It’s March (and Tuesday) a perfect time to talk about Mars, also know as Ares by the Greeks. Ares is a Hellenic god of war, brutality, bloodshed, and battles as well as male fertility. As Mars he is also an agricultural deity.
Ares is a son Zeus and Hera, and the twin brother and husband to Enyo. His most famous children are: Eros, Phobos, and Deimos; all of which were mothered by Aphrodite. He us also the adoptive father of the Amazon’s. He had at least one male lover, Alectryon. The gigantes Otus and Ephialtes once chained up Ares and trapped him in a bronze jar for over a year until Hermes and Artemis freed him and killed the gigantes.
In Rome he was called Mars and was also associated with the Germanic god Týr. He was also synchronized with the Egyptian god Anhur and the semitic god Nergal. When Rome became Christian Mars became St. Martin.
He has the month of March named after him, romance languages name Tuesday after him, and the planet Mars.
Ares was the patron deity of Sparta. His largest cult was in Sparta, he also had major temples in Olympia and Athens. He is the patron deity of homoerotic relationships between male soldiers.
Ganymedes' guide. 