Topical Encyclopedia
The Areopagus, also known as Mars Hill, is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. In ancient times, it served as the meeting place for the council of elders, known as the Areopagite Council, which was a significant judicial and legislative body in Athens. The name "Areopagus" is derived from Ares, the Greek god of war, and "pagos," meaning "hill" or "rock."
Biblical SignificanceThe Areopagus holds particular significance in the New Testament, specifically in the Book of Acts. It is the site where the Apostle Paul delivered one of his most famous speeches, addressing the philosophers and thinkers of Athens. This event is recorded in
Acts 17:16-34.
Paul's Speech at the AreopagusWhile waiting for his companions in Athens, Paul was deeply troubled by the city's idolatry. He began to reason in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him and brought him to the Areopagus, curious about his teachings.
In
Acts 17:22-23 , Paul begins his address: "Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you."
Paul used this opportunity to introduce the Athenians to the one true God, the Creator of the universe, who does not dwell in temples made by human hands. He emphasized God's transcendence and immanence, declaring that God is not far from each one of us. In
Acts 17:28 , Paul quotes their own poets, saying, "For in Him we live and move and have our being."
Paul's message at the Areopagus was a call to repentance, urging the Athenians to turn from their idolatry and recognize the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the assurance of God's coming judgment.
Acts 17:30-31 states, "Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead."
Response to Paul's MessageThe response to Paul's message at the Areopagus was mixed. Some mocked him, particularly at the mention of the resurrection, while others expressed interest and wanted to hear more. Notably, a few individuals believed and joined Paul, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, as well as others (
Acts 17:32-34).
Cultural and Historical ContextThe Areopagus was a center of intellectual and cultural exchange in ancient Athens, a city renowned for its philosophical heritage. The presence of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers highlights the diverse philosophical landscape of the time. Epicureans generally pursued pleasure as the highest good, while Stoics emphasized rationality and self-control. Paul's engagement with these philosophers demonstrates his ability to contextualize the Gospel message within the cultural and intellectual milieu of his audience.
Theological ImplicationsPaul's speech at the Areopagus underscores the universality of the Gospel message and the call to repentance for all people, regardless of their cultural or religious background. It highlights the sovereignty of God as Creator and Judge, as well as the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of Christian faith. The event serves as a model for Christian engagement with diverse worldviews, emphasizing the importance of proclaiming the truth of the Gospel with clarity and conviction.
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
Areopagusthe hill of Mars
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Areopagus[MARS HILL? HILL]
ATS Bible Dictionary
AreopagusThe hill of Mars, the seat of the ancient and venerable supreme court of Athens, called the Areopagites,Acts 17:19-34. It was composed entirely of ex-archons, of grave and blameless character, and their wise and just decisions made it famous far beyond the bounds of Greece. Their numbers and authority varied greatly from age to age. They held their sessions by night. They took cognizance of murders, impieties, and immoralities; punished vices of all kinds, idleness included; rewarded or assisted the virtuous; and were peculiarly attentive to blasphemies against the gods, and to the performance of the sacred mysteries. The case of Paul, therefore, would naturally come before them, for he sought to subvert their whole system of idolatry, and establish Christianity in its place. The Bible narrative, however, rather describes an informal popular movement. Having heard Paul discoursing from day to day in the market place, the philosophic and inquisitive Athenians took him one day up into the adjacent hill, for a more full and quiet exposition of his doctrine. The stone seats of the Areopagus lay open to the sky; in the court stood Epicureans, Stoics, etc.; around them spread the city, full of idolaters and their temples; and little south-east rose the steep height of the Acropolis, on whose level summit were crowded more and richer idolatrous structures than on any other equal space in the world. Amid this scene, Paul exhibited the sin and folly of idol-worship with such boldness and power, that none could refute him, and some were converted.
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The Latin form of the Greek word rendered "Mars' hill." But it denotes also the council or court of justice which met in the open air on the hill. It was a rocky height to the west of the Acropolis at Athens, on the south-east summit of which the council was held which was constituted by Solon, and consisted of nine archons or chief magistrates who were then in office, and the ex-archons of blameless life.
On this hill of Mars (Gr. Ares) Paul delivered his memorable address to the "men of Athens" (Acts 17:22-31).
