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| Mars |
This weekend in Canada is Thanksgiving
Weekend.
Hard to believe harvest time is upon us.
The seasons turn so quickly, especially the warm ones.
Harvest time was an important time of year
for many ancient cultures including Greek, Roman and Celtic societies.
As a result, there are many gods and
goddesses, major and minor, who are associated with crops, agriculture and the
harvest.
I was going to write a post on Demeter
(Ceres) or Cronus (Saturn) who were both associated with agriculture.
Instead, today's written offering will go to Mars.
Yes, the Roman God of War who was second to
none other than Jupiter himself in the Roman Pantheon.
The Romans were a warlike people after all,
and so Mars always figured prominently.
Octavian (later the Emperor Augustus) vowed
to build a temple to Mars in 42 B.C. during the battle of Philippi in which he,
Mark Antony and Lepidus finally defeated the murderers of Julius Caesar. When
Augustus built his forum in 20 B.C. the Temple of Mars Ultor (the Avenger) was
the centrepiece.
"On my own ground I built the temple
of Mars Ultor and the Augustan Forum from the spoils of war." (Res
Gestae Divi Augusti)
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| Artist's representation of the Temple of Mars Ultor |
People
often think that Mars was the Roman name given to Ares, the Greek God of War,
as was the case with many other gods in Roman religion. This is not exactly
true.
In the
Greek Pantheon, Ares was simply God of War, brutal, dangerous and unforgiving.
To give oneself over to Ares was to give in to savagery and the animalistic
side of war. Fear and Terror were his companions. Most Greeks preferred Athena
as Goddess of War, Strategy and Wisdom.
Mars was
a very different god from Ares, a uniquely Roman god. He was the father of the
Roman people.
Mars was
the God of War, but also a god of agriculture. Just as he protected the Roman
people in battle, so too did Mars guard their crops, their flocks and their
lands.
War and
agriculture were closely linked in the Roman Republic. Most Romans who fought
in the early legions were farmers who had set aside their plows and scythes to
pick up their gladii and scuta when called upon to defend their
lands. One of the most cited examples of this is Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (519 BC – 430 BC), one of the early
Patrician heroes of Rome.
In his
work De Agri Cultura, Marcus
Porcius Cato (234 BC– 149 BC) speaks at length about the tradition of
the suovetaurilia, a sacrifice that was made roughly every five
years and occasionally at other times. This ceremony was a form of
purification, or lustratio.
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| Relief of a suovetaurilia being performed |
The highly sacred suovetaurilia was
dedicated to Mars with the intent of blessing and purifying lands.
It involved the sacrifice of a pig, a sheep, and a
bull – all to Mars. The sacrifice was done after the animals were led around
the land while asking the god to purify the farm and land.
Cato describes the prayer that is uttered to Mars
once the sacrifices have been made:
"Father
Mars, I pray and beseech thee that thou be gracious and merciful to me, my
house, and my household; to which intent I have bidden this suovetaurilia to be
led around my land, my ground, my farm; that thou keep away, ward off, and
remove sickness, seen and unseen, barrenness and destruction, ruin and
unseasonable influence; and that thou permit my harvests, my grain, my
vineyards, and my plantations to flourish and to come to good issue, preserve
in health my shepherds and my flocks, and give good health and strength to me,
my house, and my household. To this intent, to the intent of purifying my farm,
my land, my ground, and of making an expiation, as I have said, deign to accept
the offering of these suckling victims; Father Mars…"
(Cato the Elder; De Agri Cultura)
This is not a prayer to the bloodthirsty god of war
that Ares was.
The words and actions above evoke a wish from a
child to a supreme father and protector. We see the fears that would have
occupied the minds of the Roman people. No matter how mighty in war they may
have been, if crops failed and disease spread, they would have been lost.
Romans prayed to Ceres and Saturn for the success of
their crops, for abundance.
But it was Mars who held Rome’s enemies, and those
of its land, at bay.
In war and in peace, Mars was always the guardian of
his people.
Happy Harvest and Ave Mars!
