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Like most Greek deities, Ares was given animal sacrifice; in Sparta, after battle, he was given an ox for a victory by stratagem, or a rooster for victory through onslaught.<ref>Hughes, Dennis D., ''Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 1991, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003, p. 128, {{ISBN|0-203-03283-7}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Hughes is citing Plutarch, ''Instituta Laconica'' (trans. Babbit) Loeb, 1931, 25, 238F; "Whenever they overcome their enemies by out-generaling them, they sacrifice a bull to Ares, but when the victory is gained in open conflict, they offer a cock, thus trying to make their leaders habitually not merely fighters but tacticians as well". In ''The Life of Agesilaus'', 33.4: Plutarch claims that the Spartans thought victory was such ordinary work for them, they only sacrificed a rooster in recognition.}} The usual recipient of sacrifice before battle was Athena. Reports of historic human sacrifice to Ares in an obscure rite known as the ''Hekatomphonia'' represent a very long-standing error, repeated through several centuries and well into the modern era.{{refn|group=n|Among others, it has been repeated by ancient sources including [[Apollonius of Athens]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], [[Plutarch]], [[Clement of Alexandria]] and by many modern historians; see Hughes, "Human Sacrifice", 1991, pp.119-122 & notes 145, 146.}} The ''hekatomphonia'' was an animal sacrifice to Zeus; it could be offered by any warrior who had personally slain one hundred of the enemy.{{refn|group=n|In the [[Protrepticus (Clement)|Protrepticus]], Clement of Alexandria writes: "Indeed, [[Aristomenes|Aristomenes the Messenian]] sacrificed 300 men to Zeus of [[Ithome]]...[including] [[Theopompus]] the [[Lacedaemonian]] (Spartan) king, a noble victim." The rite was supposedly performed three times by Aristomenes: Plutarch did not find it credible that one man could have slaughtered three hundred. The Spartans claimed that Theopompus had only been wounded}}<ref>Hughes, "Human Sacrifice", 1991, pp.119-122 & notes 145, 146 for a clear account of the error, and how and why it might have been perpetuated</ref><ref>Faraone, Christopher A. "Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of 'Voodoo Dolls' in Ancient Greece." ''Classical Antiquity'', vol. 10, no. 2, 1991, pp. 165–220. {{JSTOR|25010949}}. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021</ref> Pausanias reports that in Sparta, each company of youths sacrificed a puppy to Enyalios before engaging in a hand-to-hand "fight without rules" at the Phoebaeum.{{refn|group=n|"Here each company of youths sacrifices a puppy to Enyalius, holding that the most valiant of tame animals is an acceptable victim to the most valiant of the gods. I know of no other Greeks who are accustomed to sacrifice puppies except the people of [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]]; these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to the Wayside Goddess ([[Hecate]])".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.14.10 3.14.10].</ref>}}<ref>Graf, F. "Women, War, and Warlike Divinities." ''Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik'', vol. 55, 1984, p. 252. {{JSTOR|20184039}}. Accessed 13 Aug. 2021.</ref> The [[chthonic]] night-time sacrifice of a dog to Enyalios became assimilated to the cult of Ares.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/9344|title=Ares|date=2007-10-10|website=academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/9344|publisher=Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2017-01-16}}</ref> [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] claims, without detail, that Apollodorus of Athens (circa second century BC) says the [[Sparta]]ns made human sacrifices to Ares, but this may be a reference to mythic pre-history.<ref>Hughes, Dennis D., ''Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 1991, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003, p. 128, {{ISBN|0-203-03283-7}}. Hughes is citing Apollodorus of Athens, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historike, 244 F 125. English translation of Porphyry is in {{cite book |last1=Porphyry |title=[[On Abstinence from Eating Animals|On Abstinence from Killing Animals]] |page=[https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/porphyry_abstinence_02_book2.htm II.55]}}</ref> | Like most Greek deities, Ares was given animal sacrifice; in Sparta, after battle, he was given an ox for a victory by stratagem, or a rooster for victory through onslaught.<ref>Hughes, Dennis D., ''Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 1991, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003, p. 128, {{ISBN|0-203-03283-7}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Hughes is citing Plutarch, ''Instituta Laconica'' (trans. Babbit) Loeb, 1931, 25, 238F; "Whenever they overcome their enemies by out-generaling them, they sacrifice a bull to Ares, but when the victory is gained in open conflict, they offer a cock, thus trying to make their leaders habitually not merely fighters but tacticians as well". In ''The Life of Agesilaus'', 33.4: Plutarch claims that the Spartans thought victory was such ordinary work for them, they only sacrificed a rooster in recognition.}} The usual recipient of sacrifice before battle was Athena. Reports of historic human sacrifice to Ares in an obscure rite known as the ''Hekatomphonia'' represent a very long-standing error, repeated through several centuries and well into the modern era.