A long-established god of Italy, Mars became one of the major Roman gods after the fall of the kings of Rome. His festivals and priesthood revolved around petitioning the deity to aid the Romans in their military campaigns.
The Origins of Mars
Along with Jupiter, Mars was one of Rome’s main gods, known and worshipped throughout Italy. According to Cicero, he was also known as Mavors from the phrase magna vertere — “the overturner of the great”.
However, there are few native Roman myths associated with Mars. He featured in the foundation legend of Rome as the legendary father of Romulus and Remus. A further myth centres on how Mars was tricked into marrying the goddess Anna Perenna. The goddess disguised herself as Minerva, with whom Mars was in love. Dumezil believes this myth could be an analogy for the reconciliation of warfare between the patricians and plebeians in Roman society, as Anna Perenna was a plebian goddess, with Mars representing the ruling faction.
These early myths of Mars became overshadowed by the mythology of the Greek god Ares whose mythology Mars adopted. Mars was, however, regarded as a god of war long before this association. He became the primary Roman war god after the expulsion of the Tarquin dynasty and the establishment of the Republic.
Mars, the God of War
Mars’s emblem of the lance or hasta emphasised his warlike role. He occupied a marginal position in the material world, hovering on the border between town and city. The Campus Martius or the Field of Mars, was where Roman military activities traditionally took place and was originally a rural periphery just outside Rome’s city limits. Appropriately, Mars’s sacred animals were creatures of the wild places where he exercised dominance: the wolf and the woodpecker.
Mar’s Festivals of Warfare
In the Roman calendar, Mars’s festivals coincided with the opening of the military campaign season in March and its close in October. The emphasis of these festivals was on the preparation for war, as was their concentration on military matters such as equestrianism, weapons, and the pomp of warfare. They included:
- The first Equirria on 27 February, a festival celebrated with horse racing.
- The Feriae Marti on 1 March, the old Roman New Year’s Day and Mars’s birthday.
- The second Equirria on 14 March.
- The Agonium Martiale on 17 March
- The Quinquatrus on 19 March (until the festival was usurped by Minerva)
- The Tubilustrium on 23 March — the festival of the military trumpets sounded in battle.
- The Equus October on the 15 October. During this festival, a horse race took place on the Campus Martius. A horse from the winning team was sacrificed to Mars with a thrust of a spear, the god’s weapon.
- The Armilustrium on the 19 October was when soldiers and their arms were purified at Mar’s temple on the Aventine to protect them over the period of winter inertia.
The Salii and Flamen Martialis
Mars had two special Roman priesthoods dedicated to attaining his favour in war, one of which was the final dedicated priesthood of the Flamen Maiores, the Flamen Martius.
In addition, the Feriae Marti, Tubilustrium, and Mars’s October festivals involved the Salii, an ancient priesthood dedicated to Mars. Dressed in archaic armour, the Salii danced in procession, beating their shields with staves and singing the Carmen Saliare to wake up the war god and elicit his help in the coming campaign season.
Resources
Price, Simon and Kearns, Emily (Eds) (2003).The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion. Oxford University Press: Oxford
Cicero (trans. Horace CP McGregor). The Nature of the Gods. Penguin Books
Dumezil, George (trans Philip Krapp) (1996). Archaic Roman Religion Vol I and II. The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore and London.
