In ancient Roman religion and myth, Mars (Latin:
Mārs, [maːrs]) was the god of war and also
an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic
of early Rome. He was second in importance
only to Jupiter and he was the most prominent
of the military gods in the religion of the
Roman army. Most of his festivals were held
in March, the month named for him (Latin Martius),
and in October, which began the season for
military campaigning and ended the season
for farming.
Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars
was identified with the Greek god Ares, whose
myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature
and art under the name of Mars. But the character
and dignity of Mars differed in fundamental
ways from that of his Greek counterpart, who
is often treated with contempt and revulsion
in Greek literature. Mars was a part of the
Archaic Triad along with Jupiter and Quirinus,
the latter of whom, as a guardian of the Roman
people, had no Greek equivalent. Mars' altar
in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome that
took its name from him, was supposed to have
been dedicated by Numa, the peace-loving semi-legendary
second king of Rome. Although the center of
Mars' worship was originally located outside
the sacred boundary of Rome (pomerium), Augustus
made the god a renewed focus of Roman religion
by establishing the Temple of Mars Ultor in
his new forum.Although Ares was viewed primarily
as a destructive and destabilizing force,
Mars represented military power as a way to
secure peace, and was a father (pater) of
the Roman people. In the mythic genealogy
and founding myths of Rome, Mars was the father
of Romulus and Remus with Rhea Silvia. His
love affair with Venus symbolically reconciled
the two different traditions of Rome's founding;
Venus was the divine mother of the hero Aeneas,
celebrated as the Trojan refugee who "founded"
Rome several generations before Romulus laid
out the city walls.
The importance of Mars in establishing religious
and cultural identity within the Roman Empire
is indicated by the vast number of inscriptions
identifying him with a local deity, particularly
in the Western provinces.
Mars may ultimately be a reflex of the Proto-Indo-European
god Perkwunos, having originally a thunderer
character. At least etymological Etruscan
predecessors are present in Maris, though
this is not universally agreed upon.
== Birth ==
Like Ares who was the son of Zeus and Hera,
Mars is usually considered to be the son of
Jupiter and Juno. However, in a version of
his birth given by Ovid, he was the son of
Juno alone. Jupiter had usurped the mother's
function when he gave birth to Minerva directly
from his forehead (or mind); to restore the
balance, Juno sought the advice of the goddess
Flora on how to do the same. Flora obtained
a magic flower (Latin flos, plural flores,
a masculine word) and tested it on a heifer
who became fecund at once. She then plucked
a flower ritually using her thumb, touched
Juno's belly, and impregnated her. Juno withdrew
to Thrace and the shore of Marmara for the
birth.Ovid tells this story in the Fasti,
his long-form poetic work on the Roman calendar.
It may explain why the Matronalia, a festival
celebrated by married women in honor of Juno
as a goddess of childbirth, occurred on the
first day of Mars' month, which is also marked
on a calendar from late antiquity as the birthday
of Mars. In the earliest Roman calendar, March
was the first month, and the god would have
been born with the new year. Ovid is the only
source for the story. He may be presenting
a literary myth of his own invention, or an
otherwise unknown archaic Italic tradition;
either way, in choosing to include the story,
he emphasizes that Mars was connected to plant
life and was not alienated from female nurture.
== Consort ==
The consort of Mars was Nerio or Neriene,
"Valor." She represents the vital force (vis),
power (potentia) and majesty (maiestas) of
Mars. Her name was regarded as Sabine in origin
and is equivalent to Latin virtus, "manly
virtue" (from vir, "man"). In the early 3rd
century BC, the comic playwright Plautus has
a reference to Mars greeting Nerio, his wife.
A source from late antiquity says that Mars
and Neriene were celebrated together at a
festival held on March 23. In the later Roman
Empire, Neriene came to be identified with
Minerva.Nerio probably originates as a divine
personification of Mars' power, as such abstractions
in Latin are generally feminine. Her name
appears with that of Mars in an archaic prayer
invoking a series of abstract qualities, each
paired with the name of a deity. The influence
of Greek mythology and its anthropomorphic
gods may have caused Roman writers to treat
these pairs as "marriages."
