投稿類別: 英文寫作
篇名: The God of War: The Interpretation of Rick Riordan in Greek and Roman Mythology
作者: 苗嘉琦。國立師範大學附屬高級中學。高二 1345 班
指導老師: 蔡正儀 老師
I. Introduction
A. Motivation
There’s a close relationship between Greek and Roman Mythology and our life, their stories reflect the best and worst of human nature, give moral lesson and explanation foe nature phenomena. Not only in literature, but also in daily life can we find the connection with mythology. For example, we use the term “Achilles tendon,” to refer to the muscle which connects the gastrocnemius and soleus muscle to the calcaneus, The origin of the term can be traced back to the story of the great hero, Achilles. His mother dipped him into the River Styx to make him invulnerable, but she forgot his left angle she was holding. Another example is the word “titans”, which we use to describe somebody tall, was originally the name of the ancient Greek giant gods.
Having great interest in Greek and Roman Mythology, I’ve been searching for the answer to a question for years. That is, what is the difference between Greek gods and Roman gods? We all know that Roman Mythology was developed from Greek Mythology, we can find two corresponding gods from each side, in charge of similar scope or having same authority. In such a high similarity, what is the difference between Greek gods and Roma gods except their names? Here, I choose the god represents war, Ares from Greek Mythology and Mars from Roman Mythology, for example, compare the difference between their personalities in the mythology and analyze how the view to god of war changed from ancient Greek to Roma. Then, with Percy Jackson and The Olympus series (one to five) and The Heroes of Olympus series (one to four), compare the difference between two gods in the modern literature. Finally, synthesize the consequences above, infer that the differences between the gods in ancient and in modern are the same or not.
B. The goals
a. From the relative mythologies of Ares and Mars, probe the different image of God of war in ancient Greek and Roma people’s mind.
b. From Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (one to five) and The Heroes of Olympus series (one to four), probe the difference image of God of war in modern people’s mind.
c. Are the differences between the gods in ancient and in modern the same or not.
C. Research Methods
In this research paper, I will find out the difference between Ares and Mars from relative mythologies, then probe the difference image of God of war in modern literature, at last compare the difference between them in ancient and in modern.
D. Limitations
The modern literature I choose, Percy Jackson series and The Heroes of Olympus series, are by the same author, so the view to the mythology might not represent the whole modern literature.
II. Body
A. From the relative mythologies of Ares and Mars, compare two gods with their symbols and worship, personality and the importance in the religion then, probe the difference image of God of war in ancient Greek and Roma people’s mind.
a. Ares
Ares, son of Zeus and Hera, was the god of war in Greek Mythology. He often represented the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war in Greek Literature. The images of him often represent him on the chariot armored with a spear or flaming torch in his hand. On the battle field, he was often accompanied by his sister, Enyo, and sons, Phobos and Deimos , the personification of Discord, Fear and Terror ( Greek Religion, 1991.). The counterpart of Ares among the Roman gods is Mars
1. Symbols and Worship
The symbols of Ares were dog, boar, vulture spear, helmet, chariot and flaming torch .Although Ares was the patron god of Thrace, his birthplace, the sanctuary for him was all around Greece, from Athens to Thebes. He was viewed as a masculine soldier: his resilience, physical strength, and military intelligence were unrivaled.
2. Personality
Ares was born in Thrace. While Thracians were regarded as a barbarous and warlike people then, it simply imply the personality of him. Ares was often described as a valiant, man-slaughtering, bold but not so astute god in the Greek Mythology, and was believed to manifest his anger on the court of war rather than specific individual retribution. Most of the gods thought that Ares was too reckless to be accepted. Even his father, Zeus, expressed his hatred to him when Ares returns from the battlefield at Troy wounded and complaining:
Then looking at him darkly Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to him: “Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar. To me you are the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympus. Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart, wars and battles. … And yet I will not long endure to see you in pain, since you are my child, and it was to me that your mother bore you. But were you born of some other god and proved so ruinous long since you would have been dropped beneath the gods of the bright sky."
(The Iliad of Homer. 1961.)