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
(
n.) The highest judicial court at Athens. Its sessions were held on Mars' Hill. Hence, any high court or tribunal
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
AREOPAGUSar-e-op'-a-gus (Areios pagos;Acts 17:19, 22. Mars' Hill, 17:22 the King James Version): A sort of spur jutting out from the western end of the Acropolis and separated from it by a very short saddle. Traces of old steps cut in the rock are still to be seen. Underneath are deep grottoes, once the home of the Eumenides (Furies). On the flat surface of the summit are signs still visible of a smoothing of the stone for seats. Directly below to the North was the old Athenian agora, or market-place. To the East, on the descent from the Acropolis, could be seen in antiquity a small semicircular platform-the orchestra-from which rose the precipitous rock of the citadel. Here the booksellers kept their stalls; here the work of Anaxagoras could be bought for a drachma; from here his physical philosophy was disseminated, then, through Euripides, the poetic associate of Socrates and the sophists, leavened the drama, and finally reached the people of Athens. Then came the Stoics and Epicureans who taught philosophy and religion as a system, not as a faith, and spent their time in searching out some new thing in creed and dogma and opinion. Five centuries earlier Socrates was brought to this very Areopagus to face the charges of his accusers.
To this same spot the apostle Paul came almost five hundred years after 399 B.C., when the Attic martyr was executed, with the same earnestness, the same deep-rooted convictions, and with even greater ardor, to meet the philosophers of fashion. The Athenian guides will show you the exact place where the apostle stood, and in what direction he faced when he addressed his audience. No city has ever seen such a forest of statues as studded the market-place, the streets and the sides and summit of the Acropolis of Athens. A large part of this wealth of art was in full view of the speaker, and the apostle naturally made this extraordinary display of votive statues and offerings the starting-point of his address. He finds the Athenians extremely religious. He had found an altar to a god unknown. Then he develops theme of the great and only God, not from the Hebrew, but from the Greek, the Stoic point of view. His audiences consisted, on the one hand, of the advocates of prudence as the means, and pleasure as the end (the Epicureans); on the other, of the advocates of duty, of living in harmony with the intelligence which rules the world for good. He frankly expresses his sympathy with the nobler principles of the Stoic doctrine. But neither Stoic nor Epicurean could believe the declarations of the apostle: the latter believed death to be the end of all things, the former thought that the soul at death was absorbed again into that from which it sprang. Both understood Paul as proclaiming to them in Jesus and Anastasis ("resurrection") some new deities. When they finally ascertained that Jesus was ordained by God to judge the world, and that Anastasis was merely the resurrection of the dead, they were disappointed. Some scoffed, others departed, doubtless with the feeling that they had already given audience too long to such a fanatic.
The Areopagus, or Hill of Ares, was the ancient seat of the court of the same name, the establishment of which leads us far back into the mythical period long before the dawn of history. This court exercised the right of capital punishment. In 594 B.C. the jurisdiction in criminal cases was given to the archons who had discharged the duties of their office well and honorably, consequently to the noblest, richest and most distinguished citizens of Athens. The Areopagus saw that the laws in force were observed and executed by the properly constituted authorities; it could bring officials to trial for their acts while in office, even raise objections to all resolutions of the Council and of the General Assembly, if the court perceived a danger to the state, or subversion of the constitution. The Areopagus also protected the worship of the gods, the sanctuaries and sacred festivals, and the olive trees of Athens; and it supervised the religious sentiments of the people, the moral conduct of the citizens, as well as the education of the youth.
Without waiting for a formal accusation the Areopagus could summon any citizen to court, examine, convict and punish him. Under unusual circumstances full powers could be granted by the people to this body for the conduct of various affairs of state; when the safety of the city was menaced, the court acted even without waiting for full power to be conferred upon it. The tenure of office was for life, and the number of members without restriction. The court sat at night at the end of each month and for three nights in succession. The place of meeting was a simple house, built of clay, which was still to be seen in the time of Vitruvius. The Areopagus, hallowed by the sacred traditions of the past, a dignified and august body, was independent of and uninfluenced by the wavering discordant multitude, and was not affected by the ever-changing public opinion. Conservative almost to a fault, it did the state good service by holding in check the too rash and radical younger spirits. When the democratic party came to power, after Cimon's banishment, one of its first acts was to limit the powers of the Areopagus. By the law of Ephialtes in 460 the court lost practically all jurisdiction. The supervision of the government was transferred to the nomophulakes (law-guardians). At the end of the Peloponnesian war, however, in 403 its old rights were restored. The court remained in existence down to the time of the emperors. FromActs 17:19, 22 we learn that it existed in the time of Claudius. One of its members was converted to the Christian faith (17:34). It was probably abolished by Vespasian.
As to whether Paul was "forcibly apprehended and formally tried," see Conybeare and Howson, The Life and Epistles of Paul, chapter x, and The Expositor, 5th series, II, 209, 261 (Ramsay).
LITERATURE.
P. W. Forchhammer, De Areopago (Kiel, 1828); Philippi, Der A. und die Epheten (Leipzig, 1874); Lange, Die Epheten und der A. vor Solon (Leipzig, 1874).