=== Venus and Mars ===
The union of Venus and Mars held greater appeal
for poets and philosophers, and the couple
were a frequent subject of art. In Greek myth,
the adultery of Ares and Aphrodite had been
exposed to ridicule when her husband Hephaestus
(whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan) caught
them in the act by means of a magical snare.
Although not originally part of the Roman
tradition, in 217 BC Venus and Mars were presented
as a complementary pair in the lectisternium,
a public banquet at which images of twelve
major gods of the Roman state were presented
on couches as if present and participating.Scenes
of Venus and Mars in Roman art often ignore
the adulterous implications of their union,
and take pleasure in the good-looking couple
attended by Cupid or multiple Loves (amores).
Some scenes may imply marriage, and the relationship
was romanticized in funerary or domestic art
in which husbands and wives had themselves
portrayed as the passionate divine couple.The
uniting of deities representing Love and War
lent itself to allegory, especially since
the lovers were the parents of Concordia.
The Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino
notes that "only Venus dominates Mars, and
he never dominates her". In ancient Roman
and Renaissance art, Mars is often shown disarmed
and relaxed, or even sleeping, but the extramarital
nature of their affair can also suggest that
this peace is impermanent.
== Essential nature ==
Virility as a kind of life force (vis) or
virtue (virtus) is an essential characteristic
of Mars. As an agricultural guardian, he directs
his energies toward creating conditions that
allow crops to grow, which may include warding
off hostile forces of nature. As an embodiment
of masculine aggression, he is the force that
drives wars – but ideally, war that delivers
a secure peace.The priesthood of the Arval
Brothers called on Mars to drive off "rust"
(lues), with its double meaning of wheat fungus
and the red oxides that affect metal, a threat
to both iron farm implements and weaponry.
In the surviving text of their hymn, the Arval
Brothers invoked Mars as ferus, "savage" or
"feral" like a wild animal.Mars' potential
for savagery is expressed in his obscure connections
to the wild woodlands, and he may even have
originated as a god of the wild, beyond the
boundaries set by humans, and thus a force
to be propitiated. In his book on farming,
Cato invokes Mars Silvanus for a ritual to
be carried out in silva, in the woods, an
uncultivated place that if not held within
bounds can threaten to overtake the fields
needed for crops. Mars' character as an agricultural
god may derive solely from his role as a defender
and protector, or may be inseparable from
his warrior nature, as the leaping of his
armed priests the Salii was meant to quicken
the growth of crops.It appears that Mars was
originally a thunderer or storm deity, which
explains some of his mixed traits in regards
to fertility. This role was later taken in
the Roman pantheon by several other gods,
such as Summanus or Jupiter.
== Sacred animals ==
The wild animals most sacred to Mars were
the woodpecker, the wolf, and the bear, which
in the natural lore of the Romans were said
always to inhabit the same foothills and woodlands.Plutarch
notes that the woodpecker (picus) is sacred
to Mars because "it is a courageous and spirited
bird and has a beak so strong that it can
overturn oaks by pecking them until it has
reached the inmost part of the tree." As the
beak of the picus Martius contained the god's
power to ward off harm, it was carried as
a magic charm to prevent bee stings and leech
bites. The bird of Mars also guarded a woodland
herb (paeonia) used for treatment of the digestive
or female reproductive systems; those who
sought to harvest it were advised to do so
by night, lest the woodpecker jab out their
eyes. The picus Martius seems to have been
a particular species, but authorities differ
on which one: perhaps Picus viridis or Dryocopus
martius.The woodpecker was revered by the
Latin peoples, who abstained from eating its
flesh. It was one of the most important birds
in Roman and Italic augury, the practice of
reading the will of the gods through watching
the sky for signs. The mythological figure
named Picus had powers of augury that he retained
when he was transformed into a woodpecker;
in one tradition, Picus was the son of Mars.
The Umbrian cognate peiqu also means "woodpecker,"
and the Italic Picenes were supposed to have
derived their name from the picus who served
as their guide animal during a ritual migration
(ver sacrum) undertaken as a rite of Mars.
