For other uses, see Aras

Aras

Aras may refer to:*Aras , an autochthon in Greek mythology, father of Araethyrea and Aoris*ARAS, the Ascending Reticular Activating System*ARAS, the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism...

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...

, Aras was an autochthon who was believed to have built Arantea, the most ancient town in Phliasia

Phlius

Phlius was a Greek city in the northwestern Argolid, in the Peloponnese, said to be named after the Greek hero, Phlias. Although geographically close to Argos, the city became a Spartan ally and a member of the Peloponnesian League....

, Peloponnese. He had a son called Aoris, and a daughter called Araethyraea. The latter is said to have been fond of chase and warlike pursuits; she was also the mother of Phlias

Phlias

Phlias, Phlius, or Phliasus, was the son of Dionysus and Chthonophyle in Greek mythology. A native of Araithyrea in Argolis, he is mentioned as one of the Argonauts...

 by Dionysus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

. When she died, her brother called the country of Phliasia after her Araethyrea. The monuments of Araethyrea and her brother, consisting of round pillars, were still extant in the time of Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

; and before the mysteries of Demeter

Demeter

In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...

 were commenced at Phlius

Phlius

Phlius was a Greek city in the northwestern Argolid, in the Peloponnese, said to be named after the Greek hero, Phlias. Although geographically close to Argos, the city became a Spartan ally and a member of the Peloponnesian League....

, the people always invoked Aras and his two children with their faces turned towards their monuments.