• Question: Why is Mars called that?

    Asked by anon-271011 on 27 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Kate Dobson

      Kate Dobson answered on 27 Nov 2020:

      Mars was named by the Romans after their god of war because of its red (blood like) colour

    • Photo: Ben Pritchard

      Ben Pritchard answered on 30 Nov 2020:

      The Roman’s named the planets they could see after their gods. They named Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
      Mars was named after the Roman’s god of war due to its red colour.
      Mercury was named after the messenger of the gods due to its speed.
      Venus was named after their goddess of love and beauty due to its brightness.
      Jupiter was named after their king of the gods, due to its size.
      And Saturn was named after their god of agriculture (farming) and time, due to it being the slowest of the 5 bright planets.
      To complete the planets, Uranus was named after the Greek god of the sky and Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea due to its blue colour. These 2 planets were named later after they were found using powerful telescopes.
      Pluto used to be a planet and was named after the Roman god of the underworld. This was suggested by an 11 year old girl, Venetia Burney!

Comments