Areopagus Hill

Every step you take on this ancient marble is polishing away another layer of history. You're standing on Areopagus Hill, where 2,500 years of footsteps have worn the stone so smooth it becomes treacherous when wet, creating what locals call "the most dangerous tourist attraction in Athens." This bare marble outcropping at Theorias 21 witnessed the world's first recorded murder trial, according to Greek legend, when the gods themselves sat in judgment as Ares faced charges for killing Poseidon's son. But the real drama came in 462 BC, when politician Ephialtes stripped this ancient council of nobles of nearly all their power, leaving them with just one grim duty... judging murderers. Then, in the first century AD, something extraordinary happened right where you're standing. Apostle Paul climbed these same slippery steps and delivered his revolutionary "Unknown God" sermon, challenging the intellectual elite of Athens and planting Christianity's first seeds in Greece. At the hill's base, you'll find a bronze plaque inscribed with his exact words in ancient Greek. As you carefully navigate these polished stones, remember that Persian invaders once camped here in 480 BC during their siege of the neighboring Acropolis. Look down toward the Ancient Agora below... from this elevated courtroom, ancient judges could literally look down upon the marketplace where their verdicts would be carried out.