In our last installment of the Ares 101 series, we talked about setting up a shrine. After a while, it can be a little boring to just pour wine or light some incense. So why not spice up your worship with a little background music?
Return of the God Ares:
This eerie, heavy-toned hymn was composed (if Google translate and my intuition is correct) by Wojciech Rudny for the Center of [Ancient] Theatrical Practice of Gardzienice. Not being able to understand the chanted words, I can’t tell exactly what they say, except for a few words (primarily Ares). I do believe it is Greek, however.
Hymn to Ares:
Another haunting piece utilizing some form of wind instrument (though I can’t place it; it may be a folk instrument), this hymn does not contain any singing, therefore making it a great backdrop piece. It is written and performed by the Greek metal group Unholy Archangel from the album “Obsessed by War”
Hymn to Struggle Hymn to Ares
This piece was spontaneously composed during a ritual by James Van Kollenburg (also known as Kallimakhos) in the form of a march on piano. It is short but beautiful, and its length is very well suited to memorization.
Alpheus’ Hymn to Ares:
Written and read by Pietros Maneos, this short prayer was inspired by Herodotus’ description of the Spartan forces at Thermopylae.
The Homeric Hymn to Ares:
This hymn was put to music and preformed by Nicolas Kyriakou. The hymn is followed by a lively but foreboding violin melody is added over a guitar rhythm.
There are others out there, but few are yet set to music. There are few composers that I know of in the Hellenic community. That being said, you can always compose your own (and share them!) or set existing ones to music. A great collection exists in the form of Amanda Sioux Blake’s Songs of Praise: Hymns to the Gods of Greece, and hymns for various gods can be found in the devotional anthologies published by Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
I do hope this adds a little variety to your worship as it has to mine. If you want to go deeper into Ares’ cult, I suggest staying tuned in. In the next few posts, I will be covering symbols for representing Ares, constructing prayers and hymns using Ares’ titles, holy days and more. If you have any topics you wish to see covered, or have any suggestions or comments regarding hymns available online or otherwise, let everyone know in the comments. Until then, hail Ares!
Aspis of Ares 
Thank you – this is great! 🙂 Music is so important to me, but except for some drumming, I have not been able to find anything that really, well, feels right. Looking forward to listening to these.
The first video is one of my personal favorites. I don’t recall what the language did eventually get identified as, but I don’t believe it was Greek. There is a version on the Tube of You somewhere that has a translation. If I track it down I’ll share it.
If you got to the reactions on YouTube there are a few people who give the lyrics. But I’m still not sure what language it is so. It mentions “Gode galatan ares”, and Gode seems like “God”, so perhaps it’s a Germanic language? I’m not sure though, if it is I think it’s an ancient one, no longer extant as such.
[…] the last post in the series, we listened to some of the music found online dedicated to Ares. This time, we will look at visual art and the symbols often […]
Unholy Archangel lists bass, keyboard, and drums as their instruments. So it’s probably a synth something. At first I thought the Syrinx, then the longer notes made me think variation on an organ, perhaps a calliope. But it’s a keyboard, they say.
The wind instrument sounds like a pan pipe.