Ares

Ares, the Greek god of war, is a peripheral but telling presence in the Odyssey. He never intervenes directly in the mortal action, yet his name surfaces in three distinct registers—as a figure in the bard Demodocus's song, as a benchmark of martial fury in similes, and as a genealogical anchor for minor characters—each time reinforcing a portrait of the god as raw, impulsive force that is outmatched by cunning, restraint, and the superior power of other deities.

Identity and Mythological Background

Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera, and his Roman counterpart is Mars. In the Odyssey, his nature is established through the stories told about him rather than through any direct appearance. The most extended treatment comes in Book VIII, when the blind bard Demodocus sings of the love affair between Ares and Aphrodite, the wife of Hephaestus. The song reveals Ares as a figure driven by desire and heedless of consequence: he seduces Aphrodite in Hephaestus's own bed, only to be trapped by the cuckolded god's invisible chains. The other gods gather to laugh at the spectacle, and Hermes famously declares that he would endure three times the chains to sleep with Aphrodite. The episode casts Ares as the embodiment of undisciplined passion—physically powerful but easily outwitted, and a source of divine comedy rather than terror.

Narrative Role and Similes

In the poem's similes, Ares functions as the ultimate standard of battlefield ferocity. When Odysseus, in his own tale, describes how he "went raging like Mars" through the streets of Troy during the sack of the city, the comparison elevates his killing spree to a superhuman level. Similarly, Euryalus, the handsomest of the Phaeacian youths after Laodamas, is said to be "like Mars himself," a compliment that links physical beauty with martial potential. These similes do not develop Ares as a character but use his name as a shorthand for the most extreme form of warlike violence, a force that the poem consistently shows being channeled or overcome by intelligence.

Genealogical and Symbolic Functions

Ares also appears in the genealogical background of the poem's world. The bow that Penelope sets for the contest originally belonged to Eurytus, a mortal archer who challenged Apollo and was killed for his hubris; the bow then passed to Iphitus, who gave it to Odysseus. The story of Eurytus's death at Apollo's hands echoes the pattern of Ares's own humiliation: the god of war is consistently shown as inferior to the god of archery and craft. This hierarchy—craft over brute force—is central to the Odyssey's moral and thematic architecture. Odysseus's own bed, built around a living olive tree, is described as inlaid with gold and silver, a domestic artifact that contrasts with the weapons of war. Ares, the god of the spear and the shield, has no place in such a symbol of marital fidelity and rootedness.

Thematic Significance

Ares in the Odyssey represents a kind of power that the poem systematically devalues. He is the patron of the suitors' violence—their arrogance, their waste, their readiness to kill—and his absence from the final battle is telling. When Odysseus and Telemachus slaughter the suitors, it is Athena who intervenes, not Ares; the war-god's chaotic energy is replaced by the goddess's disciplined strategy. The song of Ares and Aphrodite, sung at the Phaeacian court, serves as a warning about the consequences of unchecked desire and the inevitable exposure of shameful acts. In a poem that celebrates endurance, disguise, and the long patience of the faithful, Ares stands for the opposite: the impulsive, the immediate, and the self-destructive.