#enyalios

[theoihalioistuff]

Eustathios of Thessalonika, Commentary on Homer, Iliad 7.166. Quoting Arrian of Nicomedia (circa 86–160 AD) BNJ 156 F 103.

According to most, warlike Enyalios came from Enyo. But some say that, just as Pallas got her name on account of killing Pallas [masc.], so too Enyalios was named from a similar event. At any rate, Arrian records that when Ares came to the lands of Thrace, where the home of Enyalios was, he wished to be entertained as a guest. But Enyalios did not wish to receive him, saying that he would host no one who was not stronger than him in deeds of war. Ares responded: “Then it is time for you to host me, since I am stronger than you in war.” When Enyalios denied this, they came to blows, and after a long drawn-out battle he was finally felled by Ares, who struck him in the armour with his broad-sword (ῥομφαία). Thus, when young Ares had accomplished this great feat, he was called Enyalios after him.

᾽Ενυάλιος δὲ κατὰ μὲν τοὺς πλείους ὁ πολεμικὸς ἀπὸ τῆς ᾽Ενυοῦς. τινὲς δὲ ὥσπερ τὴν Παλλάδα διὰ φόνον τοῦ Πάλλαντος, οὕτω καὶ τὸν ᾽Ενυάλιον διά τι τοιοῦτον κεκλῆσθαί φασιν. ᾽Αρριανὸς γοῦν ἱστορεῖ ὅτι «ἐλθὼν ῎Αρης εἰς τὰ τῆς Θράικης χωρία, ὅπου τὰ οἰκία ἦν τῶι ᾽Ενυαλίωι, ἤθελε ξενισθῆναι. ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἤθελε δέχεσθαι φάμενος οὐκ ἂν ξενίσαι ἄλλον ἢ ὃς κρείσσων αὑτοῦ τὰ πολέμια ἔλθοι. καὶ ὅς· ‘ὥρα σοι ξενίζειν ἐμέ, καθότι κρείσσων σού φημι τὰ πολέμια εἶναι.’ τοῦ δὲ ᾽Ενυαλίου ἀποφάσκοντος ἔρχεται εἰς χεῖρας καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ τῆς μάχης ἐκταθείσης τέλος ὁ ᾽Ενυάλιος πίπτει ὑπὸ τῶι ῎Αρει, πληγεὶς ὅπλωι τῆι ῥομφαίαι. διὸ καθότι μέγα τοῦτο ἆθλον ὁ ῎Αρης νέος ὢν ἐξετέλεσεν, ἐκαλεῖτο ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶι ᾽Ενυάλιος.»

For anybody wondering what a Rhomphaia (thracian "broad-sword") looked like.

[katerinaaqu]

Was Ares associated with dogs? I heard in Sparta they sacrificed dogs to him for some reason (poor puppies D:)

Oh this is a good one and it is a bit complicated given that we have one mention yes on an offering of a puppy in some sort of chthonian night sacrifice outside of Sparta. That mention comes from Pausanias. However Pausanias mentions that the sacrifice happens to "Enyalios" (Ἐνυάλιος) The word on itself means "War-Like" and as a word appears already in the Iliad for example in rhapsody 17. But here's the thing; sometimes is seen as an epithet of Ares and sometimes it is seen as a different deity with some traditions (probably later ones) have him be a son of Ares instead. (In Iliad it mentions: Ἄρης δεινὸς ἐνυάλιος "Ares the dreadful warlike", so it seems more like an epithet there)

It is a bit more unclear whether Pausanias memorizes Ares himself by the word as his epithet or his son as a separate deity. We do know there was a worship of Ares in Laconia the same way that there is in many parts of Greece after all so it is not impossible that Pausanias is mentioning Ares himself there but on the other hand it could be a separate deity.

Either way yes, we do see a sacrifice of a puppy and more specifically (always according to Pausanias) at night before a fight, the youths would go to Phoebaeum, somewhere outside a city called Therapne in Lacconia, and offer one puppy each group to Enyalios and it seems that the most valiant of animals seems a suitable offering to the most valiant of gods. Pausanias mentions he knows only one more example of Greeks offering puppies and those would be the city of Colophon (a city in the area of Ionia, modern day Turkey) who would offer a black female dog to the goddesses "of the roads" (Ἐνόδια), usually as an epithet refers to chthonian deities like Hecate

[kasios9]

Who's ur favorite God of War?

Ares

Enyo

Eris

Deimos/Phobos

Enyalios

Aphrodite (yea she is)

Adresteia

Polemos (I don't think bc in the Pax of Aristophanes is a dumb brute

I'm not in Greek Gods of war/Greek Mythology/I'm bald

Voting ended onAug 14, 2024

[aliciavance4228]

Ares was most likely not worshipped at Sparta. A pre-Greek war god named Enyalios was, but Ares had basically no cult on the Greek mainland, save for Asia Minor, until the Romans took over. And there is certainly nothing to suggest that the Spartans themselves syncretized Ares and Enyalios at any point like later writers did.

.

[deathlessathanasia]

So, according to the version that says Enyalios is son of Kronos and Rhea, he should have been eaten by his father, then vomited and fought the Titanomachy? That would be such a good lore

Presumably? But this is still so strange, I have no idea where it comes from. Could it be that one of the regular sons of Kronos and Rhea was given Enyalios as an epithet at some point in time or in some particular place similar to how Tzetzes in his commentary on Lykophron's Alexandra (for instance at 519) says that Enyo was an epithet of Hera? A look through the Cult Epithets Database does reveal a Zeus Enyalios, so who knows?

[diioonysus]

greek mythology | gods & goddesses | ares’ offspring 

[deathlessathanasia]

Do you have an opinion on Enyalios or Enyo? Do you think they could be son and mother?

Well, apparently Enyo is the mother of Enyalios according to the scholia on Homer, though in the same place his parents are also said to be Kronos and Rhea, which is much weirder. I can't confirm this information, but assuming it's true then it might explain why Cornutus says that Enyo is (among other things) the mother of Ares, since Ares was sometimes identified with Enyalios.

I find it interesting how both Enyo and Enyalios have such fluid identities: according to Cornutus "for some she [Enyo] is the mother of Ares, some his daughter, some his nurse.", while Enyalios can be the son of Ares and Enyo, or Ares himself, or a god older than Ares as the son of Kronos and Rhea.

[superscrub323]

Hello *drops u a drawing of Enyalios I made and flees*

The hyperfixation is becoming as strong as before

Enyalios going from an engima that befuddled me to a Thracian War God that Ares had to beat manners into is nice, and also explains where Enyo comes from