Once there were two giants (also known as titans) known as the Aloadae. Their names were Ephialtes and Otos and they decided to attack the gods! They attacked the gods with mountains! They piled three mountains on top of each other like a tower! Their plan was to use the mountain tower to climb to the realm of the gods!
Ares was known as the god of war. He was strong, fierce and relentless. He rushed into battle to defeat the giants, but sometimes being strong and fierce isn’t enough. Ares was not so well known for his smarts, and he underestimated how strong the giants were. The giants managed to capture him in a vase where all of his rage and strength made no difference.
Now Ares, being the brute that he was, was not the most popular of the Greek gods, but he was still a deity after all. When the gods learned that Ares had been captured Hermes was sent to free him. Hermes was Zeus’s (the king of the gods) personal messenger. He was also a trickster and could be very sneaky. Hermes managed to free Ares from the jar, but there was still a big problem (or rather two big problems) the two giants were still “at large” and still wanted to defeat the gods and rule over their home.
It was not a god of war that defeated the giants in the end, but clever Artemis. Artemis was a goddess that loved the forest and had a tendency to keep to herself. Artemis was known as the goddess of the hunt, and it was her knowledge of hunting and nature that let her defeat the giants. She turned herself into a deer and ran in between the two giants. They both drew their bows and fired at her but missed and hit each other instead.
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Sources
https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/AresMyths.html
https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Hermes.html
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