What they fear

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The Areopagus--the former location of the Athenian equivalent of the Roman senate--was a center of civic life. The name comes from "Ares," the Greek god of war, and "pagos," which means "hill" or "rock." The Roman equivalent of Ares is Mars, hence the translation sometimes used: the Mars Hill.

In Paul's day, a section of the city of Rome was called the Campus Martius, or Mars Field, so named for the military training maneuvers that had taken place there and for the triumphs that were often held there. During the time of Emperor Augustus, an altar to Pax, the goddess of peace, was erected in the middle of the Mars Field. The architectural symbolism would have been lost on no one: the way to peace, said Rome, was through war.