Mars, the Roman god of war, is often conflated with Ares, the Greek god of war. But while Mars absorbed Greek mythology surrounding Ares, he was a unique and very different type of god. While Ares was sidelined in Greek religion as a force of violence and devastation, Mars was one of the most important gods of the Roman state.
God of War and Fertility
Mars was considered a god of both war and fertility, which was not as uncommon in the ancient world as we might imagine today. His main festivals were in March, which was named for the god, and October, which marked the start and the end of both the campaign season and the harvest season. March was originally the first month of the year before the calendar was reformed.
As a fertility deity, he uses his energy to create conditions that allow crops to grow and to ward off threats from nature. There are examples of him being invoked to drive off wheat fungus and red oxides. In his book on farming, Cato invokes Mars Silvanus to protect the boundaries of the uncultivated woodlands that threatened to overtake the fields needed for crops. On the other side, he was also the chief god of the Roman army.
The worship of Mars was reportedly established in Rome by King Numa, who was reportedly and wise and peaceful king. While he did not pursue conflict, he knew that it was necessary for peace, and the altar he set up in the Campus Martius seems to have reflected that. During the Republic, he had a number of other temples dedicated as votives in relation to military victories. Later, under Augustus, the first Roman emperor, a new temple to Mars Ultor (the avenger) was established in his forum.
Mars was revered by members of the Roman army and votive offerings and altar dedications to the god are found throughout the Roman Empire.
Mars as Ares
When Rome encountered the religion of ancient Greece, with its sophisticated mythologies, they began to absorb this into their own religion, syncretizing their gods with those of Greece. Jupiter was conflated with Zeus
, Juno with Hera, and Mars with Ares, the god of war.
But in ancient Greece, Ares was feared but also disdained as the god who represented the violent and uncontrolled side of war. They preferred to venerate Athena, who represented the strategic and political side of war. They also venerated Zeus, who was the ultimate arbiter of success in war.
The Romans also venerated Minerva as the equivalent of Athena, but they did not disdain Mars. He was associated with warfare in general and not just the bloody side, and the Romans venerated the peace and power that could be achieved through warfare.
Most of the surviving stories about Ares in Greek mythology do not cast him in the best light, as he is often outsmarted. However, while the poets played with these stories when talking about Mars, he never took on these character traits and remained a noble figure.
Father of Rome
While Jupiter was recognized as the chief god of Rome, Mars, Jupiter’s son with his wife Juno, was the father of Rome. Mars’ birthday was the 1st of March, which was also the festival of Martonalia, celebrating mothers, which celebrated how Juno gave birth to Mars, the father of Rome.
According to Roman myth, it was Mars who visited the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silva of the villa of Alba Longa and impregnated her so that she gave birth to the twins Romulus and Remus. It was Romulus who who would establish Rome and give it its name.
Mirroring Greek mythology in which Ares and Aphrodite were lovers, Mars was also the lover of Venus. She was also the mother of Rome as she gave birth to Aeneas, who reportedly led the survivors of the Trojan War to Italy as the forebears of the Romans.
But while Roman mythology imitated Greek in this regard, the consort of Mars of the goddess Nerio, who seems to be the embodiment of the idea of valor. It seems that she was initially an aspect of Mars, but she was so closely associated with him that under the influence of Greek mythology, she was personified and became associated with him as his wife. The close connection between Mars and Valor is another indication of how the Romans saw Mars very differently from the Greek god Ares.
Worship and Rituals
In Roman art, Mars could appear as a mature bearded man or a clean-shaved youth. He always appears with the instruments of war. On the Ara Pacis dedicated by Augustus, he was shown as a handsome classical man with a short curly beard, plumed helmet, military cloak, and cuirass. He was one of the first gods to appear on the Roman coinage, starting from the late 4th century BCE. He often appeared with a spear garlanded with a laurel, which was a symbol of peace won through victory.
His cult was conducted on behalf of Rome by the Flamen Martialis, one of the three most important priests in the Roman college of flamens. He also had a 12-member group of Salii, who dressed as archaic warriors and danced around the city during festivals in March. His festivals in both March and October were both often marked by horse races. There were also rituals to purify the deploying and returning army.
The wolf, like the she-wolf who suckled the babies Romulus and Remus when they were exposed as babies, and the woodpecker, a courageous and spirited bird with a beak so strong that it can overturn oaks with its persistent pecking. The two animals tended to appear in the same woodlands.
Woodpecker beaks were sometimes worn as magical amulets associated with the god. They were also considered birds of augury and experienced diviners could receive signs by interpreting their flights.
When it came to sacrificial victims, while many gods received castrated males, Mars received virile males, usually oxen or bulls. There are also occasional records of him receiving horses as sacrifices, which was unusual in the Roman world since the Romans considered their meat inedible.
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