Dictionary
WAR GODS	100.00%
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MARS	100.00%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 With Jupiter the principal deity of the inhabitants of Italy, and therefore honoured with particular reverence by the Latins and Romans from the very earliest times, especially as the latter regarded him as the father of Romulus, the founder of Rome. He was held to be the son of Juno, who bore him in consequence of touching a wonderful spring-flower, and the husband of Nerio or Nerlene, a goddess of strength. Through the emphasising of one of his attributes he gradually came to be considered as, above all, the god of war; for originally he is at the same time one of the mightiest gods of nature, who accords fertility and protection to fields and herds. The first month of the old Roman year was dedicated to him as the fertilizing god of spring; in the very ancient chant of the Arval brothers (q.v.), at the May-day festival of the Dea Dia, the help and protection of Mars were demanded. In earlier times he was also invoked at the hallowing of the fields (See AMBARVALIA), that he might bless the family, the field and the cattle, and keep off sickness, bad weather, and all else that did harm. (Cp. ROBIGUS.) In later times the names of Ceres and Bacchus were substituted for his on this particular occasion. At the festival on 15th October (see below) a horse was sacrificed to him to insure the fair growth of the seed that had been sown. As god of war he had the special name Gradixus, the strider, from the rapid march in battle 1 (Cp. QUIRINUS), and his symbols were the ravenous wolf, the prophetic and warlike woodpecker, and the lance. When war broke out, the general solemnly invoked his aid, by smiting his holy lance and the holy shields (ancilia -see ANCILE) with the cry, Mars, awake! (Mars vigila!) Many sacrifices were also offered to him during the campaign and before battle; and in his name military honours were conferred. The Field of Mars (Campus Martius) was dedicated to him as the patron god of warlike exercises; contests with battle-steeds, called Equirria, were there held in his honour on the 27th February, 14th March, and 15th October. On the last-mentioned day the horse on the right of the victorious team was sacrificed on his altar in the Field of Mars; it was known as the horse of October (October equus), and its blood was collected and preserved in the temple of Vesta, and used at the Palilia for purposes of purification. The cult of Mars was entrusted to a special priest, the flamen Martialis (see FLAMEN), and the college of the Salii (q.v.), which worshipped him more particularly as god of war. His principal festival was in March, the month sacred to him. As early as the time of king Tullus Hostilius, Pavor and Pallor, Fear and Pallor, are said to have been worshipped as his companions in the fight, in sanctuaries of their own. Augustus caused him to be honoured in a new form, as Mars Ultor (avenger of Caesar), in the magnificent temple in the Forum Augusti, consecrated B.C. 2, where statues of him and of Venus, as the two divine ancestors of the Julian family, were set up. In later times he was identified completely with the Greek Ares (q.v.).
TUBILUSTRIUM	95.35%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A festival in honour of Mars (See SALII).
QUIRINUS	62.39%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 The Sabine Dame of Mars, as the god who brandished the lance (from Sabine curis=Latin quiris, the lance). The Sabines worshipped him under this nameas the father of the founder of their old capital, Cures, just as the Romans honoured Mars as the father of Romulus. When the Sabines migrated to Rome, they took the cult and the name of the god of their race to their now abode on the Quirinal hill. In this way Quirinus, though identical with Mars, had a distinct and separate worship on the slope of the Quirinal. He possessed a temple with priests (See FLAMEN and SALII) and a special festival. When, in the course of time, their connexion was forgotten, Quirinus was identified with the deified Romulus, the son of Mars. For Janus Quirinus See JANUS.
ILIA	43.55%
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ANCILE	35.59%
The small oval sacred shield, curved inwards on either side, which was said to have fallen from heaven in the reign of Numa. There being a prophecy that the stability of Rome was bound up with it, Numa had eleven others made exactly like it by a cunning workman, Mamurius Veturius, so that the right one should not be stolen. The care of these arms, which were sacred to Mars was entrusted to the Salii (q.v.), who had to carry them through the city once a year with peculiar ceremonies. At the conclusion of their songs Mamurius himself was invoked, and on March 14th they held a special feast, the Mamuralia, at which they sacrificed to him, beating on a hide with staves, probably to imitate a smith's hammering. It is likely that the name Mamurius conceals that of the god Mars (or Mamers) himself.
