Diomedes
The extended battle sequence in Iliad Books 5-6 where Diomedes wounds both Aphrodite and Ares, the only mortal to injure two Olympians.
The Meaning of Diomedes
He stabbed the goddess of love in the hand and then drove a spear into the god of war's stomach — all in the same afternoon. Athena granted Diomedes the ability to see gods on the battlefield and the courage to fight them. He wounded Aphrodite in the wrist when she tried to rescue her son Aeneas — ichor, not blood, flowed. Aphrodite fled to Olympus weeping. Then Diomedes faced Ares himself, and with Athena guiding his spear, drove it into the war god's belly. Ares screamed with the voice of ten thousand men and fled to Zeus. No other mortal in the Iliad fights gods directly. Achilles is stronger, but Diomedes's aristeia is the Iliad's most theologically audacious passage.
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Aristeia of Diomedes
💭 conceptwar, heroism
The battle sequence in Iliad Book 5 where Diomedes, empowered by Athena, wounds both Aphrodite and Ares, achieving the extraordinary feat of harming immortal gods.
Gigantomachy
💭 conceptwar, cosmology
The great battle between the Olympian gods and the Giants, fought to defend the divine order established after the Titanomachy.
Aristeia
💭 conceptA hero's finest hour of battle glory
An aristeia was a warrior's supreme moment of battlefield excellence — the extended passage in Homer where a hero dominates and is almost godlike in combat.
The Trojan War
💭 conceptWar, fate, heroism
A ten-year siege of Troy by a coalition of Greek kings, sparked by the abduction of Helen and shaped by the rivalries of the gods.
Amazonomachy
💭 conceptwar, gender
The recurring mythological battles between Greek heroes and the Amazons, depicted on temples and pottery as a symbol of civilisation's triumph over the "other."
Theomachy
💭 conceptmythology
Battle against or among the gods — narratives in which gods fight each other or in which mortals dare to oppose divine power directly.
Menos
💭 conceptHeroic Spirit
The divine battle fury breathed into warriors by the gods, enabling superhuman feats in combat.
God of War
💭 conceptWar, bloodlust, battle rage, courage
Ares embodies the brutal, violent side of warfare and was feared even by his fellow Olympians.
Goddess of Wisdom
💭 conceptWisdom, strategy, crafts, warfare
Athena embodies strategic intelligence, skilled craftsmanship, and disciplined warfare, standing as protector of civilized life.
Theseus and the Amazons
💭 conceptNarrative
The Athenian king's conflict with the warrior women that brought war to the gates of Athens itself
Battle of Salamis
💭 conceptwar, divine intervention
The 480 BC naval battle where the Greek fleet destroyed the Persian armada in the straits of Salamis, attributed to the intervention of Ajax and the Aeacidae heroes.
Battle of Marathon
💭 conceptwar, divine intervention
The 490 BC battle where Athenian hoplites defeated Persia, believed by the Greeks to have been won with the aid of Pan, Theseus, and the hero Echetlus.