Meaning of ATHENS

The main city of Attica, and the capital of Greek scholarship and art. The city was totally devoted to idolatry, and people spent their time looking for news.

Paul devoted himself to the work in Athens, while he waited for Silas and Timothy, trying to reason with the Jews in his synagogue and daily in the market.

Some philosophers took him to Mars Hill, where he gave his memorable speech to educated but pagan listeners. There was a certain fruit of all these labors (Acts 17:15-22; 18:1; 1 Thes. 3:1). Athens was an ancient city, and it experienced many changes and different forms of government.

It surrendered to the Roman general Sulla in 86 BC, and was thus integrated into the Roman Empire. It was besieged by the Goths in 267 AD, and was taken by Alaric, king of the Visigoths, in 396. Taken by Mahomet II in 1456, it finally became the capital of modern Greece in 1833.