, unhinged, and war thirsty. 

Though he was hated by his family he did have a relationship with aphrodite. Ares was noted for his good looks and courage so it was easy for him to form a relationship with aphrodite. They had a relationship  Even when Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but they ended up getting caught with each other and shamed by the other gods. They did have children but they never did marry. Some of the children they had were Harmonia, Phobos, Eros and Deimos, and also had children with other women but aphrodite was the most important. Though they didn't marry they did love each other. Aphrodite and Hephaestus did get a divorce because Ares was sleeping with her. Ares and Otrera were also in a relationship. They ended up having kids, some of them are Hippolyta, Penthesilea, Melanippe, and Antiope.

In the Trojan war he fought with the trojans even though he said that he would fight for the greeks. He changed sides because Aphrodite told him to. “Ares originally promised his mother that he would support the Greeks in the Trojan War, but Aphrodite convinced him to switch sides.”-shmoop. When he was in the war he got wounded by his sisters Athena and Diomedes. Athena was able to knock out Ares with a large rock, but Diomedes was able to injure him with his spear and When he was wounded his scream sounded like the shouts of ten thousand men.

Ares also fought in a battle with hercules. The reason why they wanted to fight was because Hercules killed Ares' son. The reason why he killed him was because “Ares' son Kyknos was infamous for waylaying pilgrims on their way to the oracle at Delphi, and so earned the displeasure of Apollo, who sent Hercules to deal with him.”-Mark Cartwright, world history encyclopedia. Once Hercules killed Ares' son he got really mad and wanted to fight him. Hercules was protected by Athena The fight Ares had with Hercules was one of the most famous myths that he is in.

Ares also killed Poseidon's son Halirrhotius. He killed Halirrhotius when he raped his daughter Alcippe. He killed Halirrhotius next to a stream, he then went to court over the murder. They made a court near the stream where he killed Halirrhotius. He ended up being not guilty for his murder because, it was made known that Alcippe was raped by Halirrhotius. The court that they made for his trial later is used for the trials of murder and impiety. 

Ares was never really worshiped but he was in northern Greece a bit. “Despite being a god, the Greeks considered him from Thrace, perhaps in an attempt to associate him with what they thought of as foreign and war-loving peoples, wholly different from themselves”-Mark Cartwright, world history encyclopedia.They would sacrifice humans to ares to worship him “Ares’ worship was largely in the northern areas of Greece, and, although devoid of the social, moral, and theological associations usual with major deities, his cult had many interesting local features. At Sparta, in early times, at least, human sacrifices were made to him from among the prisoners of war.”-Britannica they would sometimes sacrifice dogs but that was more rare. Ares was highly respected by the people of Sparta. The city of Sparta was highly based on their military so its unsuprising that he was respected there. A Lot of the worship around Ares was in Sparta.

Ares' representation in art is often him in armor with a shield and spear, or In some forms of art he is depicted fully nude with a helmet on, not covering his face, with a shield. Sometimes you can see him in his chariot that he rides with his horse pulling him. Most of the time when he is in a drawing he has full body armor on sometimes in his chariot and he looks badass, But when he is in a sculpting he is usually full nude and he sometimes has a helmet on and sometimes he doesn't have a helmet and he might have a sword or shield. Also when he is in a sculpture he can either be sitting or standing, but when it comes to drawings he is usually always standing. The main difference between him in drawings and him in sculptures is the fact that in drawings he is more exaggerated than he is in the sculptures.