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Areopagus

[ar-ee-op-uh-guh s]
noun
  1. a hill in Athens, Greece, W of the Acropolis.
  2. Greek History. the council that met on this hill, originally having wide public functions but later becoming a purely judicial body.
  3. any high tribunal.
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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

  • 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.

  • 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.

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
  2. literary any high court
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Word Origin

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."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper