Mars Hill in Athens

As we have been touring Athens, one of the great thrills for me was going to Mars Hill or the "Areopagus" as they call it. Greek mythology describes it as "Ares Rock" where Ares was tried by the gods for the murder of Poseidon's son. From these myths, the Areopagus eventually became a sort of "final court of appeals", a place where cases were debated, heard and retried. It remained that way, in a number of forms, right up through Roman times when it was called Mars Hill after the Roman god of war.

More importantly, to Christians, it is the place where Paul delivered his sermon concerning the Greek temples and statues and the altar to the unknown god in Acts 17. God took Paul to Athens' most respected court of appeals to have him present the Gospel! It was a major turning point in Paul's ministry in Athens and it led to Paul's decision to move on to Corinth immediately afterward.

Looking at the Acropolis, the Areopagus is the large rock immediately to to right and below the Parthenon as shown in the picture to the left.

Approaching the rock, from the paths lining the bottom of the Acropolis, it's huge size becomes evident, even in the imposing shadow of the Acropolis. The Areopagus has become a popular stop for those touring the Acropolis.

One of the reasons for this is the magnificent view of the Acropolis, The Parthenon and the other structures on top of the Acropolis looming over it. BTW, yes, the sky is actually that blue in Greece!

The other reason is because, even though it is lower than the Acropolis, Mars Hill still commands a magnificent view of the city sprawling below as well as the surrounding countryside. That's a small part of Athens and one of the many hills surrounding it in the pic to the left. The photo on the right is another view of Athens but also shows the Ancient Agora below the Areopagus. The Agora was a meeting/shopping/city center type place.












These steps (left) were built before the 1st Century. They are cut into the rock and covered in marble. They lead from the very windy top of the rock, down into a natural and quiet amphitheater at the bottom and are quite likely where Paul stood to deliver his sermon.

While we were leaving the area to begin our walk up to the Acropolis, we got a totally unexpected surprise. A mysterious looking character showed up and began to walk slowly up the steps to the top of the Areopagus. There was something about him that drew everyone's attention. Maybe it was the strange garb. Maybe it was his deliberate and purposeful steps taking him to the heights of Mars Hill. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched him as he made the long climb. When he got to the top, he turned to the crowd below and began to preach. No one knew who he was but none could deny his commanding presence, given the power of his message and his ancient appearance....some say it was Paul himself, returning one more time to plead his case to the Athenians. If he had actually been there, I'm sure Paul would have said, "Whoever he is...he is only a man, wretched and poor just like me." In our amazement and awe, we almost forgot to take a picture. We managed to get only one just before he...disappeared......