Dumbarton Oaks Museum Part 3: Ares Greek God of War

Ares 4th century Ivory

 In August we visited the "Dumbarton Oaks Museum."  This is one in a series of blogs to highlight some artifacts we found interesting at the museum. In this blog we'll explore Ares, the Greek God of War.

THE MUSEUM PIECE
     We found a small figure of Ares behind one of the museum cases. It was carved from ivory and was actually a late Roman piece that dated back to the 4th century. Romans fashioned their gods after the Greek gods.

WHO IS ARES? - Ares  is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war, in contrast to his sister the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and generalship.
He is well known as the lover of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was married to Hephaestus, god of craftsmanship.
  The union of Ares and Aphrodite created the gods Eros, Anteros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, and Adrestia.

APPEARANCE: Ares was usually pictured wearing a helmet and carrying a sword or a spear, as well as riding a chariot.

ARes

PERSONALITY: Ares was an aggressive and dangerous god, and was not well liked among the other gods or mortals. He was often ridiculed and was known as a coward, as he reacted to any injury with fury. He also fought with Athena and Artemis frequently, this became particularly obvious during the Trojan War.
ROLES:: Ares was not well liked, and had a throne on Mount Olympus that was made of human skin. He was often accompanied by Eris (the goddess of discord), and did not have many important roles to fill in society.
(Courtesy: Paigeentwistle.com)


WHO IS ARES' COUNTERPART IN ROMAN MYTHOLOGY? 
The counterpart of Ares among the Roman gods is Mars,  who as a father of the Roman people was given a more important and dignified place in ancient Roman religion as a guardian deity.