Lives of Scripture

A rocky hill in Athens, the "hill of Ares" (Mars' Hill in the KJV), which also gave its name to the city's ancient council. After Paul reasoned daily in the synagogue and marketplace, some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers brought him to the Areopagus to explain his teaching about Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:16-21). Paul began from an altar he had seen inscribed to an unknown god and proclaimed the Creator of the world, who needs no man-made shrine, who made all the nations from a single ancestor, and who now calls everyone to repent, because He has fixed a day to judge the world by the Man He raised from the dead (Acts 17:22-31). Some mocked at the mention of resurrection and others wanted to hear more, but a few believed, among them Dionysius, a member of the council, and a woman named Damaris (Acts 17:32-34).