areopagus
/æɹiˈɒpəɡəs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.73 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
The supreme judicial and legislative council of ancient Athens.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: Ἄρειος Πάγος