Council of the Areopagus

At first they were moderate toward the citizens and pretended to pursue the ancestral constitution, and they took down from the Areopagus the laws of Ephialtes and Archestratus concerning the Areopagites, and such of Solon's ordinances as gave rise to disputes, and abolished the authority that lay with the jurors, as though correcting and making the constitution beyond dispute—for instance, making …

All wondering at what had happened, and afterward the Council of Five Hundred having gathered, Ephialtes and Themistocles accused the Areopagites, and again in the same way before the people, until they stripped away their power.

But after the Persian Wars the Council of the Areopagus again grew strong and administered the city, having taken the leadership by no formal decree, but because it had been the cause of the sea-battle at Salamis.

Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, is recorded as saying to the Areopagites:

The Council of the Areopagus, when it sits roped off in the King’s Portico, enjoys complete freedom from disturbance, and all men hold aloof.

What but those vengeful murders against which our specially appointed protector is the Council of the Areopagus?

otherwise they shall not be raised to the Council of Areopagus, as obstructing the rectification of the statutes.

In fact, the Council of the Areopagus knew well that Aeschines had been to blame throughout this affair, and therefore when, after choosing him by vote to speak in support of your claims to the Temple at Delos, by a misapprehension such as has often been fatal to your public interests, you invited the cooperation of that Council and gave them full authority, they promptly rejected him as a traitor …

Had not the Council of the Areopagus, becoming aware of the facts, and seeing that you had made a most inopportune blunder, started further inquiries, arrested the man, and brought him into court a second time, the vile traitor would have slipped out of your hands and eluded justice, being smuggled out of the city by our bombastic phrase-monger.

We, Callias of Sunium, Zeno of Phlya, Cleon of Phalerum, Demonicus of Marathon, on behalf of all the councillors, bear witness for Demosthenes that, when the people elected Aeschines state-advocate before the Amphictyons in the matter of the temple at Delos, we in Council judged Hypereides more worthy to speak on behalf of the state, and Hypereides was accordingly commissioned.

For our forefathers placed such strong emphasis upon sobriety that they put the supervision of decorum in charge of the Council of the Areopagus—a body which was composed exclusively of men who were of noble birth and had exemplified in their lives exceptional virtue and sobriety, and which, therefore, naturally excelled all the other councils of Hellas.

For while this Council maintained its authority, Athens was not rife with law-suits, or accusations, or tax-levies, or poverty, or war;

But when they had laid down these ordinances they were not negligent regarding what remained to be done, but, dividing the city into districts and the country into townships, they kept watch over the life of every citizen, haling the disorderly before the Council, which now rebuked, now warned, and again punished them according to their deserts.