In the territory of the Aequi, another Italic
people, Mars had an oracle of great antiquity
where the prophecies were supposed to be spoken
by a woodpecker perched on a wooden column.Mars'
association with the wolf is familiar from
what may be the most famous of Roman myths,
the story of how a she-wolf (lupa) suckled
his infant sons when they were exposed by
order of King Amulius, who feared them because
he had usurped the throne from their grandfather,
Numitor. The woodpecker also brought nourishment
to the twins.The wolf appears elsewhere in
Roman art and literature in masculine form
as the animal of Mars. A statue group that
stood along the Appian Way showed Mars in
the company of wolves. At the Battle of Sentinum
in 295 BC, the appearance of the wolf of Mars
(Martius lupus) was a sign that Roman victory
was to come.In Roman Gaul, the goose was associated
with the Celtic forms of Mars, and archaeologists
have found geese buried alongside warriors
in graves. The goose was considered a bellicose
animal because it is easily provoked to aggression.
=== Sacrificial animals ===
Ancient Greek and Roman religion distinguished
between animals that were sacred to a deity
and those that were prescribed as the correct
sacrificial offerings for the god. Wild animals
might be viewed as already belonging to the
god to whom they were sacred, or at least
not owned by human beings and therefore not
theirs to give. Since sacrificial meat was
eaten at a banquet after the gods received
their portion – mainly the entrails (exta)
– it follows that the animals sacrificed
were most often, though not always, domestic
animals normally part of the Roman diet. Gods
often received castrated male animals as sacrifices,
and the goddesses female victims; Mars, however,
regularly received intact males. Mars did
receive oxen under a few of his cult titles,
such as Mars Grabovius, but the usual offering
was the bull, singly, in multiples, or in
combination with other animals.The two most
distinctive animal sacrifices made to Mars
were the suovetaurilia, a triple offering
of a pig (sus), ram (ovis) and bull (taurus),
and the October Horse, the only horse sacrifice
known to have been carried out in ancient
Rome and a rare instance of a victim the Romans
considered inedible.
== Temples and topography in Rome ==
The earliest center in Rome for cultivating
Mars as a deity was the Altar of Mars (Ara
Martis) in the Campus Martius ("Field of Mars")
outside the sacred boundary of Rome (pomerium).
The Romans thought that this altar had been
established by the semi-legendary Numa Pompilius,
the peace-loving successor of Romulus. According
to Roman tradition, the Campus Martius had
been consecrated to Mars by their ancestors
to serve as horse pasturage and an equestrian
training ground for youths. During the Roman
Republic (509–27 BC), the Campus was a largely
open expanse. No temple was built at the altar,
but from 193 BC a covered walkway connected
it to the Porta Fontinalis, near the office
and archives of the Roman censors. Newly elected
censors placed their curule chairs by the
altar, and when they had finished conducting
the census, the citizens were collectively
purified with a suovetaurilia there. A frieze
from the so-called "Altar" of Domitius Ahenobarbus
is thought to depict the census, and may show
Mars himself standing by the altar as the
procession of victims advances.
The main Temple of Mars (Aedes Martis) in
the Republican period also lay outside the
sacred boundary and was devoted to the god's
warrior aspect. It was built to fulfill a
vow (votum) made by a Titus Quinctius in 388
BC during the Gallic siege of Rome. The founding
day (dies natalis) was commemorated on June
1, and the temple is attested by several inscriptions
and literary sources. The sculpture group
of Mars and the wolves was displayed there.
Soldiers sometimes assembled at the temple
before heading off to war, and it was the
point of departure for a major parade of Roman
cavalry held annually on July 15.A temple
to Mars in the Circus Flaminius was built
around 133 BC, funded by Decimus Junius Brutus
Callaicus from war booty. It housed a colossal
statue of Mars and a nude Venus.The Campus
Martius continued to provide venues for equestrian
events such as chariot racing during the Imperial
period, but under the first emperor Augustus
it underwent a major program of urban renewal,
marked by monumental architecture. The Altar
of Augustan Peace (Ara Pacis Augustae) was
located there, as was the Obelisk of Montecitorio,
imported from Egypt to form the pointer (gnomon)
of the Solarium Augusti, a giant sundial.
With its public gardens, the Campus became
one of the most attractive places in the city
to visit.Augustus chose the Campus Martius
as the site of his new Temple to Mars Ultor,
a manifestation of Mars he cultivated as the
avenger (ultor) of the murder of Julius Caesar
and of the military disaster suffered at the
Battle of Carrhae. When the legionary standards
lost to the Parthians were recovered, they
were housed in the new temple. The date of
the temple's dedication on May 12 was aligned
with the heliacal setting of the constellation
Scorpio, the sign of war. The date continued
to be marked with circus games as late as
the mid-4th century AD.A large statue of Mars
was part of the short-lived Arch of Nero,
which was built in 62 AD but dismantled after
Nero's suicide and disgrace (damnatio memoriae).
