Acts 17:16

Athens. The capital of ancient Attica and of modern Greece, situated in the southeast extremity of the Roman province of Achaia. It lay 4½ mi. from the sea, and was connected with the port of Piraeus by a broad, walled corridor. Tradition takes its history back to 1581 B.C., but the city did not become prominent until about 600 B.C. During the next 200 years Athens climbed to the peak of her power and attained her Golden Age under Pericles (461-430 B.C.). Her illustrious sons included Sophocles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Demosthenes. In 338 B.C., however, the city was crushed by the rising power of Macedon, and in the 2d century B.C. was included in the Roman province of Achaia. In Paul’s day Athens no longer possessed effective political power, but it was still the recognized intellectual center of the world, and was regarded as the university city of the Roman Empire. The population probably numbered 250,000 at that time. See Paul’s Second Missionary Tour.

The focal point of Athens was the Acropolis (“upper,” or “higher,” city). This was a hill about 500 ft. high, and was the site of several famous temples, the chief and most beautiful of which were the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, and the Temple of the Wingless Victory. On a lower hill, to the west of the Acropolis, rose the Areopagus (“Mars’ hill,” see on v. 19), a bare outcrop of rock running in a northwest to southeast direction. Such was the setting in which Paul found himself while he awaited the arrival of Silas and Timothy from Beroea.

His spirit. That is, his mind, his inner spiritual depths.

Was stirred. Gr. paroxund, “to irritate,” “to provoke,” “to rouse to anger” (cf. on ch. 15:39). Apparently Paul had not intended to preach in Athens, but the sights that he saw provoked him to action, and he felt impelled to speak even before Timothy and Silas arrived.

Wholly given to idolatry. Rather, “full of idols.” Josephus describes the Athenians as being “the most pious of the Greeks” (Against Apion ii. 12 [130]; Loeb ed., p. 345). According to one ancient report there were more than 3,000 statues in the Athens of Paul’s day. One of its streets was adorned with a bust of the messenger-god Hermes before every house. Temples, porticoes, colonnades, and courtyards were replete with exquisitely carved works of art that lavishly proclaimed the Greek love of beauty. Paul, with his Hellenistic background, could hardly have been indifferent to the aesthetic appeal of such artistic wealth, but any pleasure he may have felt would be overwhelmed by the spiritual implications of what he saw. The greater part of the statuary was linked with pagan worship, and could justifiably be described as “idols.” To a Jew, such a display would glaringly flout the first and second commandments. To a Christian, the sight would bring even greater sorrow as revealing the gulf that lay between Greek paganism and the gospel revelation of God in Christ. Yet, so fully did Paul share the Saviour’s desire to redeem men from their follies that his final reaction was evangelistic. He could not neglect the opportunity to proclaim the gospel to the Athenians.