J. E. Harry
Greek
697. Areios Pagos -- "the Hill of Ares,"Areopagus, a hill in...Areios Pagos. 696, 697. Areios Pagos. 698 . "the Hill of Ares,"
Areopagus,
a hill in Athens. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: Areios Pagos
...698. Areopagites -- a judge of the court ofAreopagus
... a judge of the court ofAreopagus. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration:
Areopagites Phonetic Spelling: (ar-eh-op-ag-ee'-tace) Short Definition...
Library
What Varro Reports About the TermAreopagus, and About Deucalion's...
... Book XVIII. Chapter 10."What Varro Reports About the TermAreopagus, and
About Deucalion's Flood. Marcus Varro, however, is not...
Acts xvii. 16, 17
... [870] "And having taken him, they brought him to theAreopagus" (v.19)"not to punish,
but in order to... (g) (Then) why did they hale him to theAreopagus?...
Paul's Great Speech at Athens
... from the dead. And they took him to the Court ofAreopagus and said, "May
we hear what this new teaching of yours is? For the things...
Farewell
... birthplace the city of Athens, where Paul, the greatest apostle of Jesus Christ,
uttered his immortal oration to the Athenians, on theAreopagus (Mars Hill)....
Paul in Athens.
... "And they took him, and brought him untoAreopagus." TheAreopagus was a court of
great authority, which derived its name from the place where its meetings...
Acts XVII
... few. (19) "And they took him and led him to theAreopagus, saying, Can
we know what this new doctrine is, of which you speak? (20...
Contemporary Pagan and Heretical Hymns
... Paul was obviously acquainted with the Hymn of Cleanthes, a Stoic writer of the
third century, BC, for he quoted his words on theAreopagus....
First Day in New York
... of the Scriptures, be he a Christian or philosopher of the Epicurean or the Stoic
system that could reasonably argue that the oration on theAreopagus made by...
Professor of Sanskrit, Bengali, and Marathi
... grammar and begun a dictionary, while he had continually used its great epics in
preaching to the Brahmans, as Paul had quoted the Greek poets on theAreopagus...
Character of the Times in which the Christian Religion was...
... Joseph the Arimathean was of the Jewish sanhedrim, Dionysius of the Athenian,Areopagus,
and Flavius Clemens, of the Roman senate; nay, at the time of his death...
Thesaurus
Areopagus (3 Occurrences)...AREOPAGUS. ar-e-op'-a-gus (Areios pagos; Acts 17:19, 22.
... Five centuries earlier Socrates
was brought to this very
Areopagus to face the charges of his accusers.
...Are-op'agus (2 Occurrences)
Are-op'agus.Areopagus, Are-op'agus. Areopolis . Multi-Version Concordance
Are-op'agus (2 Occurrences)....Areopagus, Are-op'agus. Areopolis . Reference Bible
Athens (5 Occurrences)
... On his second missionary journey Paul visited this city (Acts 17:15; Comp. 1
Thessalonians 3:1), and delivered in theAreopagus his famous speech (17:22-31)....
Areopagite (1 Occurrence)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary A member of the court ofAreopagus (Acts 17:34). Noah
Webster's Dictionary. (n.) A member of theAreopagus. Int....
Mars (2 Occurrences)
... TheAreopagus or rocky hill in Athens, north-west of the Acropolis, where the Athenian
supreme tribunal and court of morals was held.... (seeAREOPAGUS.)....
Over-religious (1 Occurrence)
... Acts 17:22 And Paul, having stood in the midst of theAreopagus, said, 'Men,
Athenians, in all things I perceive you as over-religious; (YLT)....
Whereof (94 Occurrences)
... (ASV). Acts 17:19 And they took him, and brought him untoAreopagus, saying, May
we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? (KJV)....
Follows (65 Occurrences)
... Acts 17:22 So Paul, taking his stand in the centre of theAreopagus, spoke as follows:
"Men of Athens, I perceive that you are in every respect remarkably...
Respects (13 Occurrences)
... Acts 17:22 Paul stood in the middle of theAreopagus, and said, "You men of Athens,
I perceive that you are very religious in all things. (See NAS)....
Remarkably (1 Occurrence)
... Acts 17:22 So Paul, taking his stand in the centre of theAreopagus, spoke as follows:
"Men of Athens, I perceive that you are in every respect remarkably...
Resources
What was the Areopagus? | GotQuestions.orgWhat happened at Mars Hill in the Bible? | GotQuestions.orgWho is the unknown god in Acts 17:23? | GotQuestions.orgAreopagus: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.comBible Concordance •
Bible Dictionary •
Bible Encyclopedia •
Topical Bible •
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