Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Latin word Mars appears in Old Latin texts as Mamart-, a form likely borrowed from foreign tongues. Scholars once linked this name to the Vedic storm deities known as the Maruts, though modern scholarship has rejected that direct connection. Some researchers propose a derivation from Maris, the name of an Etruscan child-god.
Early Roman culture viewed Mars not merely as a destroyer but as a guardian of crops who protected both fields and soldiers defending them. Plutarch noted that Salii priests leaped ritually to expedite crop growth during spring festivals while Cato the Elder invoked Mars Pater to guard harvests from poor weather. This dual function ensured successful yields while warding off hostile forces threatening the land.
Ovid recorded that the Matronalia festival occurred on the first day of March, marking what some calendars listed as Mars's birthday. The earliest Roman calendar placed March as the first month, aligning the god's birth with the new year. This narrative explains why Juno produced a child without male intervention after Jupiter usurped the maternal role with Minerva.
The woodpecker and the wolf stood as the most sacred animals associated with Mars throughout Roman history. A statue group along the Appian Way showed Mars accompanied by wolves during the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BCE when the appearance of the Martius lupus signaled imminent victory. These animals connected wild natural forces with human agricultural and military survival through specific rituals like the suovetaurilia sacrifice.
The Altar of Mars stood outside the sacred boundary known as the pomerium within the Campus Martius area. Tradition credited Numa Pompilius, the peace-loving second king of Rome, with establishing this altar for public purification rituals. Soldiers assembled at a temple built to fulfill a vow made by Titus Quinctius in 388 BCE before departing for war on July 15.