Areopagus

[ar-ee-op-uh-guh s]

noun

a hill in Athens, Greece, W of the Acropolis.
Greek History. the council that met on this hill, originally having wide public functions but later becoming a purely judicial body.
any high tribunal.

Origin of Areopagus

< Latin < Greek Áreios págos hill of Ares

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for areopagus

Historical Examples of areopagus

In Athens on the Areopagus there is to this day a relic of antiquity with a mud roof.
Ten Books on Architecture
Vitruvius
Such is the general statement that Solon instituted the Areopagus.
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch
Plutarch
Those lower eminences are the Areopagus, the Pmyx, and the Museum.
Christianity and Greek Philosophy
Benjamin Franklin Cocker
Then they put him on an ambulance car, and thus conveyed him before the Areopagus.
The Day of Wrath
Maurus Jkai
The Areopagus at Athens had the care of religion, but the Areopagites were not priests.
Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for areopagus

Areopagus

noun

1. the hill to the northwest of the Acropolis in Athens
2. (in ancient Athens) the judicial council whose members (Areopagites) met on this hill
literary any high court

Word Origin for Areopagus

via Latin from Greek Areiopagus, contracted from Areios pagos, hill of Ares

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for areopagus

Areopagus

1640s, Greek, Areios pagos "the hill of Ares," west of the Acropolis in Athens, where the highest judicial court sat; second element from pagos "rocky hill." Sense extended to "any important tribunal."