Ares — Ancient Greek God

Ares, God of War
Roman name: Mars
Ares was the Greek god of war. He was the son of the king and queen of the gods (Zeus and Hera.) He was tall and good-looking and mean and self-centered. Ares loved bloodshed. When the ancient Greeks were at war, Ares often got involved. Ares would sometimes fight on the side of the Greeks, and sometimes fight against the Greeks.

The truth was Ares did not care who won or lost, or if a battle was being fought for a good cause or a bad cause. He did not care who won or lost a battle. He just liked bloodshed. Not even his parents liked him much.

Ares' Family
Ares was the oldest child of Zeus and Hera, and, according to those who think that Hephaestus was born through parthenogenesis, their only son. Either way, he certainly had two sisters: Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, and Hebe, the goddess of eternal youth.

Ares, the Unloved God
Battle with Diomedes
Since he was the savage god of senseless war, Ares was almost universally detested. At one point, after Ares is wounded in battle by Diomedes, even Zeus calls him “the most hateful of all the gods,” remarking that if he hadn’t been his son, he would have surely ended up in Tartarus with Cronus and the Titans.

Ares Defeats
Heracles defeats Ares not once, but twice – first during the battle of Pylos, and then after killing his son Cycnus. Most humiliatingly, Otus and Ephialtes, the Aloadae, once manage to kidnap Ares and imprison him in a bronze jar for thirteen months. Homer says that if their stepmother Eriboea hadn’t told Hermes about it, this would have spelled the end of Ares.

Ares and Aphrodite
Ares had many women, but none of his affairs was as famous as the one he had with Aphrodite.

Ares War Companions
Ares can rarely be seen alone on the battlefield. He is typically joined by a bloodthirsty crowd, a number of infernal associates symbolizing the terror of war. His sons Deimos (Panic or Dread) and Phobos (Fear) are almost always beside him.
Ares and Greek Heroes
Ares was associated with many bellicose heroes in Greek mythology, such as the aforementioned Cycnus or Diomedes of Thrace, whose man-eating mares Heracles was supposed to capture as his eight labor. Probably with his daughter Harmonia, Ares fathered a whole race of warriors: the Amazons. Otrera gave him the most famous four: Hippolyta, Antiope, Melanippe, and Penthesilea.
In recent times, Ares' name is used by a number of sports teams like the Greek Football Team Aris Salonika.