Dionysius is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Dionysius was a member of the Areopagus in Athens, the ancient council that met on the hill of Mars just below the Acropolis. The Areopagus was a body of standing and influence, and a man counted among its number would have been a person of education, reputation, and weight in the city. He appears in the account of Paul’s visit to Athens in Acts 17, where Paul reasoned in the synagogue, in the marketplace, and finally before the council itself.
Paul’s sermon at the Areopagus was a careful appeal to a city full of idols. He began with the altar “to the unknown god,” declared the God who made the world and all things in it, quoted from pagan poets, and called all people to repentance because God had appointed a day of judgment through a man He had raised from the dead. The response was mixed. Some mocked when they heard of the resurrection, and others said they would hear him again. But Scripture records that certain men “clave unto him, and believed.”
Among those who believed, Dionysius is named first, described specifically as “the Areopagite,” and he is joined by a woman named Damaris and others with them. That is everything the Bible says of him: one verse, one moment of decision. He is not mentioned again, and no further details of his life or later ministry are given in the text. What is recorded is simply that this man, hearing the truth, held fast to Paul and to the message he preached.
The Name
Dionysius is the Greek name *Dionysios*, a common name in the ancient world, derived from Dionysos, the Greek god of wine and festivity. The name itself is generally understood to mean something like “of Dionysos” or “devoted to Dionysos,” formed from the deity’s name. This is a well-established etymology rather than a matter of guesswork. It is worth noting that the name reflects the pagan religious culture into which he was born, not his own character or calling; in the New Testament, names are often simply the names people bore, and no significance is attached to this one. Scripture gives no comment on the meaning of his name.
A Closing Thought
Here is a man of standing in the intellectual heart of the ancient world, named for a pagan god, who heard the gospel and believed. Athens was a city that loved novelty and debate, and many there treated the message as a curiosity to be sampled and set aside. Dionysius did not. He clung to Paul and to the truth he spoke, and his one brief appearance in Scripture is enough to show that the gospel reaches the learned and the honored as surely as the lowly. No further record of him survives, and none is needed; the single line that names him is a testimony that faith, not fame, is what abides.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: New
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- Acts 17:34 — Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.