== Iconography and Symbol ==
In Roman art, Mars is depicted as either bearded
and mature, or young and clean-shaven. Even
nude or seminude, he often wears a helmet
or carries a spear as emblems of his warrior
nature. Mars was among the deities to appear
on the earliest Roman coinage in the late
4th and early 3rd century BC.On the Altar
of Peace (Ara Pacis), built in the last years
of the 1st century BC, Mars is a mature man
with a "handsome, classicizing" face, and
a short curly beard and moustache. His helmet
is a plumed neo-Attic-type. He wears a military
cloak (paludamentum) and a cuirass ornamented
with a gorgoneion. Although the relief is
somewhat damaged at this spot, he appears
to hold a spear garlanded in laurel, symbolizing
a peace that is won by military victory. The
1st-century statue of Mars found in the Forum
of Nerva (pictured at top) is similar. In
this guise, Mars is presented as the dignified
ancestor of the Roman people. The panel of
the Ara Pacis on which he appears would have
faced the Campus Martius, reminding viewers
that Mars was the god whose altar Numa established
there, that is, the god of Rome's oldest civic
and military institutions.Particularly in
works of art influenced by the Greek tradition,
Mars may be portrayed in a manner that resembles
Ares, youthful, beardless, and often nude.
In the Renaissance, Mars' nudity was thought
to represent his lack of fear in facing danger.
=== The spear of Mars ===
The spear is the instrument of Mars in the
same way that Jupiter wields the lightning
bolt, Neptune the trident, and Saturn the
scythe or sickle. A relic or fetish called
the spear of Mars was kept in a sacrarium
at the Regia, the former residence of the
Kings of Rome. The spear was said to move,
tremble or vibrate at impending war or other
danger to the state, as was reported to occur
before the assassination of Julius Caesar.
When Mars is pictured as a peace-bringer,
his spear is wreathed with laurel or other
vegetation, as on the Ara Pacis or a coin
of Aemilianus.
== Priesthoods ==
The high priest of Mars in Roman public religion
was the Flamen Martialis, who was one of the
three major priests in the fifteen-member
college of flamens. Mars was also served by
the Salii, a twelve-member priesthood of patrician
youths who dressed as archaic warriors and
danced in procession around the city in March.
Both priesthoods extend to the earliest periods
of Roman history, and patrician birth was
required.
== Festivals and rituals ==
The festivals of Mars cluster in his namesake
month of March (Latin: Martius), with a few
observances in October, the beginning and
end of the season for military campaigning
and agriculture. Festivals with horse racing
took place in the Campus Martius. Some festivals
in March retained characteristics of new year
festivals, since Martius was originally the
first month of the Roman calendar.
February 27: Equirria, involving chariot or
horse races;
March 1: Mars' dies natalis ("birthday"),
a feria also sacred to his mother Juno;
March 14: a second Equirria, again with chariot
races;
March 14 or 15: Mamuralia, a new year festival
when a figure called Mamurius Veturius (perhaps
the "old Mars" of the old year) is driven
out;
March 17: an Agonalia or Agonium Martiale,
an obscure type of observance held at other
times for various deities;
March 23: Tubilustrium, a purification of
the deploying army March 23;
October 15: the ritual of the October Horse,
with a chariot race and Rome's only known
horse sacrifice;
October 19: Armilustrium ("purification of
arms").Mars was also honored by chariot races
at the Robigalia and Consualia, though these
festivals are not primarily dedicated to him.
From 217 BC onward, Mars was among the gods
honored at the lectisternium, a banquet given
for deities who were present as images.Roman
hymns (carmina) are rarely preserved, but
Mars is invoked in two. The Arval Brothers,
or "Brothers of the Fields," chanted a hymn
to Mars while performing their three-step
dance. The Carmen Saliare was sung by Mars'
priests the Salii while they moved twelve
sacred shields (ancilia) throughout the city
in a procession. In the 1st century AD, Quintilian
remarks that the language of the Salian hymn
was so archaic that it was no longer fully
understood.
