Mars | |
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Other Names |
Ares, Mavors, Mavorte |
First Appearance |
Roman Myth |
Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Mars is the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He is the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was pre-eminent among the Roman army's military gods. Most of his festivals were held in March, the month named for him (Latin Martius), and in October, the months which traditionally began and ended the season for both military campaigning and farming.
Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars was identified with the Greek god Ares, whose myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature and art under the name of Mars. The character and dignity of Mars differs in fundamental ways from that of his Greek counterpart, who is often treated with contempt and revulsion in Greek literature.
Like Ares who was the son of Zeus and Hera, Mars is usually considered to be the son of Jupiter and Juno. In Ovid's version of Mars' origin, he was the son of Juno alone. Jupiter had usurped the accepted function of women as mothers when he gave birth to Minerva directly from his forehead (or mind). Juno sought the advice of the goddess Flora on how to do the same. Flora obtained a magic flower (Latin flos, plural flores, a masculine word) and tested it on a heifer who became fecund at once. Flora ritually plucked a flower, using her thumb, touched Juno's belly, and impregnated her. Juno withdrew to Thrace and the shore of Marmara for the birth.
Ovid tells this story in the Fasti, his long-form poetic work on the Roman calendar. It may explain why the Matronalia, a festival celebrated by married women in honor of Juno as a goddess of childbirth, occurred on the first day of Mars's month, which is also marked on a calendar from late antiquity as the birthday of Mars. In the earliest Roman calendar, March was the first month, and the god would have been born with the new year. Ovid is the only source for the story. He may be presenting a literary myth of his own invention, or an otherwise unknown archaic Italic tradition; either way, in choosing to include the story, he emphasizes that Mars was connected to plant life and was not alienated from female nurture.
The consort of Mars was Nerio or Neriene, "Valor." She represents the vital force (vis), power (potentia) and majesty (maiestas) of Mars. Her name was regarded as Sabine in origin and is equivalent to Latin virtus, "manly virtue". In the early 3rd century BCE, the comic playwright Plautus has a reference to Mars greeting Nerio, his wife. A source from late antiquity says that Mars and Neriene were celebrated together at a festival held on March 23. In the later Roman Empire, Neriene came to be identified with Minerva.
Nerio probably originates as a divine personification of Mars's power, as such abstractions in Latin are generally feminine. Her name appears with that of Mars in an archaic prayer invoking a series of abstract qualities, each paired with the name of a deity. The influence of Greek mythology and its anthropomorphic gods may have caused Roman writers to treat these pairs as "marriages."
The union of Venus and Mars held greater appeal for poets and philosophers, and the couple were a frequent subject of art. In Greek myth, the adultery of Ares and Aphrodite had been exposed to ridicule when her husband Hephaestus (whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan) caught them in the act by means of a magical snare. Although not originally part of the Roman tradition, in 217 BCE Venus and Mars were presented as a complementary pair in the lectisternium, a public banquet at which images of twelve major gods of the Roman state were presented on couches as if present and participating.
Scenes of Venus and Mars in Roman art often ignore the adulterous implications of their union, and take pleasure in the good-looking couple attended by Cupid or multiple Loves (amores). Some scenes may imply marriage, and the relationship was romanticized in funerary or domestic art in which husbands and wives had themselves portrayed as the passionate divine couple.
The uniting of deities representing Love and War lent itself to allegory, especially since the lovers were the parents of Concordia. The Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino notes that "only Venus dominates Mars, and he never dominates her". In ancient Roman and Renaissance art, Mars is often shown disarmed and relaxed, or even sleeping, but the extramarital nature of their affair can also suggest that this peace is impermanent.
Mars’s festivals at Rome occurred in the spring and the fall—the beginning and the end of both the agricultural and the military seasons. The month of March, which was named after him, was especially filled with festivals wholly or partially in his honour; the members of the ancient priesthood of the Salii, who were particularly associated with Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, came out several times during the month to dance their ceremonial war dance in old-fashioned armour and chant a hymn to the gods. October was also an important month for Mars. At the festival of the October Horse on October 15, a two-horse chariot race was held in the Campus Martius, and on October 19 the Armilustrium marked the purification of the arms of war and their storage for the winter. The god was invoked in the ancient hymn of the Arval Brothers, whose religious duties had as their object to keep off enemies of all kinds from crops and herds.
Until the time of Augustus, Mars had only two temples at Rome: one was in the Campus Martius, the exercising ground of the army; the other was outside the Porta Capena. Within the city there was a sacrarium (“shrine,” or “sanctuary”) of Mars in the regia, originally the king’s house, in which the sacred spears of Mars were kept; upon the outbreak of war the consul had to shake the spears saying, “Mars vigila” (“Mars, wake up!”).
