The popular idea that Mars was populated by intelligent Martians exploded in the late 19th century. Īn 1893 soap ad playing on the popular idea that Mars was populated.

In ancient China, the advent of Mars was taken as a portent for 'bane, grief, war and murder'. The Sinosphere cultures refer to the planet as 火星, or the fire star, a name based on the ancient Chinese mythological cycle of Five elements. The Hebrews named it Ma'adim (מאדים) - 'the one who blushes' this is where one of the largest canyons on Mars, the Ma'adim Vallis, gets its name. The planet was known by the ancient Egyptians as 'Horus of the Horizon', then later Her Deshur (' Ḥr Dšr' ), or ' Horus the Red'. The planet is called Angaraka in Sanskrit, after the celibate god of war who possesses the signs of Aries and Scorpio, and teaches the occult sciences. In the Skanda Purana, a Hindu religious text, Mars is known as the deity Mangala (मंगल) and was born from the sweat of Shiva. The Hellenistic Greeks also called the planet Πυρόεις Pyroeis, meaning 'fiery'. Following the identification of Ares and Mars, it was translated into Latin as stella Martis, or 'star of Mars', or simply Mars. In the age of Plato, the Greeks called the planet Ἄρεως ἀστἡρ ( Areos aster), or 'star of Ares'. Whether the Greeks equated Nergal with their god of war, Ares, or whether both drew from a more ancient association is unclear. In Babylonian astronomy, the planet was named after Nergal, their deity of fire, war, and destruction, most likely due to the planet's reddish appearance. The planet Mars is named after the Roman god of war Mars. Martian geological features can trigger facial pareidolia, such as the 'Face on Mars'.

The face of mars