Areopagus. air´ee-op´uh-guhs (Gk. Areios pagos G740, “hill of Ares,” also known as “Mars’ Hill”; Ares was the Gk. god of war, corresponding to Mars in the Roman pantheon). A large, irregular outcropping of limestone about 380 ft. (115 m.) high. It lies NW of the Acropolis, to which it is connected by a low, narrow saddle, and overlooks the agora, the marketplace of classical and Hellenistic Athens. Areopagus is also the name of the council that met on Mars’ Hill, a court dating back to legendary times, and in NT days still charged with questions of morals and the rights of teachers who lectured in public. Its importance was enhanced under the Romans. Paul was brought to the Areopagus to be examined regarding his teaching (Acts 17:19-22). Before these “solid citizens,” the bulwark of civic and religious conservatism, Paul met the mocking taunts of the Epicureans and the Stoics, adherents of two of that day’s most popular philosophies. His address is today more widely read than any of the writings of the philosophers and is almost the only means by which we remember the Council of Areopagus. Paul’s mission in Athens produced numerically scant results, and the founding of no church is recorded; but Dionysius the Areopagite, one of the members of this honorable court, and a woman named Damaris were among those who “became followers of Paul and believed” (17:34).
Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Copyright © 1987, 2011 by Zondervan.
