Ares the … Momma’s Boy?

So, Mother’s day was celebrated here in the States a couple of weeks ago, and shortly thereafter, Neos Alexandria  announced its Call for Submissions for a devotional to Ares’ mother Hera. This project is being led by my friend Lykeia, and you can check out the announcement here. With all the to-do about Moms, and especially Hera, I wrote the following about Ares and his heavenly mother.

 

Ares is many things; he is a soldier, a general, a father, and a lover. But did you know Ares is also a momma’s boy? It’s true! Just as his sister Athene can be seen as the quintessential daddy’s girl, Ares acts much the same for his heavenly mother Hera.

So what exactly qualifies Ares as a momma’s boy? We should take a look at the relationship between Ares and Hera . Much of this relationship is defined my Hera’s relationship to Ares’ father, Zeus, and Ares’ role as one of the few “legitimate” children of the couple. In particular, the relationship is one of Ares attempting to restore Hera’s honor in the face of Zeus’ infidelity, and acting as he does best as the agent of righteous fury and retribution on Zeus’ lovers.

Let’s examine the most famous example of this behavior. First there is poor Leto, mother to the divine twins Apollon and Artemis (both of whom are tied in various war-cults and rituals to Ares). Hera, in her fury against Leto and the illegitimate children she carried, dispatched Ares to ensure she had no safe haven in which to bear these children. Besides the issue of family integrity, Callimachus suggests Hera wants no woman, divine or mortal, to bear  to Zeus “a son dearer even than Ares” (an interesting counterpoint to the enmity between Zeus and Ares in the Iliad). After all, if the trend in myth were to continue, Ares would be next in line for the proverbial, or even literal, throne.

In addition, there is the case of Hera’s binding by her son Hephaestos. Now, while Hera probably had this one coming; she threw her own son, begotten of none, from Olympos in disgust. That’s not very nice. However, Ares is always ready to jump in for mom, and this was no exception. Ares waged war on Hephaestos to try to return him to Olympos and free their mother, but was turned away by Hephaestos’ superior weapons. The outcome of all this would eventually lead to Hephaestos marrying Aphrodite, and thus the famous love affair with Ares.

So what can we take from these myths? Superficially, we can obviously say Ares loves his mother and attempts to support her even when she is in the wrong. Also, you can’t stop fate, and Ares can be kind of a dick (I mean, harassing a pregnant lady, really?). If we look a little deeper, however, we see how Ares reinforces his position and role as a defender of law, honor, and righteousness, as well as an agent of divine wrath and punishment. Especially if you consider that, up until this point in the mythological timeline, he is not yet an adulterer. I would postulate that before this point (and maybe even after), you could consider Ares a defender of monogamy and the bindings of marriage. Of course, there was never any literary or cultic evidence of this, and is only my speculation.

The relationship between Hera and Ares, of course, help to reinforce Ares’ relationship with Aphrodite and his children. He is a fiercely devoted husband and father, and answers any threat or slight to either with extreme prejudice. Perhaps Ares can serve as a model of family loyalty and honor in a time when the family is decreasing in importance and stature. After all, blood is thicker than water, and who knows more about blood than Ares the Bloody?

A Weapon Blessing

Ares has always been a god of weapons, and I know of no depiction of him without at least some form of weapon on him or nearby. Though I am no longer a true combatant, I wanted to bless my rife as the weather now permits me to go out and start the airsoft season. Sure, I can’t actually kill someone with it, but I’d like to bless it to shoot true anyway. To that effect, I came up with a simple rite that you may use yourself.

Some supplies you may choose to use:

Depictions of the Gods: Ares for certain, but you can include Athena, Artemis, Apollon, Aphrodite, Dionysos, and Zeus (all gods with war or shooting related cults)

Incense or wine for offerings

Your chosen weapon (this is being written about a rifle, and modern weapons in general. Feel free to modify accordingly)

The Rite:

I would choose to time this rite in Spring, as this is when the campaign season starts, although it’s also perfect before a deployment, a hunting expedition, or like me, for a friendly game of airsoft or paintball. Morning seems most appropriate, as the sun’s far-shooting rays first touch the earth much like Apollon the Far-Shooter fires off his arrows.

Open your rite with whatever actions you deem appropriate, or if you are performing this rite within the context of a larger ritual (such as the forthcoming Lesser Aresia or a pre-deployment ritual) begin where appropriate. Make your offerings of incense or wine, and call forth to the Gods:

Dear Gods on Olympus, hear my cry, as I am to go to battle

Bless this rifle, oh Gods, that I might smite my enemies

Thundering Zeus, let my enemies cower at its thunderous roar

Sharp Ares, let my enemies feel its piercing sting

Brilliant Athene, let my allies find respite behind its fire

Glorious Twins of Leto, may my rounds fire far and true

Mad God, let my weapon sow madness among my foes

Golden Aphrodite, let my enemy feel no love for the fight

Bless me, oh Gods of, so that I may offer you victories at the altar of war

That’s it, just a simple blessing and a simple offering. Fight hard, whatever your battle, and Hail Ares!