3. Importance
Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. However, being the son of King and Queen of Olympus didn’t make him the favorite of the ancient Greeks, they prefer Athena, goddess of wisdom and military strategy. In Greek Mythology, Ares was often compared with Athena, especially in the Trojan War. His value as god of war was also doubted during war. Ares was helping the losing side, Trojans. On the other hand, Athena, often depicted with Nike, goddess of victory, in her hand, favored the triumphant Greeks (Greek Religion, 1991.). With such a perfect competitor, Ares, with some picky-able short coming, didn’t have an important status in ancient Greek though he is one of the twelve Olympus. b. Mars
Mars, the god of war in Roman Mythology, was the most prominent and worshipped god in Roman. He was originally the god of spring, growth in nature, fertility, and the protector of cattle in early Roman Mythology (Religions of Rome: A History, 1998.). Mars is also mentioned as a chthonic god, this could explain why he became a god of death and finally a god of war (Mars, 1997.). Mars was born by Juno alone. To balance the birth of Minerva, who is born directly from Jupiter’s forehead, Juno uses a magic flower to touch her belly, impregnate successfully and gave birth to Mars in Thrace. Mars is often represented as a warrior in full battle armor, wearing a crested helmet and bearing a shield, and accompanied by Fuga and Timor, the personifications of flight and fear. His Greek equivalent is the god Ares.
1. Symbols and Worship
The sacred animals of Mars are the wolf and the woodpecker, he also had a mark called “The spear of Mars (♂)” which uses the simplified spear and shield to symbolize him. The sanctuaries of Mars are all around the Rome empire , and the main sanctuary was the temple in Capitol, which he shared with Jupiter and Quirinus. His temple is where army gathered before the battle, also, the army was drilled and athletes were trained here.
2. Personality As a guardian of agriculture, Mars pay his attention to the growth of crops. He also represented military power as a way to secure peace although Ares was viewed primarily as a destructive and destabilizing force (Religions of Rome: Volume 1, A History, 1998), He “Encourage peace, to gentle works inclin'd, And give abundance, with benignant mind.”(The Hymns of Orpheus: Tr. from the Original Greek: with a Preliminary Dissertation on the Life and Theology of Orpheus, 1792.)
3. Importance
Mars was considered to be the father of Romulus and Remus, the founder of Rome, thus, the Romans styled themselves as “sons of Mars” (Mars, 1997). As the pater of all the Romans, Mars became the second important god only to Jupiter, while his competitor, Minerva, the counterpart of Athena, became only the goddess of wisdom, arts and crafts. Mars also gave his name to the planet Mars and the month March (Martius). In the most ancient Roman calendar, Martius was the first month. His name was also used to gather with some local deities’ name, such as Mars Gradivus ("he who precedes the army in battle") or Mars Ultor ("the avenger").
B. From Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (one to five) and The Heroes of Olympus series (one to four),probe the difference image of God of war in modern people’s mind.
a. Ares
1. How he looks
In Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Ares was described as a strong, rock-dressed modern god. His first appearance was in Percy Jackson and the Olympus: The Lightning Thief, when Percy and his accompany were looking for Zeus’s lightning ball and Hades’s bronze helm of darkness, which were stolen. Ares appeared with, “a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant” (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, 2005), and “The seat was leather—but leather looked like… well, Caucasian human skin”. (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, 2005) Percy described him as” The guy on the bike would’ve made pro wrestlers run for Mama.” (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, 2005)and “he had the cruelest, most brutal face I’d ever seen.”“and cheeks that were scarred from many, many, fights.” (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, 2005)
2. How he acts
The reason why Ares went to Percy is he wanted Percy to get his lost shield back. This kind of personal request that gods give to heroes is pretty common in Greek Mythology. But during the conversation, Ares kept provoking and threatening Percy. Even when Percy was still confused about the identity of this strong man he was talking to, he still can feel ”bad feelings started boiling in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit a wall, I wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?” (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, 2005) It clearly showed the fury and annoyance in Ares’s personality. When Percy turns the shield back to Ares, he penetrated that the god of war was the one ties to split the Olympians. When he asked Ares why did he do this, Ares held the trance for seconds, which showed that the smart idea wasn’t his and he was just a chess piece doing whatever others told him to. Nevertheless, before Percy battles Ares, Annabeth told him, ”Ares has strength, that’s all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes.” (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, 2005) It simply implied that the god of war is bold but not astute.