== Name and cult epithets ==
The word Mārs (genitive Mārtis), which in
Old Latin and poetic usage also appears as
Māvors (Māvortis), is cognate with Oscan
Māmers (Māmertos). The Old Latin form was
believed to derive from an Italic *Māworts,
but can also be explained as deriving from
Maris, the name of an Etruscan child-god;
scholars have varying views on whether the
two gods are related, and if so how. Latin
adjectives from the name of Mars are martius
and martialis, from which derive English "martial"
(as in "martial arts" or "martial law") and
personal names such as "Martin".Mars also
gave his name to the third month in the Roman
calendar, Martius, from which English "March"
derives. In the most ancient Roman calendar,
Martius was the first month. The planet Mars
was named for him, and in some allegorical
and philosophical writings, the planet and
the god are endowed with shared characteristics.
In many languages, Tuesday is named for the
planet Mars or the god of war: In Latin, martis
dies ("Mars's Day"), survived in Romance languages
as martes (Spanish), mardi (French), martedi
(Italian), marţi (Romanian), and dimarts
(Catalan). In Irish (Gaelic), the day is An
Mháirt, while in Albanian it is e Marta.
The English word Tuesday derives from Old
English "Tiwesdæg" and means "Tiw's Day",
Tiw being the Old English form of the Proto-Germanic
war god *Tîwaz, or Týr in Norse.
=== In Roman religion ===
In Classical Roman religion, Mars was invoked
under several titles, and the first Roman
emperor Augustus thoroughly integrated Mars
into Imperial cult. The 4th-century Latin
historian Ammianus Marcellinus treats Mars
as one of several classical Roman deities
who remained "cultic realities" up to his
own time. Mars, and specifically Mars Ultor,
was among the gods who received sacrifices
from Julian, the only emperor to reject Christianity
after the conversion of Constantine I. In
363 AD, in preparation for the Siege of Ctesiphon,
Julian sacrificed ten "very fine" bulls to
Mars Ultor. The tenth bull violated ritual
protocol by attempting to break free, and
when killed and examined, produced ill omens,
among the many that were read at the end of
Julian's reign. As represented by Ammianus,
Julian swore never to make sacrifice to Mars
again—a vow kept with his death a month
later.
==== Mars Gradivus ====
Gradivus was one of the gods by whom a general
or soldiers might swear an oath to be valorous
in battle. His temple outside the Porta Capena
was where armies gathered. The archaic priesthood
of Mars Gradivus was the Salii, the "leaping
priests" who danced ritually in armor as a
prelude to war. His cult title is most often
taken to mean "the Strider" or "the Marching
God," from gradus, "step, march."The poet
Statius addresses him as "the most implacable
of the gods," but Valerius Maximus concludes
his history by invoking Mars Gradivus as "author
and support of the name 'Roman'": Gradivus
is asked – along with Capitoline Jupiter
and Vesta, as the keeper of Rome's perpetual
flame – to "guard, preserve, and protect"
the state of Rome, the peace, and the princeps
(the emperor Tiberius at the time).A source
from Late Antiquity says that the wife of
Gradivus was Nereia, the daughter of Nereus,
and that he loved her passionately.
==== Mars Quirinus ====
Mars Quirinus was the protector of the Quirites
("citizens" or "civilians") as divided into
curiae (citizen assemblies), whose oaths were
required to make a treaty. As a guarantor
of treaties, Mars Quirinus is thus a god of
peace: "When he rampages, Mars is called Gradivus,
but when he's at peace Quirinus."The deified
Romulus was identified with Mars Quirinus.
In the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Mars,
and Quirinus, however, Mars and Quirinus were
two separate deities, though not perhaps in
origin. Each of the three had his own flamen
(specialized priest), but the functions of
the Flamen Martialis and Flamen Quirinalis
are hard to distinguish.
==== Mars Grabovius ====
Mars is invoked as Grabovius in the Iguvine
Tablets, bronze tablets written in Umbrian
that record ritual protocols for carrying
out public ceremonies on behalf of the city
and community of Iguvium. The same title is
given to Jupiter and to the Umbrian deity
Vofionus. This triad has been compared to
the Archaic Triad, with Vofionus equivalent
to Quirinus. Tables I and VI describe a complex
ritual that took place at the three gates
of the city. After the auspices were taken,
two groups of three victims were sacrificed
at each gate. Mars Grabovius received three
oxen.
