In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, the Machai (or Makhai) (Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

: Μάχαι; singular: Μάχη Machê or Makhê; "battles") were the daemons (spirits) of battle and combat, and were sons or daughters of Eris

Eris (mythology)

Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona...

, siblings to other vicious personifications like the Hysminai

Hysminai

The Hysminai are figures in Greek mythology. Descendants of Eris, they are personifications of battle. Quintus Smyrnaeus wrote of them in Book V of the Fall of Troy in a passage translated by Arthur Way:Around them hovered the relentless Fates;...

, the Androktasiai

Androktasiai

In Greek mythology, the Androktasiai were the female personifications of manslaughter.Hesiod in Theogony names their mother as Eris and their siblings as Lethe , Ponos , Limos , the Algea , the Hysminai , the Makhai , the Phonoi , the Neikea , the Pseudologoi , the Amphilogiai...

, and the Phonoi

Phonoi

In Greek mythology, the Phonoi were the male spirits of murder, killing and slaughter. While their sisters, the Androktasiai , presided over the slaughter of battle, they were considered to be responsible for murder and killing outside the battlefield. They were sons of Eris, goddess of strife,...

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The daemons Homados

Homados

In Greek mythology, Homados was the personification of battle-noise. He is mentioned together with other personifications having to do with war. A figure similar to him is Kydoimos....

 (Battle-Noise), Alala

Alala

Alala, , was the female personification of the war cry in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Polemos, the daemon of war. Her name means loud cry, esp. war-cry, from the onomatopoeic Greek word ἀλαλή [alalē], hence the verb ἀλαλάζω "raise the war-cry". She was an attendant of the war god...

 (War-Cry), Proioxis

Proioxis

In Greek mythology, Proioxis was the personification of onrush in battle . She is mentioned together with other personifications having to do with war....

 (Onrush), Palioxis

Palioxis

In Greek mythology, Palioxis was the personification of backrush in battle . She is mentioned together with other personifications having to do with war....

 (Backrush) and Kydoimos

Kydoimos

Kydoimos or Cydoemus was the personification of the din of battle, confusion, uproar and hubbub. He is mentioned together with other personifications having to do with war. A figure similar to him is Homados....

 (Confusion) were closely associated with the Makhai.

They were accompanied in battlefields by other deities and spirits associated with war and death, such as Ares

Ares

Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...

, Phobos

Phobos (mythology)

Phobos is the personification of horror in Greek mythology. He is the offspring of Ares and Aphrodite. He was known for accompanying Ares into battle along with his brother, Deimos, the goddess Enyo, and his father’s attendants. Timor is his Roman equivalent...

, Deimos

Deimos (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Deimos was the personification of terror.He was the son of Ares and Aphrodite. He is the twin brother of Phobos and the goddess Enyo who accompanied Ares into battle, as well as his father's attendants, Trembling, Fear, Dread, and Panic...

, the Keres

Keres (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Keres were female death-spirits. The Keres were daughters of Nyx, and as such the sisters of Fate , Doom , Death and Sleep , Strife , Old Age , Divine Retribution , Charon, and other personifications...

, Polemos

Polemos

In Greek mythology, Polemos the Daemon or god of war , brother of Enyo and the father of Alala, goddess of the war-cry.He was said to be a part of the company of war spirits which haunted the battlefield...

, Enyo

Enyo

Enyo , was an ancient goddess of war, acting as a counterpart and companion to the war god Ares. She is also identified as his sister, and daughter of Zeus and Hera, in a role closely resembling that of Eris; with Homer representing the two as the same goddess...

, and their mother Eris

Eris (mythology)

Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona...

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