ARES

ARES (Aρης), god of war in Greek mythology, son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks living in Ereẓ Israel during and after the Second Temple period associated several places with legends from their mythology. Thus the Greek designation for the city of Samaria (Σαμαρεία) was interpreted as denoting σᾶμα Αρεως "the sepulcher of Ares," or – more precisely – the tomb where Ares buried his son Asclepius. Similarly, Rabbath-Moab in Transjordan was called Areopolis, and coins struck by the town portray the deity. eusebius identifies Areopolis with the biblical Ariel (i.e., Aryeh; Isa. 15:9), and assumes that the inhabitants worshiped Ares, whom they also called Aryeh. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Press, Ereẓ, 1 (1951), 34; Avi-Yonah, Land, 117; Pauly-Wissowa, 3 (1895), 641–2, and suppl., 3 (1918), 155.