Gods In Relation To Ares
Ares had many females in and out of his life, although the most prominent was Aphrodite, despite the fact that she was married to Ares’ brother, Hephaestus. Because of his many consorts, he also had many bastard children, the lesser deities of several different elements. More than eleven different mortal and immortal women bore children to Ares. There were Aglaulus, Aphrodite, Enyo, Cyrene, Harpina or Sterope, Otrera, Pyrene, Astyoche, Bistonis, Rhea Silvia, Eurytion, Thrax, and Melanippe. Aglaulus was attributed to three different figures in Greek mythology, and was either turned to stone by Hermes, sacrificed herself to prevent the siege of Athens, or threw herself over a cliff. She bore one child to Ares, Alcippe; also the name of a genus of birds, and is a deity with six different forms in Greek mythology, one of which was an Amazon killed by Hercules. Another, was raped by a son of Poseidon, whom was killed after the first trial on Earth by Ares.
Ares had supposedly five children with Aphrodite; two of which were Deimos, “Dread,” and Phobos, or “Fright” whom always accompanied Ares on the battlefield. The other three were Eros occasionally in some sources, Anteros, also occasionally, and Harmonia. With Enyo, he sired Enyalias whose names were both synonymous with Ares in many texts. With Cyrene, the goddess who was also supposedly a lover of Apollo and the partner in the founding of a city in Africa with her name, he sired Diomedes, the King of Thrace, also a giant and the possessor of four man eating horses. With Harpina, a type of water nymph called a naiad, he father the child Oenomaus, a man who killed thirteen different suitors of Hippodamia of Pisa because he wanted to marry her. Sterope, also sometimes thought to be the mother of Oenomaus instead, was sometimes referred to be Ares’ wife. Otrera was the Queen of the Amazons, and the mother of her and Ares’ children Penthesilea, Hippolyte, and Antiope.
Pyrene was consort to Ares as well, and bore him the children Cycnus and Biston. Cycnus was a man so murderous that he attempted to build his own temple of worship out of the skulls and bones of men he had killed. He was killed by the hero, Heracles, who put an end to his crimes, much to the spite of Ares. With Astyoche, Ares had two children Ascalaphus and Ialmenus. With Bistonia, whom little is known, he had but one child, Tereus. Even in Roman mythology, Ares had consorts, one of which was Rhea Sylvia, with whom he beget Remus and Romulus. He also had three more consorts, Eurytion, Thrax, and Melanippe, whom are believed to have children with Ares, although it is uncertain as to whom they are, or whether or not they may have been the candidates for Ares’ mother.
