Myth Library · Epic Cycle

Ares in the Trojan War

4 source witnesses · 4 source-scoped variants · reviewed 2026-08-30

Across the Iliad, Ares fights for Troy, is wounded through Athena and Diomedes, grieves for his fallen son Ascalaphus, and is cast down again when the gods enter battle.

Canonical narrative

Ares crosses the Trojan field as a combatant, not a distant patron. In Iliad 5 he faces Diomedes. Athena catches the god's cast spear and drives the mortal's point into him. The wound tears a roar from Ares as vast as armies. He leaves the dust for Olympus, complains before Zeus, and receives healing.

War then reaches him through kin. Ascalaphus, one of the sons of Ares leading the Minyans, dies under Deiphobus' spear. When Hera tells Ares, the god strikes his thighs and calls for his horses. Athena strips away his armor and spear before grief can break Zeus' command. The scene does not mock the father's sorrow. It shows how quickly sorrow can become another engine of battle.

In Book 21 the gods finally clash beside the river. Ares lunges at Athena. She answers with a great boundary stone and knocks him flat. The episode completes a pattern without erasing his power: Ares makes battle immediate and terrible, yet he never owns its entire field. Strategy, authority, mortality, and other gods interrupt him again and again.

Episodes in this myth

Episode 1

Diomedes wounds Ares

A mortal spear guided by Athena pierces Ares and drives him from the battlefield.

Episode 2

Ascalaphus is killed

Ares' son falls in the human battle while the god remains ignorant of the death.

Episode 3

Athena halts Ares

Ares hears the news, erupts in grief, and is physically checked before charging back into battle.

Episode 4

Ares and Athena clash

The gods join the battle, and Athena fells Ares with a massive boundary stone.

Participants and roles

Ares

divine combatant aligned with Troy, wounded, bereaved, and checked

This composite role joins four separately located Iliadic episodes rather than pretending they form one continuous scene.

Athena

opposing goddess who guides Diomedes' strike, restrains Ares, and defeats him in the Theomachy

Her interventions occur in different books: she guides the wound, restrains the bereaved god, and later fells him in the Theomachy.

Diomedes

mortal warrior who wounds Ares with Athena's aid

The mortal wound succeeds through Athena's direct aid and should not be retold as Diomedes defeating Ares unaided.

Ascalaphus

son of Ares whose death provokes the god's grief and rush toward vengeance

His death is reported in Iliad 13 and becomes known to Ares only in the later grief episode.

Hera

Olympian who reports Ascalaphus' death to Ares

Her role in Iliad 15 is to tell Ares that Ascalaphus has died; Athena performs the physical restraint that follows.

Zeus

Olympian ruler before whom the wounded Ares complains

He receives the wounded god's complaint on Olympus in Iliad 5 and does not participate in every linked episode.

Source-scoped variants

Diomedes wounds Ares

Athena turns aside Ares' spear and drives Diomedes' bronze point into the god, whose cry fills the field before he flees to Olympus.

What differs: The episode combines mortal agency with divine guidance and shows Ares' battle force as painfully vulnerable.

Greek Archaic · Ancient Greece

Ascalaphus falls

The son of Ares is killed in battle while his father does not yet know the loss.

What differs: This episode creates the hidden wound that erupts into Ares' grief in Book 15.

Greek Archaic · Ancient Greece

Ares' grief is restrained

Ares learns of Ascalaphus' death, strikes his thighs, arms for vengeance, and is stopped by Athena before he can defy Zeus' command.

What differs: The god's response joins parental grief to reckless martial impulse and enforced restraint.

Greek Archaic · Ancient Greece

Athena casts Ares down

Ares meets Athena in the Theomachy, but she lifts a great boundary stone and knocks him to the ground.

What differs: The divine duel restages their opposition without implying that every Greek source defines war as a simple Ares and Athena binary.

Greek Archaic · Ancient Greece

Source witnesses

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Iliad

Homer; Monro and Allen Greek edition with edition-specific translations · 1920

Book 5 · Line 826-909

Ares enters the battle, Diomedes wounds him with Athena's guidance, and the god withdraws to Olympus.

Open reviewed source

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Iliad

Homer; Monro and Allen Greek edition with edition-specific translations · 1920

Book 13 · Line 518-525

Deiphobus kills Ascalaphus, son of Ares, while the god remains unaware.

Open reviewed source

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Iliad

Homer; Monro and Allen Greek edition with edition-specific translations · 1920

Book 15 · Line 104-142

Hera tells Ares of Ascalaphus' death; grief drives him toward battle until Athena restrains him.

Open reviewed source

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Iliad

Homer; Monro and Allen Greek edition with edition-specific translations · 1920

Book 21 · Line 391-433

During the battle of the gods, Ares attacks Athena and is struck down by a boundary stone.

Open reviewed source