Areopagus

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/æɹiˈɒpəɡəs/

proper noun

The supreme judicial and legislative council of ancient Athens.

OriginAncient Greek Ἄρειος Πάγος (Áreios Págos) ← Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- →
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Meanings

proper noun
  1. Ancient GreeceThe supreme judicial and legislative council of ancient Athens.

    At its end, Orestes’ disordered brain envisages the sable-robed demons coiled about with snakes who are to stand as his accusers before the high court of the Areopagus, inaugurated by the daughter of Zeus, the goddess of wisdom, to adjudge his unhappy case.

    1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VI. Orestea. I: Agamemnon”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 152
    1 more example

    When the great emergencies of the state required his presence and attention, he was engaged in conversation with the philosopher Plotinus, wasting his time in trifling or licentious pleasures, preparing his initiation to the Grecian mysteries, or soliciting a place in the Areopagus of Athens.

    1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter X, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC
  2. A prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

    All hands were on deck, all the afternoon, with books and maps and glasses, trying to determine which “narrow rocky ridge” was the Areopagus, which sloping hill the Pnyx, which elevation the Museum Hill, and so on.

    1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXII, in The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC

Origin

  1. Ancient GreekἌρης (Árēs)
  2. Ancient GreekἌρειος (Áreios)
  3. Proto-Indo-European*peh₂ǵ-
  4. Ancient Greekπήγνυμι (pḗgnumi)
  5. Ancient Greekπᾰ́γος (pắgos)
  6. Ancient GreekἌρειος Πάγος (Áreios Págos)
  7. EnglishAreopagus

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἄρειος Πάγος (Áreios Págos, literally “Rock of Ares”), which in classical times functioned as the high Court of Appeal for criminal and civil cases in Athens.

More words from Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek Ἄρειος Πάγος
  • Ἄρειος Πάγος (Áreios Págos)supreme council in Athens
Catalan areòpag
  • areòpagsupreme council in Athens
Finnish areiopagi
  • areiopagisupreme council in Athens
French aréopage
  • aréopagesupreme council in Athens
Greek Άρειος Πάγος
  • Άρειος Πάγος (Áreios Págos)supreme council in Athens
Irish Cnoc Airéis
  • Cnoc Airéissupreme council in Athens
Italian areopago
  • areopagosupreme council in Athens
Polish areopag
  • areopagsupreme council in Athens
Portuguese areópago
  • areópagosupreme council in Athens
Romanian areopag
  • areopagsupreme council in Athens
Russian ареопа́г
  • ареопа́г (areopág)supreme council in Athens
Spanish areópago
  • areópagosupreme council in Athens
Swedish areopag
  • areopagsupreme council in Athens
Cite this entry
APA

Areopagus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Areopagus

MLA

“Areopagus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Areopagus. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Areopagus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Areopagus.

Source: Areopagus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.