{{refn|group=n|Among others, it has been repeated by ancient sources including [[Apollonius of Athens]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], [[Plutarch]], [[Clement of Alexandria]] and by many modern historians; see Hughes, "Human Sacrifice", 1991, pp.119-122 & notes 145, 146.}} The ''hekatomphonia'' was an animal sacrifice to Zeus; it could be offered by any warrior who had personally slain one hundred of the enemy.{{refn|group=n|In the [[Protrepticus (Clement)|Protrepticus]], Clement of Alexandria writes: "Indeed, [[Aristomenes|Aristomenes the Messenian]] sacrificed 300 men to Zeus of [[Ithome]]...[including] [[Theopompus]] the [[Lacedaemonian]] (Spartan) king, a noble victim." The rite was supposedly performed three times by Aristomenes: Plutarch did not find it credible that one man could have slaughtered three hundred. The Spartans claimed that Theopompus had only been wounded}}<ref>Hughes, "Human Sacrifice", 1991, pp.119-122 & notes 145, 146 for a clear account of the error, and how and why it might have been perpetuated</ref><ref>Faraone, Christopher A. "Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of 'Voodoo Dolls' in Ancient Greece." ''Classical Antiquity'', vol. 10, no. 2, 1991, pp. 165–220. {{JSTOR|25010949}}. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021</ref> Pausanias reports that in Sparta, each company of youths sacrificed a puppy to Enyalios before engaging in a hand-to-hand "fight without rules" at the Phoebaeum.{{refn|group=n|"Here each company of youths sacrifices a puppy to Enyalius, holding that the most valiant of tame animals is an acceptable victim to the most valiant of the gods. I know of no other Greeks who are accustomed to sacrifice puppies except the people of [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]]; these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to the Wayside Goddess ([[Hecate]])".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.14.10 3.14.10].</ref>}}<ref>Graf, F. "Women, War, and Warlike Divinities." ''Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik'', vol. 55, 1984, p. 252. {{JSTOR|20184039}}. Accessed 13 Aug. 2021.</ref> The [[chthonic]] night-time sacrifice of a dog to Enyalios became assimilated to the cult of Ares.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/9344|title=Ares|date=2007-10-10|website=academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/9344|publisher=Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2017-01-16}}</ref> [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] claims, without detail, that Apollodorus of Athens (circa second century BC) says the [[Sparta]]ns made human sacrifices to Ares, but this may be a reference to mythic pre-history.<ref>Hughes, Dennis D., ''Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 1991, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003, p. 128, {{ISBN|0-203-03283-7}}. Hughes is citing Apollodorus of Athens, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historike, 244 F 125. English translation of Porphyry is in {{cite book |last1=Porphyry |title=[[On Abstinence from Eating Animals|On Abstinence from Killing Animals]] |page=[https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/porphyry_abstinence_02_book2.htm II.55]}}</ref> | ||
===Thrace and Scythia=== | |||
A Thracian god identified by [[Herodotus]] ({{circa|484}} – {{circa|425 BC}}) as Ares, through ''[[interpretatio Graeca]]'', was one of three otherwise unnamed deities that Thracian commoners were said to worship. Herodotus recognises and names the other two as "Dionysus" and "Artemis", and claims that the Thracian aristocracy exclusively worshiped "Hermes".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Herodotus, The Histories, Book 5, chapter 7, section 1|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=5:chapter=7:section=1|access-date=2021-07-23|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>Oppermann, Manfred, Dimittrova, Nora M., ''religion, Thracian'', "Oxford Classical Dictionary, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5553 ..."Ares suggests the existence of a war-god, Dionysus probably stood for a deity of orgiastic character linked with fertility and vegetation, while Artemis was an embodiment of the major female deity, frequently interpreted as the Great Goddess"...</ref> In Herodotus' ''Histories'', the [[Scythian]]s worship an indigenous form of Greek Ares, who is otherwise unnamed, but ranked beneath [[Tabiti]] (whom Herodotus claims as a form of [[Hestia]]), Api and Papaios in Scythia's divine hierarchy. His cult object was an iron sword. The "Scythian Ares" was offered blood-sacrifices (or ritual killings) of cattle, horses and "one in every hundred human war-captives", whose blood was used to douse the sword. Statues, and complex platform-altars made of heaped brushwood were devoted to him. This sword-cult, or one very similar, is said to have persisted among the [[Alans]].<ref>Sulimirski, T. (1985). "The Scyths" in: Fisher, W. B. (Ed.) The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 2: The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-20091-1}}. pp. 158–159. Sulimirski is citing Herodotus, Book IV, 71-73, for the account of sacrifice to Ares.</ref> Some have posited that the "[[Sword of Mars]]" in later European history alludes to the [[Huns]] having adopted Ares.<ref>Geary, Patrick J. (1994). "Chapter 3. Germanic Tradition and Royal Ideology in the Ninth Century: The Visio Karoli Magni". Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages. Cornell University Press. p. 63. {{ISBN|978-0-8014-8098-0}}.</ref> | |||