InGreek mythology, theMachai orMachae (Ancient Greek:Μάχαi,lit. 'Battles, Wars', from the plural ofμάχη)^[1] are collectively the personification of battle and war. InHesiod'sTheogony, the Machai are listed among the children ofEris (Strife).^[2] Like all of the children of Eris given by Hesiod, the Machai are a personified abstraction, allegorizing the meaning of their name, and representing one of the many harmful things which might be thought to result from discord and strife, with no other identity.^[3]

Hesiod'sTheogony, line 228, lists four personified plural abstractions, theHysminai (Combats), the Machai (Battles), thePhonoi (Murders), and theAndroktasiai (Slaughters), as being among the offspring of Eris (Strife):

Ὑσμίνας τε Μάχας τε Φόνους τ’ Ἀνδροκτασίας τε^[4]

These four abstractions were associated in other ancient poetry. The same four, in the same order, occur in a line from Homer'sOdyssey, whereOdysseus describes the decorations on Heracles' golden belt:

ὑσμῖναί τε μάχαι τε φόνοι τ᾿ ἀνδροκτασίαι τε.^[5]

The abstractionμάχαι (battles) was also associated withὑσμῖναί (combats) in theHomeric Hymn 5To Aphrodite, and withἀνδροκτασίαι (Slaughters) in Homer's,Iliad.^[6]

That the Machai, the personification of battle and wars, would be considered to be the sons of Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, is fitting.^[7] War is associated with Eris, for example, in Hesiod'sworks and Days, which says that Eris "fosters evil war and conflict", and in Homer'sIliad, where Eris is called a "sister and comrade" ofAres, and holds in her hands "a portent of war".^[8]

• Polemus

• Caldwell, Richard,Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987).ISBN 978-0-941051-00-2.Internet Archive.

• Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1),ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).

• Hard, Robin,The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN 9780415186360.Google Books.

• Homer,Iliad, Volume I: Books 1-12, translated by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt,Loeb Classical Library No. 170, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press, 1999.Online version at Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0-674-99579-6.
• Homer,Iliad, Volume II: Books 13-24, translated by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt,Loeb Classical Library No. 171, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press, 1999.Online version at Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0-674-99580-2.
• Homer,Odyssey, Volume I: Books 1-12, translated by A. T. Murray, revised by George E. Dimock,Loeb Classical Library No. 104, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1998 (first published 1919).ISBN 978-0-674-99561-1.Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Homeric Hymn 5To Aphrodite, inHomeric Hymns. Homeric Apocrypha. Lives of Homer, edited and translated by Martin L. West,Loeb Classical Library No. 496, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press, 2003.ISBN 978-0-674-99606-9.Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Liddell, Henry George,Robert Scott,A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie,Clarendon Press Oxford, 1940.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Most, G.W.,Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most,Loeb Classical Library No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press, 2018.ISBN 978-0-674-99720-2.Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Nünlist, Rene,s.v. Eris, inBrill’s New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.
• West, M. L. (1966),Hesiod: Theogony, Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-814169-6.

• Greek war deities
• War goddesses
• Greek goddesses
• Personifications in Greek mythology
• Children of Eris (mythology)

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• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text