==== Mars Pater ====
"Father Mars" or "Mars the Father" is the
form in which the god is invoked in the agricultural
prayer of Cato, and he appears with this title
in several other literary texts and inscriptions.
Mars Pater is among the several gods invoked
in the ritual of devotio, by means of which
a general sacrificed himself and the lives
of the enemy to secure a Roman victory.Father
Mars is the regular recipient of the suovetaurilia,
the sacrifice of a pig (sus), ram (ovis) and
bull (taurus), or often a bull alone. To Mars
Pater other epithets were sometimes appended,
such as Mars Pater Victor ("Father Mars the
Victorious"), to whom the Roman army sacrificed
a bull on March 1.Although pater and mater
were fairly common as honorifics for a deity,
any special claim for Mars as father of the
Roman people lies in the mythic genealogy
that makes him the divine father of Romulus
and Remus.
==== Mars Silvanus ====
In the section of his farming book that offers
recipes and medical preparations, Cato describes
a votum to promote the health of cattle:
Make an offering to Mars Silvanus in the forest
(in silva) during the daytime for each head
of cattle: 3 pounds of meal, 4½ pounds of
bacon, 4½ pounds of meat, and 3 pints of
wine. You may place the viands in one vessel,
and the wine likewise in one vessel. Either
a slave or a free man may make this offering.
After the ceremony is over, consume the offering
on the spot at once. A woman may not take
part in this offering or see how it is performed.
You may vow the vow every year if you wish.
That Mars Silvanus is a single entity has
been doubted. Invocations of deities are often
list-like, without connecting words, and the
phrase should perhaps be understood as "Mars
and Silvanus". Women were explicitly excluded
from some cult practices of Silvanus, but
not necessarily of Mars. William Warde Fowler,
however, thought that the wild god of the
wood Silvanus may have been "an emanation
or offshoot" of Mars.
==== Mars Ultor ====
Augustus created the cult of "Mars the Avenger"
to mark two occasions: his defeat of the assassins
of Caesar at Philippi in 42 BC, and the negotiated
return of the Roman battle standards that
had been lost to the Parthians at the Battle
of Carrhae in 53 BC. The god is depicted wearing
a cuirass and helmet and standing in a "martial
pose," leaning on a lance he holds in his
right hand. He holds a shield in his left
hand. The goddess Ultio, a divine personification
of vengeance, had an altar and golden statue
in his temple.The Temple of Mars Ultor, dedicated
in 2 BC in the center of the Forum of Augustus,
gave the god a new place of honor. Some rituals
previously conducted within the cult of Capitoline
Jupiter were transferred to the new temple,
which became the point of departure for magistrates
as they left for military campaigns abroad.
Augustus required the Senate to meet at the
temple when deliberating questions of war
and peace. The temple also became the site
at which sacrifice was made to conclude the
rite of passage of young men assuming the
toga virilis ("man's toga") around age 14.On
various Imperial holidays, Mars Ultor was
the first god to receive a sacrifice, followed
by the Genius of the emperor. An inscription
from the 2nd century records a vow to offer
Mars Ultor a bull with gilded horns.
==== Mars Augustus ====
Augustus or Augusta was appended far and wide,
"on monuments great and small," to the name
of gods or goddesses, including Mars. The
honorific marks the affiliation of a deity
with Imperial cult. In Hispania, many of the
statues and dedications to Mars Augustus were
presented by members of the priesthood or
sodality called the Sodales Augustales. These
vows (vota) were usually fulfilled within
a sanctuary of Imperial cult, or in a temple
or precinct (templum) consecrated specifically
to Mars. As with other deities invoked as
Augustus, altars to Mars Augustus might be
set up to further the well-being (salus) of
the emperor, but some inscriptions suggest
personal devotion. An inscription in the Alps
records the gratitude of a slave who dedicated
a statue to Mars Augustus as conservator corporis
sui, the preserver of his own body, said to
have been vowed ex iussu numinis ipsius, "by
the order of the numen himself".Mars Augustus
appears in inscriptions at sites throughout
the Empire, such as Hispania Baetica, Saguntum,
and Emerita (Lusitania) in Roman Spain; Leptis
Magna (with a date of 6–7 AD) in present-day
Libya; and Sarmizegetusa in the province of
Dacia.
