Ares and Gender

I’ve been fighting myself not to comment on the mess that is Pantheacon. On one hand, it’s a crapshoot of progressive versus conservative politics, which I attempt (and sometimes fail) to avoid on my blog. On the other, I just love conflict and am drawn to it like a moth to the flame. Though this post is related to the debacle, I mean debate, it does give me the opportunity to describe an interesting feature of Ares’ cults- the idea of gender-exclusive rites.

To my knowledge, while other gods may have local cults which excluded one or the other sex, only Ares had exclusive festivals for both sexes. This is interesting, because both sets of rites were intrinsically tied to battle. For many, including myself initially, it seems odd Ares is so… equal opportunity. If you really think about it though, strength, courage, and passion are needed by every person, regardless of gender or sex. So why then, would these festivals be limited to either one sex or the other.

Let’s start with the ladies’ cult, that of Ares Gynaikothoinas, or Ares, Feasted by Women. This cult originated in Tegea, in Arkadia, according to Pausanias. The Tegeans were at war with Lakonia (the Spartans) at the time, and when things started going south for the Tegean men, the women rose up themselves under the command of Marpessa Khoira. The women pushed back the Lakonians, then made a sacrifice to Ares, leaving their disappointing husbands out of the celebration.  How to interpret this story is problematic in today’s world. The way I interpret the legend is that the men weren’t being manly enough (by losing), so the town’s women got the job done for them. By excluding the men from the sacrifice, the women were both celebrating the power of women and taunting the men for their lack of masculinity.

Mind you, this is the way I interpret the story based upon the knowledge of traditional gender roles in Greece at the time. Of course, times change, so reconstructing this festival commemorating the victory would probably be problematic in today’s social arena. Gender roles are shifting, and have become more laissez faire. There are more women in the workplace than men, now. A lot of men, and even women and families are struggling to identify with new, progressive norms. I’ve seen conservative women who believe in upholding their traditional gender roles berated as “traitors” to the feminist movement and only do so because they are being controlled by men. On the flip side, progressive men are berated for being stay-at-home dads and doing “women’s work”.

For the men, Pausanias describes the cult of the village of Geronthrai in Lakonia. Every year, the men there would hold a festival women were not allowed to attend. Though Pausanias doesn’t have anything more to say, Matthew Gonzales contends that this was probably a pre-campaign festival meant to bless those who would serve as soldiers and ask for a victorious season. He bases this assumption on other local cults, such as the cults in near-by Sparta, and archeological evidence dating back to the Mycenean age culture. That being said, war was men’s work, and women would therefore simply interfere. Of course, the notion of war being simply men’s work has changed, but this would have held true in ancient culture. In addition, if this was in fact a festival to prepare for the campaign season, it would have been important psychologically to remove the presence of the women folk in order to cast thoughts of doubt and fear from the mind of the husbands going off to war. Any military member can tell you the hardest part of deploying is saying goodbye, not knowing if you’ll come back in one piece.

Again, this festival would be problematic to reconstruct. First, it’s not just men who are soldiers these days; women serve beside them and are just as deserving, just as in need of a blessing before going into battle. Secondly, there is no delineated “campaign season” today. Any service member, of any gender, can be called up at a moment’s notice to deploy anywhere in the world, no matter the season. Also, soldiers don’t just respond to violence any more; natural disasters, guard duty, and humanitarian crises all warrant military response, called Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW). While blessing soldiers and asking for victory is important, annual festivals simply aren’t congruent with the concepts of a modern military force.

 

So while the gender debate about Pantheacon rages on, I hope you learned something about Ares’ gender-specific cults. Perhaps one day I can (with the help of some awesome ladies) come up with suitable rites to celebrate the themes of both these festivals in a way appropriate to our modern circumstances. Until that time, maybe we can move on without too many people taking themselves down in the fiery pit of gender politics and the unfortunate blending of politics, both progressive and conservative, into our religious rituals…

Updates and Musing

Well, I’m sorry I don’t have much more for you  today other than promises of better articles to come. I noticed I got a lot of traffic for the post on Hekate and Ares, so you can expect more like those; I’ve already begun drawing up notes for comparisons with Apollon and Dionysos. Folks seemed to like the Vet profiles, but so far I’ve only gotten two. I may have had more, but it seems my Aspis of Ares email is buggy, because I haven’t seen anything come across it yet.