MATRONALIA	29.06%
A festival celebrated by Roman matrons on the 1st of March, the anniversary of the foundation of the temple of Juno Lucina on the Esquiline. In the houses sacrifices and prayers were offered for a prosperous wedlock, the women received presents from the men and waited on the slaves, just as the men did at the Saturnalia. In the temple of the goddess, women and girls prayed to her and to her son Mars, and brought pious offerings.
PALLOR AND PAVOR	28.34%
The Roman personifications of terror, and companions of the war-god Mars. As early as the time of king Tullus Hostilius sanctuaries are said to have been erected in their honour. On coins Pallor was represented as a boy with dishevelled hair and perturbed bearing, and Pavor as a man with an expression of horror and with bristling hair.
SALII	26.82%
SUIDAS 1	26.66%
A Greek lexicographer who lived about 970 A.D., and compiled, from the lexicographical, grammatical, and explanatory works of his predecessors, a lexicon which contains explanations of words, and accounts, mainly biographical, of earlier writers. The work is put together hastily, and without skill or discrimination. It is also marred by numerous mistakes. Nevertheless it is very valuable, owing to the wealth of information on literary history contained in it, much of this not being found elsewhere.
RHEA SILVIA	25.67%
Daughter of the Alban king Numa. Her uncle Amulius, who had driven his brother from the throne, made her a Vestal Virgin, so that none of her descendants might take vengeance for this violent deed. When, however, she bore to Mars the twins Romulus and Remus, and was thrown for this into the Tiber, Tiberinus (q.v.), the god of the river, made her his wife. According to an older tradition, the mother of the founders of Rome was Ilia, daughter of Aeneas (q.v.) and Lavinia.
CHRYSIPPUS	25.38%
A Greek philosopher of Tarsus or Soli in Cilicia (about 282-206 B.C.). At Athens he was a pupil of the Stoic Cleanthes, and his successor in the chair of the Stoa. Owing to the thorough way in which he developed the system, he is almost entitled to be called the second founder of the Stoic school; and, indeed, there was a saying "Had there been no Chrysippus, there had been no Stoa." The author of more than 705 books, he was one of the most prolific writers of antiquity, but his style was marred by great prolixity and carelessness. Only a few fragments of his writings survive.
AMBARVALIA	25.37%
The Italian festival of blessing the fields, which was kept at Rome on May 29th. The country people walked in solemn procession three times round their fields in the wake of the su-ove-taur-ilia, i.e. a hog, ram, and bull, which were sacri- ficed after a prayer originally addressed to Mars, afterwards usually to Ceres and other deities of agriculture, that the fruits of the fields might thrive. Comp. ARVAL BROTHERS.
CAMPUS MARTIUS	24.51%
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BELLONA	23.29%
The Roman goddess of war. An old Italian divinity, probably of Sabine origin. She was supposed to be wife or sister of Mars, and was identified with the Greek Enyo. Her temple, which was situated in the Campus Martius, outside. the old pomerium, was used for meetings of the senate when it was dealing with the ambassadors of foreign nations, or Roman generals who claimed a triumph on their return from war. It must be remembered that under such circumstances a general might not enter the city. The pillar of war (Columna Bellica) stood hard by. It was from this, as representing the boundary of the enemy's territory, that the Fetialis threw his ance on declaring war.
FIDES	21.27%
The Roman personification of honour in keeping word or oath. As Fides Publica, or Honour of the People, this goddess had a temple on the Capitol, founded by king Numa, to which the flamines of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus rode in a covered chariot on the 1st of October. At the sacrifice they had their right hands wrapped up to the fingers with white bands. The meaning of the covered chariot was that honour could not be too carefully protected: of the covered right hand, that the right hand, the seat of honour, should be kept pure and holy. The goddess was represented with outstretched right hand and a white veil. Her attributes were ears of corn and fruits, joined hands, and a turtle-dove.
ROBIGUS	19.27%
the male, Robigo, the female deity among the Romans who protected the corn from blight (robigo). On April 25th a festival called the Robigalia, supposed to have been instituted by Numa, was held in their honour in their grove, distant nearly five miles from Rome. The citizens marched to the spot in white festal attire, under the conduct of the flamen Quirinalis, Robigus having at first apparently represented only a particular function of Mars (or Quirinus), as protector of the arable land. After a prayer, accompanied by offerings of incense and wine, for the preservation of the ripening seed, the flamen offered sacrifice with the entrails of a young sorrel dog and a sheep. Certain races were also held.
