Areios Pagos

In the rocky hill northwest of Acropolis, the Ancient Athenians had established their Supreme Court named “Areios Pagos” (Areopagus hill). The court held trials for cases of premeditated murders, arsons and sacrilege, but it was also the place where decisions on religious matters and new religious ideas were taken. There are two theories about the origin of its name. It was named either after Ares, the Greek God who according to mythology was brought to trial by King Cecrops for the murder of Poseidon’s son Halirrhothius, or after the Areian Erinyes, the sinister deities of punishment, scruples and revenge.

The ancient Athenian Supreme Court was also the place where Orestes was tried for killing his mother Clytemnestra and goddess Athena cast the deciding vote that determined he would not be killed. The Athenians, thereafter, addressed the Erinyes as “Semnai ” (the vulnerable ones) and “Eumenides” (the gracious or kindly ones). By the end of the Roman era, 4th – 6th century AD, four mansions had been built on Areopagus and from 1600 to 1700 on the hill there was the Church of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, the first bishop of Athens. All the buildings of later periods, which covered the ruins of the Classical Period, were removed during the Ottoman period.