ALTAR AT ATHENS. St. Paul, in his address before the judges of the Areopagus at Athens, de clares that he perceived that the Athenians were in all things too superstitious,* for that, as he was passing by and beholding their devotions, he found an altar, inscribed, To TIIE UNKNOWN GOD ; and adds, 'Him whom ye worship without know ing (be oriv chivoorIvres daegeire), I set forth unto you' (Acts xvii. 22, 23). The questions suggested by the mention of an altar at Athens, thus in scribed to the unknown God,' have engaged much attention ; and different opinions have been, and probably will continue to be, entertained on the subject.
The principal difficulty arises from this, that the Greek writers, especially such as illustrate the Athenian antiquities, make mention of many altars dedicated cityvtharozs Oeois, to the unknown gods, but not of any one dedicated clyva.,orga 0E43, to the un known god. The passage in Lucian (Philopatr. § 9), which has often been appealed to as evidence that there existed at Athens an altar dedicated, in the singular, to the unknown God dzyvcbo-rco is of little worth for the purpose. For it has been shewn by Eichhorn, and Niemeyer (Intel. Oral. Paul. Atli. in Areop. hab.), that this witty and profane writer only repeats the expression of St. Paul, with the view of casting ridicule upon it, as he does on other occasions. The other passages from Greek writers only enable us to conclude that there were altars at Athens dedicated to many un known gods (Pausan. i. I ; Philostrat. Vz?. Ap. vi.
3). It has also been supposed that the allusion may be to certain anonymous altars, which were erected by the philosopher Epimenides, in the time of a terrible pestilence, as a solemn expiation for the country (Diog. Laert. hit. Epimen. i. 29). Dr. Doddridge, among others, dwells much on this. But it is a strong objection to the view which he has taken, that the sacrifices on these altars were to be offered not ci.v(.6crry Beal, but rip 71-poa 4xorrz. OE c7.1, i. e., to the God to whom this offal/ appertains, or the God who can avert the pestilence, whoever he may be ; and such, no doubt, would have been the inscription, if there had been any. But these altars are expressly said to have been Bzop.o2 dani.nwp.oz, i. e., anonymous altars, evidently not in the sense of altars inscribed to the unknown God, but altars without the name of any God on them.
Now, since the ancient writers tell us that there were at Athens many altars inscribed to the un known gods, Erasmus, Le Clerc, Brodwus, and many others, have maintained that St. Paul changed the plural number into the singular in accommoda. lion to his purpose. Of this opinion was Jerome (Comment. in Tit. i. 12), who testifies that this inscription (which, he says, had been read by him) was, Ocas 'Aalas Kai Dipcbrns Kat Atgtins, Othis Czymbarots eel E6'0(s, To the gods of Asia, Europe, and Africa ; to the unknown and strange gods.' Bretschneider, relying on this authority, supposes (Lex. N. T., s. v. dlnoo-ros) the inscription to have been drymicrrozs Owls, t. e., to the gods of foreign nations, unknown to the Athenians ; indi cating that either foreigners might sacrifice upon that altar to their own gods, or that Athenians, who were about to travel abroad, might first by sacrifice propitiate the favour of the gods of the countries they were about to visit. He quotes the sentiment of Tertullian I find, indeed, altars prostituted to unknown gods, but idolatry is an Attic tenet ; also to uncertain gods, but superstition is a tenet of Rome.' To the view that such was the inscription which Paul noticed, and that he thus accommodated it to his immediate purpose, it has been very justly objected that, if this interpre tation be admitted, the whole strength and weight of the apostle's argument are taken away; and that his assertion might have been convicted of falsity by his opponents. Therefore, while admitting the authorities for the fact, that there were altars in scribed to the unknown gods, they contend that St. Paul is at least equally good authority, for the fact that one of these altars, if not more, was inscribed in the singular, to the unknown God. Chrysostom (In Acta App.), who objects strongly to the preceding hypothesis, offers the conjecture that the Athenians, who were a people exceedingly superstitious, being apprehensive that they might have overlooked some divinity and omitted to wor ship him, erected altars in some part of their city inscribed to the unknown God; whence St. Paul took occasion to preach to the Areopagites Je hovah as a God, with respect to them truly un known; but whom they yet, in some sort, adored without knowing him. Similar to this in essential import is the conjecture of Eichhorn (Allgem.