(Statue of Mars, Brandenburger Tor, Berlin, Germany)
As Greek and Roman mythology is almost identical, the gods Ares and Mars are very similar but they also have many things about them that are different. Both of the gods were the god of war even though they may not have been the best gods. Mars was merciful and had a heart for the good people of Rome. Ares, on the other hand, was very deadly and terrifying to all the people of the land. But in no way, Mars was less cruel as his terror and destruction sealed the last nail in the coffin of his old shadow Ares during the final battle of Corinth which is considered as the end of Greek rule and the beginning of Roman domination as the new leader of power. Yet, portraying rather a soft and compassionate version of Mars shows the desperation of Roman mythology to maintain the acceptance of the idea of supreme or divine authority by everyone. This desperation really did not work out for Mars or Ares or their blind supporters because even though we could never outfight them, we surely did outlast them as today both of them are considered as only a part of a myth.
At present, due to the monotheistic structure of most faith or belief systems, we only see the glimpses of both Ares and Mars and their blind supporters through their acts and decisions in all monotheistic gods. Through their laws and commands in religions, all of the gods seem terrifying who somehow allow and support killing and destruction. They even have a justified name and title for religious war and its soldiers- ‘Milkhemet Mitzvah' (Commandment war in Judaism), ‘bellum sacrum' (Holy war in Christianity), ‘Jihad' (Sacred war or struggle in the way of god in Islam). Crusades, second world war, Ireland, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria are good examples in the history of modern warfare where soldiers of either both sides or at least one side somehow were highly inspired and motivated by one of these three terms or title of war which is dubiously justified by their god but yet these gods are being portrayed or preached as compassionate, kind and merciful.
It has been more than 3000 years since the arrival of monotheistic faith. Some new gods have risen and many old gods have fallen and ended in the pages of mythology during this time but no other civilization had such power of mass destruction where the existence of planet Earth is threatened like we and our civilization have today. Will humanity be able to outlast these warmongering gods again and send them to the pages of myths or will humanity destroy the existence of this planet trying to outfight them in the name of establishing peace? Let us hope for a better future where humanity as a united species will master the weapon of wisdom, peace, and freedom and use it against those pretentious gods to finally be able to outfight them for good.