Friday, November 07, 2014

 

The Food of Ares

Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 244 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth):
For this is the food of Ares, even the blood of men.
The same, tr. David Grene:
For slaughtered men are Ares' favorite food.
The Greek:
τούτῳ γὰρ Ἄρης βόσκεται, φόνῳ βροτῶν.
Liddell-Scott-Jones, s.v. φόνος, sense 1 = "murder, slaughter"; sense 4: "blood when shed, gore".

A more literal translation:
For with this is Ares fed, with blood of mortal men.
"To give Ares his fill of blood" (αἵματος ἆσαι Ἄρηα) occurs three times in the Iliad (5.289, 20.78, 22.267). Ares is blood-loving (φιλαίματος) in the Greek Anthology 7.226.3.



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