Friday, November 07, 2014
The Food of Ares
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 244 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth):
A more literal translation:
Newer› ‹Older
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.