3. How he interacts with his child and the image of his child
”Like father like son”, the image Ares’s children had and the interaction between Ares and them can show personality of him. The cabin that belonged to Ares in the Half-blood Camp is cabin five, and the leader of the cabin was Clarisse, the daughter of Ares. The first impression she gave to Percy was “big and ugly and mean”. (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, 2005). In Percy Jackson and the Olympus: The Lightning Thief, The children from cabin five tried to bully him on the first day he came to the camp, they put his head in the toilet. This is a typical action that American school bully would do, which means that the children of Ares were the bullies in the camp. In this book it also mentioned the weapon Clarisse used is a spear on electric. Using this weapon required high battle technique.
Clarisse’s importance didn’t show until the second book of the series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The sea of Monsters. This time, Clarisse became the leader of the searching mission. Though she accepted some help of Percy and Annabeth during the mission, she still tried her best to accomplish the goal on her own. It showed how competitive she was and how she desired to prove her talent. In book five, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian, Clarisse’s best friend Silena was killed when she battled a Lydian drakon. She immediately slayed the drakon alone with her electric spear in fury and sadness, and defeated the enemy with Ares’s blessing. Percy said “she was literally glowing. An aura of red fire flickered around her.” With such a brave deed, she gains the help from the god of war.
When the fight was over, gods and demigod celebrated together. Ares proudly praised his daughter before the gods, and Clarisse “looked pretty overwhelmed. All she could do was nod and blink, like she was afraid he’d start hitting her, but eventually she began to smile.” (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The last Olympians, 2013) The description shows that even Ares’s children were scared of he’s irascibility.
To conclude the view points above, we can know that in Rick Riordan’s interpretation, Ares is rough, aggressive, easy-order, but when a he meets a brave, honorable battler, he will still give his encouragement and blessing with pleasure. a. Mars
1. How he looks
Mars’s first appearance in The Heroes of Olympus series was in The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune, was when Camp Jupiter was holding the War game. The coming alive of Centurion, Gwen, was too abnormal to ignore, and Mars’s appearance was to send a warning from the gods. The god of war appeared from the fire, in image of a Canadian soldier “The soldier is ten feet tall, dressed in Canadian Forces desert camouflage. He radiated confidence and power.”(The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune, 2011.)
2. How he acts
Mars’s speech made him sound earnest and dignified, but when he was announcing the message to the Romans who treat him like a pater, he was kind and spoke with a sense of humor “He laughed—a good, hearty bellow, so infectious it almost made Frank smile, even he was still shivering with fear.” (The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune, 2011.) And, when Percy identified him with his Greek form, Ares, who he has fought before, he refused to kneel. Instead of feeling offended, Mars explains his identity in Roman Mythology and warn him with patience. He even praised Percy “You’ve got spunk, demigod” (The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune, 2011.)
4. How he interacts with his child and the image of his child
After announcing the will of Olympians, Mars also announced that he was the father of Frank, and even apologizes for the late reunion, showing how he cares about his children. Before the adapting, Frank was the rookie in the camp. But because of his excellent behavior in the war game and also because he was the son of Mars, he got the Mural Crown and was raised to Centurion. It simply showed how sublime and prominent Mars was in Roman people’s heart. The birthday gifts he gave to Frank was a spear with a dragon’s tooth on its tip, flickering with ghosty light. This is a kind of weapon that can call out for the skeletal warrior’s help for three times. The weapon requires for not only strength but battle strategy.
And Frank, who was one of the seven demigod with the mission, didn’t show his confidence and leadership until book four, The Heroes of Olympus: House of Hades. In Venice, Frank was forced to kill all the katobleps in the area to prove that he was brave enough to earn the help of Mars. In this point, we can find that what Mars want his children learn is the ability to fight alone and to stay confident during the battle.Also he kept his promise to help a fighter who proved him/herself. He also encouraged Frank, made him fight with confidence, wisdom and courage when they met the monster army on their way to the under-landed Hades’s house.
