The Areopagus (/æriˈɒpəɡəs/) was a principal council of ancient Athens, later serving mainly as a judicial body responsible for cases of homicide, wounding, and certain religious offenses. It met on a rocky outcrop called the “Hill of Ares,” northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, from which it took its name. Its English name comes from the Late Latin composite form of the Greek name Areios Pagos, translated "Hill of Ares" (Ancient Greek: Ἄρειος Πάγος). The war god Ares was supposed to have been tried by the other gods on the Areopagus for the murder of Poseidon's son Halirrhothius, a typical example of an aetiological myth.