What could be better for a God of March to actually be called Mars and was Rome's hero!
Have you met Mars, the Roman God of war? He was a great protector of Rome and the Roman way of life. Mars defended the city borders and frontiers and all of the important festivals that were somehow connected with warfare were always held in Mar's honor. Mars was known to have connections with both the Wolf and the Woodpecker.
In one myth Mars was the father of both Romulus and Remus, the mythical twin founders of Rome. Their story goes; their mother, Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia, had been raped by Mars and while Rhea slept she had a vision where she had dropped a hairpin on the ground, and from this, twin trees sprang up. It seemed that over time one of the twin trees grew incredibly large that is covered the entire world with it's shade, a reference to the ultimate success of Romulus and the growth of the massive Roman Empire.
I love mythology, there can be so many stories of the same person, during the same time span!
So, here is another myth concerning Mars, this one being uniquely Roman....Mars married Anna Perenna. In this version, the story is re-told in Ovid's 'Fasti' where Mars falls in love, head over heels with Minerva, the virgin Goddess of Wisdom and Crafts. Minerva was not interested in any way with Mar's amorous advances. So he was going to try even harder, somehow. Mars decided to seek help from Anna Perenna, who was the age of Goddess of New Year and Time. As the story goes, Anna was quite smitten with the handsome war God herself, so naughty Anna double-crossed Mars by disguising herself as Minerva and wearing a veil that seemed to disguise her, she tricked the God into marrying her. This little story became quite famous and was always commemorated in Rome on the Ides of March (the 15th) when young girls would sing “risque songs”.
There is a lot more information on Mars if you care to seek it out. I just gave a quick rendition of the stories I know.
StormloverWolf
Ref: Ancient History Encyclopedia
Image: Wikepedia
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