October 9, 2002

10:00 PM

Think you know your gods? Most people know that the Greek god of war was Ares, and probably would know that the Roman god of war was Mars, but how many know the Norse, Aztec, Celtic, Hindu, Egyptian or Chinese gods of war?
posted by nick.a (15 comments total)

that Huitzilopochtli gets around
posted by RobbieFal at 10:07 PM on October 9, 2002

that norse god looks... strange...

A precursor of "multiculturalism" perhaps?

(I was expecting some sort of braided-beard, axe wielding, horn-helmeted... norse... guy)
posted by cadastral at 10:19 PM on October 9, 2002

I was expecting some sort of braided-beard, axe wielding, horn-helmeted... norse... guy

And you would have been correct, Tyr looks a lot like that!
posted by RevGreg at 10:24 PM on October 9, 2002

Crap. Got the wrong link on the Norse one. My bad. Doh.
posted by nick.a at 10:30 PM on October 9, 2002

Tempus!!!
posted by lotsofno at 10:35 PM on October 9, 2002

In answer to the question posed: me. What do I win?
posted by Wulfgar! at 10:40 PM on October 9, 2002

The better question would be how many know all these gods of war thanks to this. Hmm? Not so quick to admit to that, are ya?
posted by malphigian at 10:47 PM on October 9, 2002

I nominate Pat Robertson.
posted by the fire you left me at 10:49 PM on October 9, 2002

The better question would be how many know all these gods of war thanks to this. Hmm? Not so quick to admit to that, are ya?

Hell, I used a later printing of that book to do research for a paper in 7th grade.
posted by toddshot at 10:57 PM on October 9, 2002

I'll admit it malphigian. I'm not the slightest bit ashamed of the fact that I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing that game back in the early eighties. I had a blast, what can I say.
posted by Witty at 3:59 AM on October 10, 2002

Some of us still play RPGs even now - although I can't stand DnD since I discovered RoleMaster about 10 years ago.
posted by Irontom at 4:48 AM on October 10, 2002

I thought they were all the same man, just looked at from different perspectives ...
posted by feelinglistless at 5:40 AM on October 10, 2002

The (irish/welsh) goddess of the battle-field has to be The Morrigan. They don't come much scarrier than the Crow.
posted by bonehead at 5:53 AM on October 10, 2002

Er, you also got the wrong link for Mars. Here is a detailed article about the Roman god (it also mentions a couple of others).
posted by languagehat at 6:54 AM on October 10, 2002

Lots of Egyptian gods are "war gods" in the right situation... mostly it depended on the dynasty and the situation. Amun (particularly in campaigns in foreign lands), Bast (particularly in defense), Neith, Heru and Set (particularly as "champion" types rather than generals)...

Montu is more of a general god of war than Maahes is though, and better known. There's a roller coaster named for Montu in Busch Gardens Tampa. ;)

Caroline Seawright's stuff is generally okay... better than average for the internet anyway. She paraphrases other peoples' articles (including one of my own) a bit more than I would like -- but she does enough research herself that I wouldn't classify it as plaigiarism.
posted by Foosnark at 8:52 AM on October 10, 2002