Under Augustus the worship of Mars at Rome gained a new impetus; not only was he traditional guardian of the military affairs of the Roman state but, as Mars Ultor (“Mars the Avenger”), he became the personal guardian of the emperor in his role as avenger of Caesar. His worship at times rivaled that of Capitoline Jupiter, and about ad 250 Mars became the most prominent of the di militares (“military gods”) worshiped by the Roman legions.
Unlike Ares, who was viewed primarily as a destructive and destabilizing force, Mars represented military power as a way to secure peace, and was a father (pater) of the Roman people. In Rome's mythic genealogy and founding, Mars fathered Romulus and Remus through his rape of Rhea Silvia. His love affair with Venus symbolically reconciled two different traditions of Rome's founding; Venus was the divine mother of the hero Aeneas, celebrated as the Trojan refugee who "founded" Rome several generations before Romulus laid out the city walls.
There are several Roman myths about Mars. In one, he was the father of Romulus and Remus by Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin. Ovid, in Fasti, tells of Mars’s attempt to seduce Minerva. In the only purely Roman myth, he is tricked into marrying the aged Anna Perenna.
Centaur[]
Mars, the God of War, was so admiring of the German efforts during World War II that he created a being to work for them. Unfortunately for the Germans, Mars miscalculated the rotation of the Earth, so when Man of War came to life in Dayton, Ohio. Infused with American values, the Man of War rejected his "father's" ways and set out to fight the Nazis at home and abroad.
Craig Carter could summon also summon Mars and the other Twelve Olympians and other mythological figures to his aid with his magic ring.
This portrayal of Mars is more consistent with the Roman idea of Ares compared to others, such as the Lev Gleason version.
Fiction House[]
In the near future, Mars had succeeded in destroying all of Earth's universities in an attempt to inflict a new dark age on humanity. However, Dr. Kort has preserved the world's knowledge and culture. To ensure that it would outlast him, he took two children, Mysta of the Moon and Nors, to his moon laboratory and educated them using a hypno-transmitter. Unfortunately, Mars possessed Nors, killing Dr. Kort and trying to kill Mysta as well. She saw through the ruse, however, and killed Nors in order to free him from Mars' control and banish the villain from the corporeal plane.
Frank Communale[]
Zeus ordered his daughter, Diana the Huntress, to travel from her home on Mount Olympus to protect Greece from the Nazis. He also asked his sons Hercules and Mars to aid the Allies.
Lev Gleason[]
On the planet Mars, the Roman god of war, also known as Mars, has grown disgusted with the Nazis who have turned war into a mindless slaughter. He sends his skilled and courageous son Dryas (aka Bombshell), who saved Mars and his ministers from being ambushed and slain by the fearful monster Koro, to Earth, knowing that it is a one-way trip. Bombshell's magical sword won't harm humans, but it will cut through almost anything else. He also possesses an indestructible golden shield. While we are supposed to believe that his father is a Roman god, the story reads as if this Mars is a king of a civilization on Mars.
Register and Tribune Syndicate[]
When Mr. Mystic travels to the realm of the Olympian gods to rescue the soul of a girl who had been trapped there, he encounters a despondent Mars. Unlike other more brutal and antagonistic interpretations of the war god from around this time, this Mars is depressed by the violence and scale of modern-day warfare and aids Mr. Mystic in his quest.
Quality Comics[]
Mars was also an enemy of Merlin the Magician. They fought twice, with Ares aided the second time by Wotan, the father of Thor.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Mars from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Fasti
- Carmen Arvale
- Metamorphoses by Ovid
- Metamorphoses by Antoninus Liberalis
- The Pantheon by François‐Antoine Pomey (1659)
- The Age of Fable; or, Stories of Gods and Heroes by Thomas Bulfinch (1855)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Planet Comics #15-36, 66
- Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46-48
- Whiz Comics #125
- Boy Comics #3, 10
- Jumbo Comics #31
- Daredevil Comics #1
- Son of Vulcan #49
- Liberty Guards Comics #1
- Man of War Comics #2
- National Comics #1
- Yellowjacket #9
- Wham Comics #1
- Liberty Scout Comics #2
- Spirit Section 1940-11-17
- Humdinger vol. 1 #4
- Blue Bolt vol. 8 #12
- Atoman #1
Notes[]
- The planet Mars was named after the Roman god.
- In Romance languages, Tuesday is named after Mars (mardi, martedì, martes etc.), but in Germanic languages, it is named after his perceived counterpart Tyr.
- The Digimon Marsmon was named after the Roman God Mars.
- Marcus Mars from the manga One Piece was named after the Roman god.