The pagan distortion of Hellenism happily continues as during the dark ages. In her video about the god Ares, pagan colonialist and genocide denier «Aliakai» demonstrates, once again, her inability to distinguish between myth and cult, which is not surprising considering the fact that she knows Hellenism only from the outside, mainly through Hollywood and paganism. Her attempt to present Ares as the «personification of violence» is counteracted by Hellenic literature. To be honest, her portrayal of Ares is disconcerting.
Her pagan and personal views, on the other hand, are off-topic and simply irrelevant to Hellenic culture, firstly because paganism is incompatible with Hellenism and secondly because the Hellenes couldn’t care less about the personal views of anti-Hellenes. Apart from this, statements such as: «war in America tends to be glorified in an almost seemingly pornographic way,» are almost designed to evoke an odd picture in the unprepared reader’s mind. Therefore we limit ourselves here to correcting the false picture of Ares painted by «Aliakai» and other pagans, countering pagan fakes with Hellenic facts, which is a necessity when it comes to cultural appropriation, since this kind of colonialism carries misinformation within it, just like clouds carry rain.
In the very beginning we have to say, once again, that the gods are not «personifications,» as Walter Friedrich Otto, Jean-Pierre Vernant and many others have repeatedly stressed. They are not «persons» at all. The Hellenic concept of god differs very much from the pagan or Christian one. «We ourselves are accustomed to think of the divine being as preoccupied with man and his needs and are little concerned with his existence beyond humanity» (Walter Friedrich Otto, The Homeric gods, London 1954, p. 129). The Greek gods are not personifications of things humans need or understand. They are «perfect beings» (Otto, p. 129). While they do (!) represent ontological realities or functions of Beingness, they are (!) not «personifications.» That means that Ares represents realities, but he is not a «personification» of them, especially of human-made ones.
In his Greek article «Θεός Άρης [The god Ares],» Vlassis G. Rassias explains in simple terms: «Ares represents unbridled passion, aggression, valor, the wild, the unadorned and the raucous.» He is the god of war, of battles and brutal fights as well as the «leader of the most righteous men» (Homeric Hymn to Ares). Together with Athena and Hestia he is guarding the cosmic order (Sallustios, On the Gods and the Cosmos, Chap. VI.).
Ares is connected to Zeus and thus to «settlement by arms,» which makes man «welcome nobility and bravery in themselves, as well as behavior toward one another which is appropriate to peacetime» (Cornutos, Compendium of Greek Theology, 21). Michael Marullus reminds us that Ares is also the «supreme courage» in times of despair, the force that drives back «the wicked droves,» the «fierce courage and wrath» soothed only by Aphrodite. Marullus, in exile and tormented by the loss of his homeland, ends his hymn to Ares with the lines: «Grant me, I ask you, who precedes the armies in the battles, if I am worthy of it, one day, an unexpectedly pleasing fate for my homeland» (Michael Marullus, Hymni Naturales, Book II, VI).
Ares is the divine force that can grant us the strength to stand up and face life, after tremendous loss and hardships. He is the One who guides us and gives us the courage and strength to walk onto the battlefield, to fight and defend whatever it is we need to defend. Our life, family, tribe, country and culture.
Ares is the sword.
And Ares is the shield.
Hellenismos heute 