(Ath·a·liʹah).

1. Queen of Judah, daughter of King Ahab of Israel and his wife Jezebel; granddaughter of Omri. (2Ki 8:18, 26) She was the sister of Israel’s King Jehoram, and sister or half sister of the other 70 sons of Ahab, all of whom Jehu ordered killed. (2Ki 3:1, 2; 10:1-9) Athaliah was given in a marriage of political expediency to Jehoram, the eldest son of Jehoshaphat of Judah. (2Ki 8:25-27; 2Ch 18:1) She was the mother of Ahaziah, who in time became king of Judah.

Like her mother Jezebel, Athaliah egged on her husband, Jehoram, to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes during his eight-year reign. (1Ki 21:25; 2Ch 21:4-6) And like her mother, Athaliah wantonly shed the blood of the innocent. When her wicked son Ahaziah died after a one-year reign, she killed off all the others of the royal line, except the infant Jehoash, who had been hidden by the high priest and his wife, who was Jehoash’s aunt. Thereupon Athaliah installed herself as queen for six years, c. 905-899 B.C.E. (2Ch 22:11, 12) Her sons robbed Jehovah’s temple of the holy things and offered them up to Baal.​—2Ch 24:7.

When Jehoash reached seven years of age, God-fearing High Priest Jehoiada brought the lad out of secrecy and crowned him rightful heir to the throne. Hearing the tumult, Athaliah rushed to the temple and, upon seeing what was happening, cried, “Conspiracy! Conspiracy!” High Priest Jehoiada ordered her taken outside the temple grounds to be executed at the horse gate of the palace; she was perhaps the last of Ahab’s abominable house. (2Ki 11:1-20; 2Ch 22:1–23:21) How true it proved to be: “Nothing of Jehovah’s word will fall unfulfilled to the earth that Jehovah has spoken against the house of Ahab”!​—2Ki 10:10, 11; 1Ki 21:20-24.

2. A Benjamite of the house of Jeroham who dwelt in Jerusalem.​—1Ch 8:26-28.

3. Father of one who returned to Jerusalem with Ezra in 468 B.C.E.; of the family of Elam.​—Ezr 8:1, 7.

(Athʹa·rim).

The Israelites are reported to have traveled “by the way of Atharim” when journeying to the Promised Land from Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Hor. (Nu 21:1) They were thereupon attacked by the king of Arad in the Negeb region. Atharim may refer to a place or to a particular route.

(Athʹens) [Of (Belonging to) Athena].

The modern capital of Greece, and its most prominent city in ancient times. It is located toward the southern end of the Plain of Attica, about 8 km (5 mi) from the Aegean Sea, being served by its neighboring seaport Piraeus, with which it was connected in pre-Christian times by long, nearly parallel walls. Its geographic location contributed much to its greatness in history. The mountains surrounding the city provided a natural defense, and the mountain passes were sufficiently far away to avoid the possibility of a surprise land attack. It was also far enough from the sea to be safe from an invading fleet, yet its three natural harbors in neighboring Piraeus were readily accessible from the city.

Cultural and Religious Center. Although Athens enjoyed some military fame as the capital of a small empire and as a strong naval power in the fifth century B.C.E., it was distinguished primarily as the center of Greek learning, literature, and art. It became a university city filled with professors, lecturers, and philosophers, being the home of such famous philosophers as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Four schools of philosophy were established there, the Platonic, Peripatetic, Epicurean, and Stoic (Ac 17:18), and these were attended by students from throughout the empire in Roman times.

Athens was also a very religious city, provoking the apostle Paul’s comment that Athenians “seem to be more given to the fear of the deities than others are.” (Ac 17:22) According to the historian Josephus, the Athenians were ‘the most pious of the Greeks.’ (Against Apion, II, 130 [12]) The State controlled religion and encouraged it by paying for public sacrifices, rites, and processions in honor of the gods. Idols were to be found in temples, in public squares, and on the streets, and people regularly prayed to the gods before engaging in their intellectual feasts or symposiums, political assemblies, and athletic contests. In order not to offend any of the gods, the Athenians even built altars “To an Unknown God,” to which fact Paul refers in Acts 17:23. Second-century geographer Pausanias confirms this, explaining that while he was traveling along the road from Phaleron Bay harbor to Athens (perhaps traversed by Paul on his arrival) he noticed “altars of the gods named Unknown, and of heroes.”​—Description of Greece, Attica, I, 4.

Early History. The city grew up around the Acropolis, an oblong hill about 150 m (500 ft) high, which rises sheer on three sides. (PICTURES, Vol. 2, pp. 333, 749) During the seventh century B.C.E. it was ruled by a hereditary nobility or aristocracy known as the Eupatridae, who had a monopoly of the political power and also had control of the Areopagus, the chief criminal court at the time. During the early part of the sixth century