Domain: War, military power, agriculture (originally), father of Rome Symbol: Spear, shield, wolf, woodpecker Greek Equivalent: Ares
Overview
Mars is the Roman god of war and a guardian of agriculture, far more important in Roman religion than his Greek counterpart Ares. Second only to Jupiter, he stood at the origin of Rome itself: by Venus he was reckoned among the ancestors of the Roman line, and it was he who fathered the twins Romulus and Remus upon the Vestal Rhea Silvia, making him the divine progenitor of the Roman people. The month of March, the old start of the campaigning season, carries his name.
His double nature — god of battle and protector of the fields — reflects Rome's own identity as a nation of soldier-farmers. In his agricultural aspect he was invoked to guard crops, herds, and the land's boundaries against blight and enemy alike; in his martial aspect he presided over the disciplined, organized warfare that built an empire. His sacred animals are the wolf, whose she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, and the woodpecker, both creatures of Mars that guided or nourished the founding twins. He was honored under titles such as Mars Gradivus, "the marching god," and Mars Ultor, "the Avenger," to whom Augustus raised a great temple. His priesthood, the Salii, danced through the city each March bearing the sacred shields, the ancilia, one of which was believed to have fallen from heaven as a pledge of Rome's endurance.
The contrast with the Greek Ares is sharp. Ares was widely disliked — the raw, bloodthirsty spirit of slaughter, mistrusted even by his own family in Homer. Mars, by contrast, was among the most honored of Roman gods: dignified, paternal, associated with fertility and the protection of the state as much as with the sword. Where Ares embodies the chaos of battle, Mars embodies martial virtue — courage, order, and the disciplined force by which Rome imagined itself made great.
Related
- Ares - Greek equivalent
- Venus - Consort, with whom he fathered the Roman line
- The Tower - The Mars-ruled Major Arcana card of martial force and sudden upheaval
- Roman Mythology Index