Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 17:20

"For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean." — Acts 17:20 (ASV)

The Areopagus (meaning “Council of Ares”; GK 740) reaches back to legendary antiquity. Presumably it first met at Athens on the Hill of Ares, northwest of the Acropolis, for murder trials. Early descriptions of processions in ancient Greek city-states, however, depict the Areopagus of the cities as always heading the column of dignitaries, which suggests that the “Court” or “Council of Ares” was the senate or city council of a Greek city-state. In Roman times it was still the chief judicial body of the city and exercised jurisdiction in such matters as religion and education. It was before this council that the followers of Epicurus and Zeno brought Paul—probably half in jest and half in derision, and certainly not seeking an impartial inquiry after truth. The city fathers, however, took their task seriously because the fame of Athens rested on its intellectual ferment and on the interplay of competing philosophies. So we should doubtless understand Paul’s appearance before the Athenian Council of Ares as being for the purpose of explaining his message before those in control of affairs in the city so that he might either receive the freedom of the city to preach or be censored and silenced.