Mars Hill

Mars Hill (Greek Areios Pagos, the Hill of Ares, or Areopagus) was a rocky outcropping northwest of the Acropolis in Athens that served as the ancient seat of the Athenian high court. By Paul's day the court of the Areopagus also functioned as Athens's council for philosophical and religious oversight. When Paul preached in the Athenian agora and engaged Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, they brought him to the Areopagus to explain his teaching about Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:19–22).

Paul's address on Mars Hill — recorded in Acts 17:22–31 — is a masterwork of cross-cultural apologetics: he begins from a pagan altar inscription ("To an Unknown God"), reasons from creation and common human nature toward the God who commands repentance, and concludes with the resurrection of Jesus as the appointed judge of all humanity. The response was mixed: some mocked the resurrection, some deferred, and some believed — including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris (Acts 17:32–34).