The Greek name Athēnai refers to Athens — the most famous city of ancient Greece, seat of democracy, philosophy, and culture. Named for the goddess Athena, the city was home to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the great philosophical schools. In Acts 17, it becomes the setting for Paul's most famous philosophical engagement.
Athens is the city where Paul stood before the Areopagus (Mars Hill) and preached the most intellectually engaged sermon in the New Testament (Acts 17:16-34). Confronted with an altar 'to an unknown god,' Paul declared this unknown God to be the Creator and Father of all, who now commands all people everywhere to repent, having appointed a Man to judge the world and raised him from the dead. The Athenians' response — some mocking, some wanting to hear more, some believing — mirrors the perennial human response to the resurrection. Athens represents the best of human wisdom confronted with divine wisdom. Paul's engagement with Athenian philosophy ('as even some of your own poets have said') remains a model for Christian apologetics in every age.