Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

Mata 191centered at Gaza at the Marneion sanctuary andprobably succeeded that of Dagon. He may havebeen the subject of a colossal statue attributed toZEUS found near Gaza.See also DAGAN.MARSORIGIN Roman. God of war.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 400 BC tocirca AD 400.SYNONYMS ARES (Greek).CENTER(S) OF CULT the Mars Ultor sanctuary(Augustine) in Rome.ART REFERENCES large number of sculptures andcarvings.LITERARY SOURCES Aeneid (Virgil), etc.Mars may have originated as a god of vegetation,but becomes closely modeled on the Greek wargod Ares. The son of JUPITER and JUNO, he isone of the major deities on the Roman pantheonand the patron of all soldiers. He was particularlypopular in Roman Britain.He is depicted wearing a suit of armor with aplumed helmet. He bears a shield and spear. Hisretinue includes Metus (Fear), Demios (Dread),Phobos (Alarm), ERIS (Discord) and Pallor (Terror).Mars is frequently linked with BELLONA,the minor Roman war goddess who drives hischariot. He took an active part in the primordialwar between gods and giants. His consort isVENUS and he is the father of HARMONIA, Cupidand Anteros. He is also romantically linked withthe vestal Ilia, who was buried alive for contraveningthe laws of her sisterhood. Through IliaMars fathered Romulus, the alleged founder ofthe city of Rome, and Remus, who was slain byRomulus. It was the convention that a Romangeneral, before setting out for combat, wouldinvoke Mars in his sanctuary. The name ofthe month of March, noted for its violentweather, is derivative and the month was dedicatedto the god.The training ground for would-be Romanlegionaries was known as the Campus Martius(field of Mars). Mars’s sacred animals include thebull, wolf and woodpecker.See also AMOR.MartuTutelary god. Mesopotamian (Sumerian). Thepatron god of the city of Ninab mentioned in thetexts but never re-discovered. Probably not a trueSumerian deity but adopted from an unknownwestern Semitic culture. He is sometimes identifiedas a storm god.MaruGod of war. Polynesian and Maori. One of theimportant deities revered by Maori clans in NewZealand in times of war, he may be represented intotems as an aggressive face with a prominent tuftof hair, staring eyes and tongue protruding,though these totems generally represent ancestorsrather than deities. Maru may be invoked inthe familiar Maori war dances and chants demonstratedpopularly by the All Blacks before rugbymatches all over the world.MarutganaStorm gods. Hindu (Vedic). The sons of RUDRAand attendants of INDRA. Also Maruts.Mata (great mother)Primeval mother goddess. Hindu. The archetypalprogenitrix of all living things. She becomes thetutelary goddess of every village in northern India,but is also seen as a plague goddess associated withsmallpox, in which case her epithet becomes MahaMai. Her Tamil counterpart is Amman.