Mars

10/9/05 – 10/15/05

By C. Zaitz

I’ve been getting calls about the pale peach object in the sky in the late evening and early morning hours. It is the planet Mars. Since Venus always steals the attention, I thought I’d devote some words to her powerful “friend” Mars.

I’m speaking of the Roman god and goddess now. Venus and Mars were indeed intimate “friends” though Venus was married to Vulcan, the course and ugly metal smith. Mars was the Roman god of war, adopted from the Greek Ares, though while Ares was often feared and hated in Greek society, Mars represented ultimate warrior-like qualities and was respected by the Romans. Venus and Mars carried on a long term affair, much to the chagrin and anger of Vulcan.

Mars was said to ride in a chariot with goddess of war Bellona, his wife. He had a retinue of followers, including Phobos and Deimos, known as “fear” and “terror.” These names were given to the two moons of Mars, the planet. These moons are so small they are not even round; instead they are shaped like baked potatoes. But they are faithful companions to the planet of the god of war. Lore has it that the ruddy reddish color of the planet Mars gave rise to its being named for the god of war and bloody conflict. In the sky, shining down from above, I often think of the color of Mars to be similar to the color of orange sherbet mixed with vanilla ice cream. I don’t think they had sherbet back in Roman times, so I guess it could also be construed as a bloody color.

Each year in Roman times Mars was celebrated once in October, and once in March, which was the month named after Mars (Martius). Mars was actually quite a powerful god, and was the father of Romulus and Remus. Romulus went on to found the city of Rome, which eventually became the great Roman Empire.

Sometimes I think of the irony of both Venus and Mars. The goddess of love and beauty’s namesake planet has nothing to do with either love or beauty; it’s hot, nasty and smelly. When I look at Mars in the early morning hours, I think of a quiet, cold, isolated planet, with a weak atmosphere and a couple of alien robotic “bugs” crawling over its isolated surface. Very unlike the fiery-tempered volatile god of Roman legend. I highly recommend you catching a glimpse of the pale peach planet in the early morning sky. You’ll notice it easily in a cloudless sky.

Until next week, my friends, enjoy the view!