Place · City
Athens
Named in 5 verses across 2 books, first in Acts 17:15.
In the Bible
All 5 verses, in Bible order. Text from the Berean Standard Bible; verse numbers follow the KJV.
Acts
- Acts 17:15
Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
- Acts 17:16
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.
- Acts 17:22
Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.
- Acts 18:1
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
1 Thessalonians
- 1 Thessalonians 3:1
So when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left on our own in Athens.
Events here
Events the dataset sets at Athens. Dates follow its Ussher–Jones reckoning (one of several traditional counts), not established history.
- no datePaul preaches in Athens
Dictionary
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), as attached to this record by Theographic. Its geography and “modern” descriptions date from the 1890s. Easton wrote in 1897, and some of his views are now debated.
Read Easton’s entry
The capital of Attica, the most celebrated city of the ancient world, the seat of Greek literature and art during the golden period of Grecian history. Its inhabitants were fond of novelty (Acts 17:21), and were remarkable for their zeal in the worship of the gods. It was a sarcastic saying of the Roman satirist that it was “easier to find a god at Athens than a man.”
On his second missionary journey Paul visited this city (Acts 17:15; comp. 1 Thess. 3:1), and delivered in the Areopagus his famous speech (17:22-31). The altar of which Paul there speaks as dedicated “to the [properly “an”] unknown God” (23) was probably one of several which bore the same inscription. It is supposed that they originated in the practice of letting loose a flock of sheep and goats in the streets of Athens on the occasion of a plague, and of offering them up in sacrifice, at the spot where they lay down, “to the god concerned.”