=== Provincial epithets ===
In addition to his cult titles at Rome, Mars
appears in a large number of inscriptions
in the provinces of the Roman Empire, and
more rarely in literary texts, identified
with a local deity by means of an epithet.
Mars appears with great frequency in Gaul
among the Continental Celts, as well as in
Roman Spain and Britain. In Celtic settings,
he is often invoked as a healer. The inscriptions
indicate that Mars' ability to dispel the
enemy on the battlefield was transferred to
the sick person's struggle against illness;
healing is expressed in terms of warding off
and rescue.
==== Celtic Mars ====
Mars is identified with a number of Celtic
deities, some of whom are not attested independently.
Mars Alator is attested in Roman Britain by
an inscription found on an altar at South
Shields, and a silver-gilt votive plaque that
was part of the Barkway hoard from Hertfordshire.
Alator has been interpreted variously as "Huntsman"
or "Cherisher".
Mars Albiorix appears in an inscription from
modern-day Sablet, in the province of Gallia
Narbonensis. Albiorix probably means "King
of the Land" or "King of the World", with
the first element related to the geographical
name Albion and Middle Welsh elfydd, "world,
land".
Mars Barrex is attested by a single dedicatory
inscription found at Carlisle, England. Barrex
or Barrecis probably means "Supreme One" (Gaulish
barro-, "head").
Mars Belatucadrus is named in five inscriptions
in the area of Hadrian's Wall. The Celtic
god Belatucadros, with various spellings,
is attested independently in twenty additional
inscriptions in northern England.
Mars Braciaca appears in a single votive inscription
at Bakewell, Derbyshire. The Celtic epithet
may refer to malt or beer, though intoxication
in Greco-Roman religion is associated with
Dionysus. A reference in Pliny suggests a
connection to Mars' agricultural function,
with the Gaulish word bracis referring to
a type of wheat; a medieval Latin gloss says
it was used to make beer.
Mars Camulus is found in five inscriptions
scattered over a fairly wide geographical
area. The Celtic god Camulus appears independently
in one votive inscription from Rome.
Mars Cocidius is found in five inscriptions
from northern England. About twenty dedications
in all are known for the Celtic god Cocidius,
mainly made by Roman military personnel, and
confined to northwest Cumbria and along Hadrian's
Wall. He is once identified with Silvanus.
He is depicted on two votive plaques as a
warrior bearing shield and spear, and on an
altar as a huntsman accompanied by a dog and
stag.
Mars Condatis occurs in three inscriptions
from Roman Britain. The cult title is probably
related to the place name Condate, often used
in Gaul for settlements at the confluence
of rivers. The Celtic god Condatis is thought
to have functions pertaining to water and
healing.
Mars Corotiacus is an equestrian Mars attested
only on a votive from Martlesham in Suffolk.
A bronze statuette depicts him as a cavalryman,
armed and riding a horse which tramples a
prostrate enemy beneath its hooves.
Mars Lenus, or more often Lenus Mars, had
a major healing cult at the capital of the
Treveri (present-day Trier). Among the votives
are images of children offering doves. His
consort Ancamna is also found with the Celtic
god Smertrios.
Mars Loucetius. The Celtic god Loucetios,
Latinized as -ius, appears in nine inscriptions
in present-day Germany and France and one
in Britain, and in three as Leucetius. The
Gaulish and Brythonic theonyms likely derive
from Proto-Celtic *louk(k)et-, "bright, shining,
flashing," hence also "lightning," alluding
to either a Celtic commonplace metaphor between
battles and thunderstorms (Old Irish torannchless,
the "thunder feat"), or the aura of a divinized
hero (the lúan of Cú Chulainn). The name
is given as an epithet of Mars. The consort
of Mars Loucetius is Nemetona, whose name
may be understood as pertaining either to
"sacred privilege" or to the sacred grove
(nemeton), and who is also identified with
the goddess Victoria. At the Romano-British
site in Bath, a dedication to Mars Loucetius
as part of this divine couple was made by
a pilgrim who had come from the continental
Treveri of Gallia Belgica to seek healing.
Mars Medocius Campesium appears on a bronze
plaque at a Romano-Celtic temple at Camulodunum
(modern Colchester; see Mars Camulus above).
