According to the National Audubon Society’s Field Guide to the Night Sky, the planet “Mars has the most distinctive color of any of the planets, a reddish gleam that reminded the ancients of blood; hence they named it for the god of war, Mars …” (650).
       Destination Mars in Art, Myth and Science, describes the god Mars importance to the Romans: they considered him “to be their protector” and “the father of Romulus and Remus , the legendary founders of Rome”.  Accordingly, Mars worship spread to “distant lands, because he was considered the spiritual commander in chief of the Roman Army”.  For example, Germanic tribes adopted “Roman rituals” and elevated their war god, Ziu, to a more prominent position; “Ziu’s powers had always been respected, but enhanced by Roman influence, the god became a renewed symbol of strength” (Barbree, Caidin, Wright 31-32).
         Another aspect of the god Mars is found in astrology, in the zodiac sign of Aries.  Persons born under this sign supposedly possess some of Mars’ attributes – masculine, aggressive, independent, forthright, brave, and adventurous (Barbree, Caidin, Wright 40-41).
         Although the god Mars is considered to be a myth, the fact that he inspired the most powerful empire in western civilization is not.  During the reign of Augustus, “the worship of Mars gained new impetus” (Barbree, Caidin, Wright 32) and the Roman Empire “dominated Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East” (Barbree, Caidin, Wright 30).  Likewise, for the millions of ardent astrology followers, particularly those born under the sign of Aries and believe they possess some of his characteristics, he is no myth.
        According to Barbree, Caidin, and Wright “It was Johannes Kepler’s study of the motion of Mars that finally led to the discovery that the orbits of the planets are elliptical, …” (52). He made this discovery by imagining “what the motion of Mars would look like from the position of the Sun.  His answer was the ellipse, with the Sun positioned at one of its foci” (54). Kepler is also credited with authoring “one of the first works of science fiction” – Somnium (The Dream; 1634) :

In it Kepler described a dream journey to the Moon and the lunar mountains and valleys that Galileo had discovered with his telescope.  He also envisioned inhabitants who had adapted to the extremes of hot and cold, constructing the hollows on the surface (a feat compared to Egyptian pyramid building and foreshadowing the great Martian canal theory).  Kepler also described Earth as it would be seen from space. (56)

War of the worlds began innocently enough as a remote feed from a nonexistent hotel, covering the orchestra of Ramon Raquello.  Almost immediately announcers interrupted the program to inform the American    public that blasts of incandescent gas had been observed ripping away from Mars at specific and regular intervals.  The Martians were coming!  (Barbree, Caidin, Wright 7)

People actually believed that Martians were invading us, “Many of the audience heard the warnings that this was merely fiction, but they believed that the exhortations to remain calm were lies.  They thought it was the government’s way of controlling the situation” (Barbree, Caidin, Wright 11).  Also, to spice things up, “fate added its own spectacular touch … Meteorites flashed through the night skies, and what usually would have been barely noticed now became evidence of Martian invaders” (10).
        Not to be outdone, Hollywood has made several movies about Mars -- one that I watched recently was titled Mission to Mars.  It's about a failed attempt to colonize Mars.  There is some drama, then a catastrophic storm kills all but one of the colonials -- the camera pans to a huge sculpture of a  face.  More drama ... then the rescue mission loses one of its team before reaching Mars.  They eventually arrive, find the lone survivor, then make their way into the face sculpture, and encounter an alien being.  The alien reveals that Mars was once inhabited, however there was a mass exodus and it just happened that they sent a spacecraft to Earth -- to quote one of the characters, "they seeded Earth".  Although the intent of the movie was to provide science fiction entertainment, the notion that life may have existed on Mars, whether sentient or microscopic has mystified us for years.
        Which leads to another phenomenon of the 20th century, quasi-science fiction – the belief that Mars once sustained life and could possibly sustain life again.  Perpetrated by events such as:  NASA announcing that a meteorite found on Antarctica indicates that “a primitive form of microscopic life may have existed on Mars” (Barbree, Caidin, Wright 1).  Or “Satellite images … suggest that the planet, … was once warmer and wetter” which indicates it once had “an environment more habitable than today’s” (Cowen 1).  Sawyer's article, A Mars Never Dreamed Of, furthers the notion of water existing on Mars.  She describes a scene of scientists pouring over images sent by the Mars Global Surveyor, and deducing the possibility of water existing on Mars not only in the past but recently.  However, they won't commit and declare that Mars has water on it until they have more substantial data (2).
        From god to celestial body Mars continues to intrigue us.  In ancient times Mars was a god that inspired the creation of an empire and fear in the heart of his enemies.  Today Mars inspires hope on extending mankind’s empire and fear of the unknown.