place · also Areopagite
Areopagus
Ἄρειος Πάγος
- verses
- 3
- first named
- Acts 17:19
- last named
- Acts 17:33
- feature
- hill
- coordinates
- 37.97°N · 23.72°E
Areopagus (OpenBible)
The gazetteer records one identification, and no competing one.
Description
Areopagus in the text
The Areopagus, also known as Mars Hill, was a prominent hill located in the city of Athens, Greece. It served as a meeting place for the Athenian council, which was responsible for judicial and legislative matters in the city. The Areopagus is most notably mentioned in Acts 17 in connection with the Apostle Paul's visit to Athens during his second missionary journey.
According to Act.17.19, some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered Paul and brought him to the Areopagus to inquire about his teachings. They were intrigued by Paul's message about Jesus and the resurrection, which they considered to be foreign concepts.
Standing in the midst of the Areopagus, Paul delivered a powerful speech, addressing the religious and philosophical beliefs of the Athenians (Act.17.22-31). He observed that the city was full of idols and even found an altar dedicated to an "unknown god." Paul used this as a starting point to proclaim the one true God, the Creator of all things, who is not confined to man-made temples or idols.
Paul's message at the Areopagus emphasized the sovereignty of God, the need for repentance, and the reality of the resurrection and coming judgment through Jesus Christ. While some mocked Paul's message, others believed, including Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus council, and a woman named Damaris (Act.17.34).
The account of Paul's preaching at the Areopagus demonstrates his ability to engage with the intellectual and philosophical currents of his time, adapting his message to the audience while remaining faithful to the core truths of the gospel. It also highlights the challenges and opportunities the early church faced in proclaiming the message of Christ in a diverse and pluralistic society.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
Stands in the same events as
- Paul4 events
The pattern
Where Areopagus is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
3 verses across 1 of 66 books; 65 write the name nowhere. Named in Acts (3).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 3, across 1 book.
Onward
Where this page goes
Nothing in the graph stands one hop from this entity yet. These are the best-connected entities of the same type, so the page still ends somewhere. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Sources