Contemplations in Red
1. Mars was named after the Roman god of war. Before the Romans, the Greeks called the red planet ‘Ares’—the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Mars. Even before the Greeks and the Romans, the Babylonians named it ‘Nergal’ after their god of fire, destruction and war. The symbol for the planet Mars is a circle with an arrow appearing from its upper right. This is supposed to depict a shield and spear. The red planet has a long history of being associated with war and bloodshed.
2. With reddish soils that look entirely soaked in blood, Mars gets its tint from the iron oxide in the dust on its surface. The presence of iron in our hemoglobin is also what paints our blood red. If, however, our hemoglobin were based on copper and not iron, our blood would be green. Then, perhaps, we would have named our own planet, with all its greenery, after the god of war. Wouldn’t that be an apt name?