Sibling Rivalries

Well, it’s Friday, which means it’s time for my weekly update. While the previous post was fun, I feel it didn’t have the “umph” to really carry the week out, so I wanted to give you all something more to go on for the weekend. Today I wanted to talk about sibling rivalries, particularly the rivalry between Ares and Athene, and what we can learn about our own lives from looking at their respective cults and mythologies.

The rivalry between Athene and Ares is well-documented in poetry and myth. Homer sets the pair apart from the Iliad onward, always fighting and trying to one-up the other, with Athene coming out on top every time. Based on even the most basic data, it is clear that the ancient Hellenes found Athene vastly more popular as well.  It’s hard not to be rivals when you are given to governing the same forces in the world (war and battle). Yet, like most families, when it came down to the most kosmologically important matters, they came together and made things happen.

In the brutal slaying of men, Ares’ place as the best cannot be challenged. Throughout the Iliad, Homer describes the great fear of both the Greeks and the Trojans have of Ares, who “… made play in his hands with spear gigantic and ranged now in front of Hektor and now behind him.   Diomedes of the great war cry shivered as he saw him”(Homer, Iliad 5. 592 ff). Only the wit and strength of Athene could end Ares’ rampage, as She went to the side of the Greeks and wounded Ares. The best and fiercest warriors of the Iliad are given the titles “scions of Ares”, and other gods, such as Zeus, Dionysos, Aphrodite, and even Athene Herself have Ares’ name as an epithet. Ares is war. Athene is, however, better at the art of war than Ares, and proves this time and again as Her champions best the champions and children of Ares.

Athene and Ares are not always at odds, however. The pair fought together in three separate kosmological wars, and honors were bestowed upon both. During the Titanomachy, Ares was on the ground slaying the monstrous offspring of the Titans whilst Athene aided the defense of Olympos. During the Giant War, Ares again got up-close and personal, slaying Mimas, and Athene threw the whole of Sicily upon Enkelados from the back of her chariot. Both fought against Typoeus, though Ares was forced to flee; Athene stood alone with Zeus against the abomination.

Now, part of this rivalry may be explained ethnographically. Literary evidence, from Homer to Herodotus, has been cited in support of the theory that Ares is not originally a Hellenic god. Mention is often made of Ares as Thracian, and indeed much of his cult was centered in this barbarous, northern land. Indeed, some have interpreted Ares’ support of the Trojans, themselves living near Thrace, as evidence to Ares’ cult being foreign to, or even per-existing in, Hellenic religion. Some have also speculated that Ares is a pre-existing deity native to Greece whose cult diminished as the Hellenes became more civilized.

Athene’s cult, in contrast, is squarely centered in Her chief city of Athens, in the heart of classical Greece, and is much more prominent throughout every city-state, even in place Ares is regularly worshipped. Part of the reason Athene was more popular probably has much to do with the fact Her cult encompassed many more aspects of life and culture than Ares. Whilst most evidence points to Ares being strictly a cut-and-dry war god, we know Athene is a patroness of the arts, a purveyor of wisdom and healing, and the savior and champion of cities. Athene is a people’s goddess, while Ares functions as a destroyer in all but a few cases. Athene is civil, Ares is not, and that made a big difference to the Hellenes, and still does to many today. If Ares is indeed a foreign son, and Athene a native daughter, it makes a great deal of sense, in my eyes, as to why Athene receives better treatment in both myth and cult.

 

Okay, so you may be asking yourself what this means to you. How can we take these stories and facts and apply them to our own lives? Well, first, if you have siblings, you can take a look at that relationship. As the eldest of six children, I understand that not all familial relationships will be great. It’s normal to fight and disagree and compete. Are you the Ares or the Athene of the relationship? Yes, Ares is brutish and mean-spirited, but he can rise to help his family when needed. Can you do more to temper yourself, especially in times of family crisis? Are you more like Athene, the good child? Do you, as Athene has done, chide and egg-on your siblings into further bad behavior, just to see them squirm or get in trouble? Can you come to your least-favorite sibling’s side when he needs it?

Families these day no longer always conform to the traditional nuclear model. Do you resent a sibling who may be adopted? Or did a step-parent bring a child from a previous relationship into the family? Many of us deal with these tensions and disturbances to our “normal” lives every day. With divorce a chilling every-day reality, and an increasing number of couples holding off on child-bearing into less fertile ages, the occurence of adopted and step-siblings will only increase. Can you handle that challenge if faced with it? Will you become an Ares or an Athene? Neither?

Sources:

Theoi Greek Mythology Project

Cults of the Greek States, Vol V, by Lewis Richard Farnell

Greek Religion, by Walter Burkert