The Ares Borghese

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The Ares Borghese is a Roman marble statue of the Imperial era (1st or 2nd century AD). The figure has been identified as Ares by the helmet and by the inclusion of an ankle ring,  given to Ares by his lover Aphrodite. There has long been conjecture that the work may have derived from a Greek model, but the cult and representations of Ares are very rare in the ancient Greek world, especially in sculpture. So it is more likely to be a wholly Roman creation, reflecting the taste in Rome at the time for reliefs and statues of the Greek Classical (5th–4th centuries BCE) and Archaic (6th century BCE) periods.

It was originally part of the Borghese collection - from which it obviously derives its name - but was purchased by Napoléon in 1807, and now resides in the Louvre. The figure is nearly seven feet tall. It has endured a fair amount of damage and repair over the centuries; the top of the helmet is lost and the arms are reconstructions. This figure "type" was widely copied and adapted, with examples appearing throughout the empire. Apparently, it was frequently paired with statues of the Venus de Milo "type", the couple then symbolizing the union between war and peace; the sculptures were sometimes given the features of the reigning emperor and his empress. 

An imagined reconstitution in plaster of a Venus/Mars (Ares) group incorporating the Ares Borghese and the Venus de
Milo, the work of French philosopher, polymath, and Curator of Classical Antiquities at the Louvre, Félix Ravaisson.