Acts 17:16-34

Athens.

After leaving Berœa, St. Paul entered the Roman province of Achaia, which was at this time a senatorian province, governed by a proconsul, and of which the capital was Corinth. He first visited Athens. Athens, though fallen from its former glory, was still the artistic and philosophic, and, in many ways, the religious, capital of the world. The city was full of temples and altars, and the people so devoted to religious ceremonies and mysteries that they merited the title (whether in a good or bad sense) of 'superstitious' (Acts 17:22). Athens, on account of its illustrious history, was held in honour by the Romans. It was allowed to retain its ancient institutions, but the democracy had long lost all real power, and the affairs of the city were administered by the aristocratic court of the Areopagus (Acts 17:19). Athens was famed for its university, the most renowned in the world, at which a iarge number of students from all parts of the empire were always in residence. As the original home of philosophy, Athens was the headquarters of all the chief philosophic schools. Among its sacred spots were the Academy of Plato, the Lyceum of Aristotle, the Porch of Zeno, and the Garden of Epicurus. The only two philosophies, however, which at this time exercised an important influence upon politics and social life, were Stoicism and Epicureanism, which, for this reason, are singled out by St. Luke for especial mention.