Neither the sun nor the moon is a planet, but the other days of the week share their patron gods with the planets. .
Tuesday, named for the god of war, is the next day of the week. Originally called hemera Areos, Tuesday is the day of Ares, Greek god of war. When the Romans changed the names of the gods and the planets, this day became dies Martis, in honor of Mars. Also, the planet Mars honors the Roman god of war. Later, the British people changed the name to tiwesdg, to honor Tiu, the nearest equivalent to Mars. One difference between Mars and Tiu is Tiu is the patron of the sky as well as war. Although war is destructive, it was and is still very common throughout the world. In some cases, war has prompted social and political change for the better. Thus, war seems to deserve a day of honor, along with the other honored gods.
The fourth day of the week is Wednesday, who is named for a multi-talented god. This day is hemera Hermu, or the day of Hermes in ancient Greek, and dies Mercurii, the day of Mercury, in Latin. However, in Old English, Wednesday was wodnesdg, or Woden's day. Every one of these versions of the patron god of Wednesday has a large number of areas of expertise. For instance, both Hermes and Mercury were "the messenger and herald for the other gods- and the god of commerce, travel, thieves, and science. Hermes also happened to be the conductor of the dead to Hades. Woden, however, is completely unlike the other two gods. Woden, who is "god of fury and violent death poetry and speech,"" is the main god of the Anglo-Saxons, among other attributes. The result of their wide range of responsibilities is each one of these gods deserves a day of honor.
Following Wednesday is the fifth day of the week, Thursday, the day that honors the thunder god. In Greece this day was called hemera Dios and honored Zeus, the god of gods and thunder. The Roman counterpart of Zeus, Jupiter, gave his name to the Latin dies Jovis.
