Acts 17:15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Athens:— This celebrated city, whether we consider the antiquity, valour, power, or learning of its inhabitants, has had few to rival it. It is situated in the middle of a large plain, on the gulph of the AEgean sea, which comesup to the isthmus of the Peloponnese or Morea. It is about twenty-five miles distant from Thebes to the south-east; twenty-eight from Negro-point to the south; thirty-five from the Isthmus of Corinth to the east; and about as many south-west, from Cape Raphti, the most eastern land of Achaia. It was and is still the capital of Attica. The people of Athens, proud of their antiquity, owned no original but the earth they dwelt upon, and pretended that they were coeval with the sun. They planted no less than forty colonies, to which they gave names and laws: they were masters of the AEgean sea, and the greater part of the isles in it; and carrying their conquests as far as the borders of Egypt, they had no less than 1000 cities subject to them. This city was, in its most flourishing state, a day's journey, or something more than twenty-two Roman miles in circumference. Its buildings were finished with the highest elegance, of which the temples of Jupiter-Olympus, and Minerva, which is now called Parthenion, are a standing proof to this very day. It might justly be stiled "the university of the whole world." Royal personages resorted hither for education from all parts of the world; and it was celebrated no less for the inviolable fidelity of its citizens, than for being the nursery of the greatest scholars, orators, and philosophers, and for having produced the greater number of heroes of all the other cities in the world. It has suffered great vicissitudes, and is now in the possession of the Turks; who have made a mosque of the Parthenion, which was very much damaged in the Venetian wars. The number of its inhabitants is said to be about 1000, of which three parts are Christians, who have a great number of churches and oratories, and a Greek bishop residing among them, who is a metropolitan: the other inhabitants are Turks, who have five mosques. Few cities in Turkey have preserved themselves so well as this, or enjoy greater privileges under the Turkish tyranny. Their misfortunes have not been able to deprive them of their subtilty and wit, which has been ascribed to the serenity and goodness of the air. It is peculiarly remarkable, that when the plague rages round about it, it seldom reaches there. St. Paul, expecting perhaps that some considerable success would attend his labours in this city, ordered Silas and Timothy to attend him there, as desirous to engage their assistance. Nevertheless, God did not see fit to answer those expectations; and though they came to him as he had ordered, or at least one of them, (that is to say, Timothy,) he was quickly obliged to send him away, especially as he was so solicitous about his friends at Thessalonica. See 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2.