Athens
      n 1: the capital and largest city of Greece; named after Athena
           (its patron goddess); "in the 5th century BC ancient
           Athens was the world's most powerful and civilized city"
           [syn: Athinai, capital of Greece, Greek capital]
      2: a town in southeast Ohio
      3: a university town in northeast Georgia
 Athens
    the capital of Attica, the most celebrated city of the ancient
    world, the seat of Greek literature and art during the golden
    period of Grecian history. Its inhabitants were fond of novelty
    (Acts 17:21), and were remarkable for their zeal in the worship
    of the gods. It was a sarcastic saying of the Roman satirist
    that it was "easier to find a god at Athens than a man."
      On his second missionary journey Paul visited this city (Acts
    17:15; comp. 1 Thess. 3:1), and delivered in the Areopagus his
    famous speech (17:22-31). The altar of which Paul there speaks
    as dedicated "to the [properly "an"] unknown God" (23) was
    probably one of several which bore the same inscription. It is
    supposed that they originated in the practice of letting loose a
    flock of sheep and goats in the streets of Athens on the
    occasion of a plague, and of offering them up in sacrifice, at
    the spot where they lay down, "to the god concerned."