Deity of war
In almost every polytheistic religion a god of war was or is worshiped. The most famous god of war is the Roman god of war Mars , who, however, was also worshiped as the god of vegetation , especially in early Roman times . The Romans also knew Bellona and Quirinus .
The Greek equivalent of Mars and later equated with it was Ares . Unlike Mars, however, this one was exclusively responsible for the craft of war and equipped with the associated attributes. His companions were Phobos and Deimos (fear and terror). Even Athena (goddess of stratagem), Enyalios and Enyo were gods who were for the war.
The Scandinavians of the early Middle Ages z. B. worshiped several martial deities. In their mythology , the god of war most closely matched Tyr . However, Odin later took over its role almost completely.
Other gods of war are:
- in the ancient Egyptian religion Upuaut , Month , Anhor , Sachmet
- in the Sumerian religion Ningirsu , Asarualimnunna , Nergal and Zababa
- in the Babylonian religion Ištar
- with the Babylonian Kassites Šuqamuna
- among the Assyrians Ištar , Ninurta and Aššur
- in the old Syrian religion (e.g. Ugarites , Phoenicians ) Anat , Rešef , Astarte
- in the ancient Arabic religion of Rudau
- in the Hattic religion Šulinkatte , Wurunkatte
- in the Hittite religion Šulinkatte , Wurunkatte , the Innarawanteš deities
- in the Luwian religion Iyarri , Šanta , the Annarumenzi deities
- with the Hurrites Šawuška , Aštabi , Ḫešui
- in Urartu Ḫaldi
- in the Elamite religion Kiririša , Ḫutran , Inšušinak
- in the Persian religion Verethragna
- in Hinduism Indra , Kartikeya
- in the Etruscan religion laran
- in the Celtic religion : Camulos and Teutates , Belatucadros , Bodb , Cnabetius , Cicollus , Leucetius , Medocius , Rudianus , Segomo
- with the Irish Neit , Badb and Morrigan
- with the Helvetians Caturix
- among the Celtiberians Neto
- among the Slavs Rugievit , Svantovit , Triglaw , Jarovit , Svarožić
- with the Chinese Guan Yu , Dark Warrior
- in religion in Japan Bishamon and Hachiman
- with the Aztecs Huitzilopochtli , Xipe Totec , Camaxtli , Mextli
- the Ahayuta among the Zuñi
- with the Hawaiians Kuka'ilimoku
- with the Maori Maru
- in Nigeria Egbesu
Certain monotheistic religions show warlike features of their respective ideas about God or belief. In Judaism , the name of God Schaddaj (Gen 17.1; Ex 6.3) is associated with the verb “to be violent, to devastate”. In the old expression Pachad jitzchaq (Gen 31.42.53) "Terror of Isaac" one suspects the tradition of the " YHWH war ", which was common in the time of the judges as "God's terror" . Frequently encountered in the first book of Samuel , the Psalms , the name and the salvation prophecy YHWH Sabaoth on ( "the Lord of Hosts"), whereby with army could be meant both the Israeli army and heavenly powers like angels. In the 2nd book of Moses, YHWH himself is sung about as an acting warrior: “He threw horse and rider into the sea” ( Ex 15:21 Lut ).
At the moment of its acceptance by the Roman emperor, Christianity became a kind of war religion in certain features and for a certain time. Emperor Constantine abolished the cult of the main Roman god Sol invictus , replaced this god of war with a cult of Christ, the Labarum, etc. and from then on waged wars under the symbol of Christ ( In hoc signo vinces ). In church history, certain angels ( St. Michael ) and saints ( St. George , Adrian of Nicomedia , James the Elder , Sergius of Radonezh , Wenceslaus etc.) or the Virgin Mary ( Mary of Victory ) were ascribed the same quality as before Were reserved for gods of war from the pantheon of pre-Christian religions.