100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
32. The Market Place and Mars Hill
In Acts 17:17-18 we read of Paul, “Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans , and of the Stoicks, encountered him.”
Archaeologists have excavated the marketplace spoken of here, and today it is possible to draw a fairly complete plan of it. Note that here in the city of Socrates Paul discussed moral questions in the marketplace, while in Ephesus (Acts 19:9-10) he taught in the school of Tyrannus. As Ramsey points out, “how incongruous it would seem if the methods were transposed.” A J.A. Thompson notes that such correctness in detail “reveals close knowledge of local customs.” B
Acts 17:19 reads, “And they took [Paul] unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what is this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?”
The Areopagus (or Mars’ Hill) was the site of ancient court where, according to ancient tradition, was the very place that Aries (Mars), the god of war stood trial for slaying the sea god. Thereafter it served as a meeting place for the court and council of Athens. By Paul’s time, most of it’s judicial powers were gone, and the its authority lay mainly in matters of religion and morals. In an encounter similar to that recorded in Acts 17 occurred when the Roman Cicero persuaded the Areopagus to invite the philospher Cratippus to lecture there C.
Paul’s encounter with the Athenian philosophers as described in Acts 17 is therefore entirely plausible.
32. The Market Place and Mars Hill - Notes and References
A. Sir William Ramsey, “St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen”, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1962, p.238
B. J.A. Thompson, “The Bible and Archaeology”, Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1962, pp. 389
C. Ramsey, p. 247