The Hill of Aeropagus

After finishing touring the Agora of Ancient Athens there were still a few hours of daylight. Jan and I set out up the western slope of the Acropolis. As we trudged up the steep slope in blazing afternoon sun, I thought that this was the route that so many pious Athenians must have taken to worship in their beautiful temples on top of the Acropolis. It must have also been the route that so many slaves trudged up in misery hauling so much marble to create such wonders. Near the top of the route, off to the west, there was a small hill swarming with tourists.

We scrambled up the very polished surface of the hill and found to our amazement that this was the Hill of Aeropagus. The King James Bible in Acts chapter 17 says that when Paul came to Athens during his second mission, he preached to a skeptical audience from this very place. He did not have much success. However, he did make one convert, Dionysis, who later became the first bishop of Athens. To be fair later versions of the Bible do not reference the Hill of Aeropagus and seem to imply that Paul preached to group called the Aeropagus. The name derived from the ancient days when a council of elders met on this hill to decide matters of war, treason and murder, but later met downtown.

The view from the hill of downtown Athens as it sprawls across the valley is amazing, but a better view is back towards the east looking up. From here it is so easy to imagine the Apostle Paul preaching the new Christianity in the actual (early morning) shadow of the greatest temple of the pagan world--the Parthenon of Athena. For Jan and I this was the highlight of our trip to Athens.