The Areopagus or rocky hill in Athens, north-west of the Acropolis, where the Athenian supreme tribunal and court of morals was held. From some part of this hill Paul delivered the address recorded in Acts 17:22-31. (See AREOPAGUS.)
Mars' Hill
Paul has been walking through Athens, and the people there are curious enough to bring him to the Areopagus, or Mars’ hill, to explain himself. He begins with something he saw, an altar “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD,” and says he can tell them who this is. God made the world, needs nothing from us, and is “not far from every one of us.” Paul even quotes one of their own poets. When he mentions the resurrection, some mock, some ask to hear more, and a few believe. Acts 17:16-34 is the whole account.
16 verses
Acts
Acts 17:19
And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
Acts 17:20
For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
Acts 17:21
(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
Acts 17:22
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
Acts 17:23
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Acts 17:24
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Acts 17:25
Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Acts 17:26
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Acts 17:27
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Acts 17:28
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Acts 17:29
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
Acts 17:30
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Acts 17:31
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Acts 17:32
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
Acts 17:33
So Paul departed from among them.
Acts 17:34
Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
From Easton's Bible Dictionary
Matthew George Easton, 1897
From Smith's Bible Dictionary
William Smith, 1884
the hill of Mars or Ares, better known by the name of Areopagus, of which hill of Mars or Ares is a translation. The Areopagus was a rocky height in Athens, opposite the western end of the Acropolis. It rises gradually from the northern end, and terminates abruptly on the south, over against the Acropolis, at which point it is about fifty or sixty feet above the valley. The spot is memorable as the place of meeting of the Council of Areopagus. This body existed as a criminal tribunal before the time of Solon, and was the most ancient and venerable of all the Athenian courts. It consisted of all persons who had held the office of archon, and who were members of the council for life unless expelled for misconduct. Before the time of Solon the court tried only cases of willful murder, wounding, poison, and arson: but he gave it extensive powers of a censorial and political nature. The council continued to exist even under the Roman emperors. Its meetings were held on the southeastern summit of the rock. The Areopagus possesses peculiar interest to the Christian as the spot from which St. Paul delivered his memorable address to the men of Athens. (Acts 17:22-31) St. Paul "disputed daily" in the "market" or agora, (Acts 17:17) which was situated south of the Areopagus in the valley lying between this and the hills of the Acropolis, the Pnyx and the Museum. Attracting more and more attention, "certain philosophers of the Epicureans and Stoics" brought him up from the valley, probably by the stone steps, to the Areopagus above, that they might listen to him more conveniently.