But Mars showed his care for his children when Frank and his companies were surrounded by the ogres in the Zhang mansion. Frank’s grandma, who is a serious but intelligent woman, was ill and unconscious, and Frank still don’t know what the special family talent from her mother’s family was. It seems that they’re between Scylla and Charybdis. That’s when Mars showed up in the Grandma’s room and giving Frank some instructions and advice. In the conversation, Mars himself confessed the war is hateful. But even if he can only imply to Frank about the family talent, even he can’t give him any substance help, he still emphasized the most important talent that Frank’s mother taught him” Even without the family gift, your mom gave you your most important traits—bravery, loyalty, brains.” (The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune, 2011.)
To conclude the view-points above, we can know that in Rick Riordan’s interpretation, Mars is dignified, blunt; he values wisdom as much as he values courage, and also cares a lot about his children. When a warrior prays for his help, he will ask him/her to prove that he/she is worth it before he gives his blessing. And he will praise the soldier who is loyal.
C. Differences between the gods in ancient and in modern literary works.
To conclude the information above, we can find that in Greek people’s mind, they see war as a destructive disaster, so they describe Ares as a untamed, irascible man. But still, they desire the victory of battle and admire the masculinity and always-winning fighter had, so Ares was also described as a masculine and valiant fighter. In the meantime, Roman people see war a kind of way to secure peace or a way to share their culture and the glory of Empire Rome by expand their territory. So, they built Mars a soldier who is dauntless, and attach important to loyalty, honor and wisdom. That’s why the image of the god of war was different in ancient Greek and Roman people’s mind.
In the modern world, war is not a everyday business, at least for most of us. So the image of Ares and Mars didn’t change much from their ancient image. The Ares in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” was picture dressed like a rock star who is strong and always furious. His self-centered attitude is hateful, but his battle strategy is venerable. The Mars in “The Heroes of Olympus” was described as a full-armored soldier who is dignified and friendly to warriors. He was admired by Roman people not only because of his military strategy, but also because he brings out the self-confidence inside every fighter.
III. Conclusion
Thousands of years, people fight for many reasons, water, food, territory, honor… etc. Fight for different reasons, or different needs, the different abilities were required. During the Greek Cities era, people fought for the right of living, or, moral. For example, the Trojan War, Greek people fought for the reputation of Helen and the dignity of Menelaos. During the Trojan War, people emphasized the victory of the heroes more than the army, that why the god of war in Greek Mythology is more self-center and tend to individualism.
However, during the Roman Empire era, people fight for reasons like secure peace or sharing the glory of Roman by expanding the territory. Also, Roman people attached to the success of entire army than personal victory. That’s why the god of war in Roman was described as stately and calm.
What about in the modern world? Although we don’t need to face battles in our daily life now, there are still many obstacles we have to come over. The gods of war in the modern literature remain their characteristic in ancient time, and transform to a form that’s more like the struggle we will face every day. The Ares in the modern form is like the furious customer you need to survive; and The Mars in the modern form is like a professor who interviews you during the entrance exam of college.
But no matter what you fight for, bravery is always the requirement because every battle was about live and dead. “Your bravery has united my forms, Greek and Roman, if only for a moment.” (The House of Hades, 2011. ) That’s why no matter it’s the god of war in Greek Mythology or Roman Mythology, or even, in the modern world, having the courage to win the battle remain its importance for thousands of years.
IV. References Burkert, W. (1991). Greek religion: Archaic and classical. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Homer; Lattimoe, R. (Eds, Transl). (1961). The Iliad of Homer. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. “Mars”. Encyclopedia Mythica™. Retrieved 03 March 1997. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mars.html “Mars (mythology)”. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved 03 January 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(mythology) Beard, M., & North, J., & Price, S. R. F. (1998). Religions of Rome: Volume 1, A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Taylor, T. (Eds). (1792). The Hymns of Orpheus: Tr. from the Original Greek: with a Preliminary Dissertation on the Life and Theology of Orpheus. London: Author, and sold. Riordan, R. (2005). Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The lightning thief. New York: Disney Hyperion. Riordan, R. (2006). Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The sea of monsters. New York: Disney Hyperion. Riordan, R. (2009). Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The last Olympuan. New York: Disney Hyperion. Riordan, R. (20011). The heroes of Olympus: The son of Neptune. New York: Disney Hyperion. Riordan, R. (2013). The heroes of Olympus: The house of Hades. New York: Disney Hyperion.