NEPTUNUS	19.20%
The Italian god of the sea, husband of Salacia, (the goddess of salt water), identified by the Romans with the Greek Poseidon. This identification dated from 399 B.C., when a Lectisternium was ordained in his honour by the Sibylline books. Like Poseidon, he was worshipped as god of the sea and of equestrian accomplishments. As such be bad a temple in the Circus Flaminius, whilst in the Circus Maximus the old Italian god Consus had an altar in a similar capacity. In after times Agrippa built a temple and portico to Neptune on the Field of Mars in honour of his naval victory over Sextus Pompeius and Antonius. A festival of Neptune (Neptunalia), accompanied by games, was celebrated on July 23rd. The old harbour god of the Romans was Portunus (q.v.). See POSEIDON.
PIOUS	18.80%
An Italian god of agriculture, and especially of manure, hence called son of Stercutus ("the dunger," i.e. Saturn). He also appears as a forest-god with prophetic powers, and as father of Faunus [Vergil, Aen. vii 48]. In Latin legend he plays a prominent part as a warlike hero, the earliest king of Latium, of great wealth, who was finally changed into a woodpecker, picus (ib. 187-190). [According to Ovid, Met. xiv 320-396] this was because he spurned the love of Circe and was faithful to the beautiful Nymph Canens. Probably Picus was originally the woodpecker, the symbol of Mars as giver of fertility and warlike prowess, and from this symbol there was developed a separate deity.
ARES	18.34%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 The Greek name for the god of war, son of Zeus by Hera, whose quarrelsome temper Homer supposes to have passed over to son so effectively that he delighted in nothing but battle and bloodshed. His insatiable thirst for blood makes him hateful to his father and all the gods, especially Athena. His favourite haunt is the land of the wild and warlike Thracians. In form and equipment the ideal of warlike heroes, who are therefore called "Ares-like" and "darlings of Ares," he advances, according to Homer, now on foot, now in a chariot drawn by magnificent steeds, attended by his equally bloodthirsty sister Eris (strife), his sons Deimos and Phobos (fear and fright), and Enyo, the goddess of battle and waster of cities (he himself being called Enyalios), rushing in blind rage through indiscriminate slaughter. Though fighting on the Trojan side, the bloodshed only is dear to his heart. But his unbridled strength and blind valour turn to his disadvantage, and always bring about his defeat in the presence of Athena, the goddess of ordered battalions; he is also beaten by heroes fighting under her leadership, as by Heracles in the contest with Cycnus, and by Diomedes before Troy. And this view of Ares as the bloodthirsty god of battles is in the main that of later times also. As early as Homer he is the friend and lover of Aphrodite, who has borne him Eros and Anteros, Deimos and Phobos, as well as Harmonia, wife of Cadmus the founder of Thebes, where both goddesses were worshipped as ancestral deities. He is not named so often as the gods of peace, but, as Ares or Enyalios, he was doubtless worshipped everywhere, notably in Sparta, in Arcadia and (as father of (Enomaus) in Elis. At Sparta young dogs were sacrified to him under the title of Theritas. At Athens the ancient site of a high court of justice, the Areopagus, was consecrated to him. There, in former days, the Olympian gods had sat in judgment on him and absolved him when he had slain Halirrhothius for offering violence to Alcippe, his daughter, by Agraulus. His symbols were the spear and the burning torch. Before the introduction of trumpets, two priests of Ares, marching in front of the armies, hurled the torch at the foe as the signal of battle. In works of art he was represented as a young and handsome man of strong sinewy frame, his hair in short curls, and a somewhat sombre look in his countenance; in the early style he is bearded and in armour, in the later beardless and with only the helmet on. He is often represented in company with Aphrodite and their boy Eros, who plays with his father's arms. One of the most famous statues extant is that in the Villa Ludovisi, which displays him in an easy resting attitude, with his arms laid aside, and Eros at his feet. (See cut.) On his identification with the Italian Mars, see MARS.