MARS, a contraction of MAVERS or .3Ltvous; in the Oscan or Sabine language, MAMERS, the name of an ancient Italian divinity, identified by the Grwcizing Romans with the Thracian-Hellenic Ares. It will, however, be better to treat the two concep tions separately.
The Roman Mars, who as a war-god is surnamed Gradivus (= grandis divus, the g.reat god). also bore the surname of Silvanus, and appears to have been originally an agricul tural deity; and propitiatory offerings were presented to him as the guardian of fields Auld flocks; but as the tierce shepherds .who founded the city of Rome were even more addicted to martial than to pastoral pursuits, one can easily understand how Afars Sil ranu8 should have, in the course of time, become the " god of war." Mars, who was a perfect personification of the stern, relentless, and even cruel valor of the old Romans, was held in the highest honor. He ranked next to Jupiter; like him he bore the vener able epithet of Father (Mars-piter); he was one of the three tutelary divinities of the city, to each of whom Numa appointed a flamen ; nay, he was said to be the father of Romulus himself (by Rhea Silvia, the priestess of Vesta), and was thus believed to be the real progenitor of the Roman people. He ha,c1 a sanctuary on the Quirinal; and the hill
received its name from his surname, Quirinus, the most probable meaning of which is the spear-armed. It was under this designation that he was invoked as the protector of - the Quirites (citizens)--in other words, of the state. The principal animals sacred to him were the wolf and the horse. He had many temples at Rome, the most celebrated of which was that outside the Porta Capena, on the Appian road. The Campus Martius, where the Romans practiced athletic and military exercises, was named after him; so was the month of March (-Vartius), the first month of the Roman year. The Ludi Martiales (games held in his honor) were celebrated every year in the circus Aug. 1.