A bit of big news, however, is that I’m almost done reconstructing an ancient festival for Ares based on the binding rituals that took place in several cities across Greece thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, the records I have don’t offer a name for the festival or it’s place on the calendar. I’d like to note that my copy of Matthew Gonzales’ dissertation about the cults of Ares and Enyalios (the most extensive survey of data to date on the subject) is my saving grace here, and even contains the inscription recorded from an oracle directing the establishment of the festival. If anyone wants to help out naming the ritual (I was thinking something like Binding Festival in ancient Hellenic) or placing it on the calendar, please leave a comment with suggestions.

Because this will be my first written ritual, I will be asking a friend to take a look at it to verify its structure and to consider whether it may be a good add to the various fora out there on the interwebs. Needless to say, this won’t be the last ritual/festival I plan on writing. The miasma ritual is still in the works, as well as plans for dedicating weapons (for soldiers, police, and even hunters), victory thanksgivings, and perhaps even stand-up and stand-down rituals for those entering/leaving military service.  I will need some female collaboration at some point, because I wish to include at least one single-sex ritual for each sex as an echo of historic rituals; I’m thinking along the lines of brotherhood/sisterhood things, nothing fancy and certainly nothing meant to put either sex or any gender down. If I’m ever to write a book, it’s important to me to provide a diverse range of ritual material, not just poetry.

That’s all I have for right now. It’s been a stressful week and I’m looking forward to wrapping things up and doing show-and-tell before relaxing for the weekend. Hope everyone enjoys their own! Hail Ares.

 

I Had a Dream

I had a dream. A very odd dream.

This morning I woke up at 1am. I was not happy. Unfortunately, I was feeling wide awake, so I decided I’d do some studying. The night was spent combing the Sacred Texts website for any mention of Ares. I scanned Hellenic, Roman, and even Christian texts. Cool story, one Christian apocryphal text mentions Ares as an angel who was a general of spirits in a war between Canaanite gods… crazy stuff, right? Anyway, I also read a great essay, The Oracle and Cult of Ares in Asia Minor, by Dr. Matthew Gonzales. Oh, and get this –Gonzales’ doctoral dissertation? It’s a 600+ page survey of Ares and Enyalios in Hellenic religion. I nearly died; needless to say, I’ve contacted Dr. Gonzales to try to obtain a copy of said dissertation. I also went on Amazon after playing citation detective and bought The Cults of the Greek States, Vol 5 by Lewis Richard Farnell, because chapter ten is all about Ares. Anyway, it was a long night. I helped my sister get ready for school, did her homework with her, and about 8:30 was exhausted enough to fall asleep.

Now, my dream wasn’t very vivid. My sleep was fitful at best, but I did have some pretty clear images at points. First was the fact that I had authored my own book on Ares, which in and of itself would be cool enough for me. Second, I had a bad-ass mug for my coffee with hat I assumed was a print of my book cover; I don’t remember the title in its entirety, but Enyalios was in the title and not Ares to my recollection. Third, and most significant, I reading a paper in which was either announcing or reviewing the recent revival of a festival honoring Ares, Hermes, and Dike from Anatolia. It was awesome!

Now, I’m not what you’d call a proponent of mysticism, I don’t believe in visions or oracles really, and to be frank, while I believe in the gods as real beings, I have my doubts to how active They are in the mortal world. My dream, obviously colored by what I was reading prior to going to sleep, nonetheless really motivates me to reconstruct the festival. I think reading the actual oracular statement was the most inspiring portion; it really gives a sense of urgency and compulsion. In fact, read it for yourself. It comes from Gonzales’ essay on Asia Minor:

Pamphylians of Syedra, who inhabit a rich land of mixed men in
shared fields, plant a statue of bloody, man-slaying Ares in the
middle of the city and beside (him) perform sacrifices as you
bind him with the iron bonds of Hermes, and on the other side
let Justice administer the law and judge him; let him resemble a
suppliant. Thus will he become a peaceful deity for you, once he
has driven the enemy horde far from your country, and he will
give rise to prosperity much prayed for. And you, at the same
time, take great pain, either chasing them or placing them in unbreakable
bonds, and do not, out of fear of the pirates, pay their
terrible penalty. For thus will you escape from all degradation.

Pretty cool stuff, huh? It is interesting to note the prevalence of Ares depicted as bound. I recently found a scrap sheet of marble, and you can bet I’ll be putting my carving skill, and my new dremel, to the test carving a relief of fettered Ares. Perhaps that can be my offering for the inception of the festival. Unfortunately, no time-frame seems given, so I’ll have to place that as seems best. As I said, I’m not big on Oracles or believe that I myself received an oracular dream, but we’ll see what happens. ‘Til then, Hail Ares!