Ares

Clamorous Ares, who forces apart the Magnificent Soul,

and takes pleasure in the many sent forth into blood-pouring conflicts.

Your savage and magnificent power shakes the foundations of the most solid walls.

A ruler who breaks down mortals, spoiled with cruorin,

and is pleased with conflict, terrible and tumultuous.

You delight in spears, swords and mortal blood, and dire ruin from raging mania.

Witness and deliver justice to those in conflict,

which brings forth misery felt in mortal life.

To beautiful Aphrodite and Dionysos concede,

and in place of arms provide the labours of the earth.

Inspire peace, noble work, and deliver abundance with a well-born intellect.

Orpheus, Initiation through Ares, Libanos Offering, Revised by The Editor of ClassicalPhilosophy.org, Chichester, England, 2025.

For this initiation, I have turned to paraphrase, seeking once more to recapture the spiritual path; yet in doing so, the original hexameter and later rhyme have fallen away. The dramatic intensity of a Homeric narrative style has also been softened, as these changes better capture the essence of the original Orphic initiations.

This work is dedicated to all those who endure conflict.

The editor of Classical Philosophy.org