Karalora

"Peace," as contrasted to war, is the absence of war. It's a lot more difficult to symbolize the absence of something than the thing itself. The Greek god of peace, so to speak, is Ares leaving you alone.

Also, what makes a deity a "war god?" Must the god be characterized as enjoying war and encouraging it among mortals, or must he/she merely be a common target of worship by mortal warriors and soldiers? A great many pagan deities could fill the role of a warrior if need be, but it wasn't their primary function.

premjan

There was a Greek Goddess of Peace - Eirine.

Karalora

D'oh! ^ I knew that. Really. Hopefully, my temporary brain fart doesn't obscure my point.

general_koffi

Human civilization is shaped by conflict.

Laurentius

Human civilization is shaped by adaptation (Man makes a highly adaptable species), but there aren't striking gods of adjustment, as there are of war.

Ojuice5001

I say this is because gods have an attitude that adjusting to new circumstances is a necessary evil, rather than something they like. One class of humans who strongly associates with the gods, the priesthood, tends to have a similar attitude. And in this respect the average priest resembles the gods more than the average person does.

The gods are quite capable of adapting to new circumstances if they have to, but that doesn't mean that they like it. A god like Yahweh is able to change with the times without ever forgetting that he much prefers the biblical and medieval ages to the way things are in modern times. Since gods don't enjoy adjusting to new circumstances, most of them wouldn't want to be the god of adjustment, and therefore it doesn't happen very often.

This analysis implies that the gods don't have an especially strong preference for war rather than peace, while they do have a strong preference for the status quo rather than some kind of new world order. And of course, this is conclusion is very much in line with the way the gods have usually revealed themselves and governed this world.

IvanJames

I know that I'd be a hell of a lot more likely to pray if I were just about to go to war! (In a primitive society, that is) I mean, if you're going into danger, you're a lot more likely to want supernatural protection, or at least a promise of an afterlife. How else are you going to convince the young men of the village to endanger themselves?

Laurentius

Then why don't women have their peace goddess (or the like)? There was a period of matriarchate when such deity should have been revered, don't you think?