Status Updates From The One-eyed God: Odin and ...

Tribes would send young men into woods to
form bands and learn how to be men. Sometimes these bands went renegade and even formed their own strongholds. Romulus, the founder of Rome, did this by uniting a group of outcasts and bandits.

Average size of a band was 50. Sometimes they would gather together to form small armies of 150. Each had its own Chief. Stories follow the chieftains, who make the bands special.

Violence is a part of life, despite what modern Westerners may want to believe. The ancients undestood this and they also understood the problem of, "What do we do with our young men?" Tribes would send their young men off into the wilderness to learn how to hunt and to 'rough it' in cold weather, so that they would grow strong. At the same time they would have masculine mentors who taught how to be men, not demons.

Italic people thought of Mars not only as the god of war but also the god of spiritual warfare, the one who protects against evil spirits. They also conceptualized ancestors returning to earth as a Lar Militaris, a youthful spirit armed with a spear and a dog. This Lar would protect the fields from ancient spirits, and would be honored at the family hearth. Mars was a Lar that ascended into great godhood.