The dedication was made between 222 and 235
AD by a self-identified Caledonian, jointly
honoring Mars and the Victoria (Victory) of
Severus Alexander. A Celto-Latin name Medocius
or Medocus is known, and a link between Mars'
epithet and the Irish legendary surgeon Miodhach
has been conjectured. Campesium may be an
error for Campestrium, "of the Campestres",
the divinities who oversaw the parade ground,
or "of the Compeses" may refer to a local
place name or ethnonym.
Mars Mullo is invoked in two Armorican inscriptions
pertaining to Imperial cult. The name of the
Celtic god Mullo, which appears in a few additional
inscriptions, has been analyzed variously
as "mule" and "hill, heap".
Mars Neton or Neto was a Celtiberian god at
Acci (modern Guadix). According to Macrobius,
he wore a radiant crown like a sun god, because
the passion to act with valor was a kind of
heat. He may be connected to Irish Neit.
Mars Nodens has a possible connection to the
Irish mythological figure Nuada Airgetlám.
The Celtic god Nodens was also interpreted
as equivalent to several other Roman gods,
including Mercury and Neptune. The name may
have meant "catcher", hence a fisher or hunter.
Mars Ocelus had an altar dedicated by a junior
army officer at Caerwent, and possibly a temple.
He may be a local counterpart to Lenus.
Mars Olloudius was depicted in a relief from
Roman Britain without armor, in the guise
of a Genius carrying a double cornucopia and
holding a libation bowl (patera). Olloudius
is found also at Ollioules in southern Gaul.
Mars Rigisamus is found in two inscriptions,
the earliest most likely the one at Avaricum
(present-day Bourges, France) in the territory
of the Bituriges. At the site of a villa at
West Coker, Somerset, he received a bronze
plaque votum. The Gaulish element rig- (very
common at the end of names as -rix), found
in later Celtic languages as rí, is cognate
with Latin rex, "king" or more precisely "ruler".
Rigisamos is "supreme ruler" or "king of kings".
Mars Rigonemetis ("King of the Sacred Grove").
A dedication to Rigonemetis and the numen
(spirit) of the Emperor inscribed on a stone
was discovered at Nettleham (Lincolnshire)
in 1961. Rigonemetis is only known from this
site, and it seems he may have been a god
belonging to the tribe of the Corieltauvi.
Mars Segomo. "Mars the Victorious" appears
among the Celtic Sequani.
Mars Smertrius. At a site within the territory
of the Treveri, Ancamna was the consort of
Mars Smertrius.
Mars Teutates. A fusion of Mars with the Celtic
god Teutates (Toutatis).
Mars Thincsus. A form of Mars invoked at Housesteads
Roman Fort at Hadrian's Wall, where his name
is linked with two goddesses called the Alaisiagae.
Anne Ross associated Thincsus with a sculpture,
also from the fort, which shows a god flanked
by goddesses and accompanied by a goose – a
frequent companion of war gods.
Mars Visucius. A fusion of Mars with the Celtic
god Visucius.
Mars Vorocius. A Celtic healer-god invoked
at the curative spring shrine at Vichy (Allier)
as a curer of eye afflictions. On images,
the god is depicted as a Celtic warrior.
==== "Mars Balearicus" ====
"Mars Balearicus" is a name used in modern
scholarship for small bronze warrior figures
from Majorca (one of the Balearic Islands)
that are interpreted as representing the local
Mars cult. These statuettes have been found
within talayotic sanctuaries with extensive
evidence of burnt offerings. "Mars" is fashioned
as a lean, athletic nude lifting a lance and
wearing a helmet, often conical; the genitals
are perhaps semi-erect in some examples.
Other bronzes at the sites represent the heads
or horns of bulls, but the bones in the ash
layers indicate that sheep, goats, and pigs
were the sacrificial victims. Bronze horse-hooves
were found in one sanctuary. Another site
held an imported statue of Imhotep, the legendary
Egyptian physician. These sacred precincts
were still in active use when the Roman occupation
began in 123 BC. They seem to have been astronomically
oriented toward the rising or setting of the
constellation Centaurus.
== See also ==
Cariocecus, an Iberian war god syncretised
with Mars
Mars, the planet
Nergal, the Babylonian god associated with
the planet Mars in astral theology
Týr, the Norse god of war
