The Speeches Of Acts -- By: Colin J. Hemer

Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 40:2 (NA 1989)
Article: The Speeches Of Acts
Author: Colin J. Hemer


The Speeches Of Acts1

†Colin J. Hemer

II. The Areopagus Address

The Setting

In an earlier article I have argued for the Pauline authenticity of at least the setting of the Areopagus speech.2 The discussion involves the old problem of the actual meeting-place of the court of Areopagus. The term, in Greek ὁ Ἄρειος πάγος, was applied both to the rocky spur west of the Acropolis (‘Mars’ Hill’) and to the court which historically had met on the hill, and which was formally designated ἡ ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου Βουλή.3 Some sources point to a meeting-place of this council in a portico of the Athenian Agora, the Stoa Basileios. There has been a vigorous if intermittent debate whether the scene in Acts 17 should be located on the hill or in the Agora, a matter less pressing for those who are not disposed to be over-concerned with the question of authentic settings.

The evidence does not seem to permit a simple judgment that the meeting-place shifted from the hill to the Agora at an ascertainable date. It is probable that both locations were in use together, perhaps for centuries.4 The locale on the hill had

an ancient solemnity of religious association which would not be lightly abandoned, whereas routine business could be conducted more conveniently in the Agora, where the Archon Basileus, the chairman of the court, held his traditional seat in the Stoa Basileios.

We have argued then that Paul appeared before the court in session in the Agora, and that the whole scene may be located in the north-west corner of that expanse, in the immediate neighbourhood of the Stoa Basileios. The whole occasion assumes a strikingly economical dramatic unity of place, though this is not brought out explicitly in Luke’s account. The main entrance to the Agora for a new arrival coming from the Piraeus was at this same north-west corner. This was close both to the Stoa Basileios and to the Stoa Poikila, or ‘Painted Colonnade’, which was famous as the resort of philosophers. It was the place where Zeno had argued and taught, and his followers had thus received their appellation ‘Stoics’, ‘the men of the Stoa’.5 Numerous literary references to the Poikile depict it as the place where the

...
You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe
visitor : : uid: ()