Tag: ancient religion

Random Access asks:

What ARE the main differences between the Greek Ares, and the Roman Mars?

Well, Ares is… not a popular god, put it that way.  In scenes from the Iliad depicting interactions between the gods, he’s consistently treated as something of an outcast, Zeus’ least-favourite child (in stark contrast to perfect daughter Athena).  Not a lot of people really worship Ares – he personifies bloodlust, the madness of battle and war.  Mars, on the other hand, was originally a god of agriculture in pre-classical Italy before he became a martial god closely identified with Ares, and was one of the foremost patron deities of the Roman state; he stood for martial discipline, justice and vengeance upon the guilty.  In a polytheistic society, it’s not uncommon to note a couple of similarities between one of your gods and one worshipped in another neighbouring culture, and decide “eh, it’s probably the same guy,” even if you wind up glossing over a few differences in the process.  They’re gods; they can be several mutually contradictory things at once if they want to.

Anonymous asks:

Does it irk you that most people seem to refer to Heracles as Hercules, even when they’re talking about the Greek version of the hero?

Eh… not really.  It’s not often that the distinction is important, unless you’re in a technical context, since they’re basically the same guy (unlike, say, Ares and Mars, where the Italian conception of the god is actually different enough that it sort of matters which one you’re talking about).  The ancient Greeks had at least three different ways of spelling “Heracles” anyway.

Cavedraconem adds: I don’t know, I think that Hercules Olivarius, as protector of olive merchants, is a pretty important Roman version of Hercules whom one might want to specifically refer to.

Well, I did specify “unless you’re in a technical context.”  But yes, if you’re a classicist talking about Roman religion and you call him “Heracles” then you should absolutely be shot.