Who was Damaris in the Book of Acts?

        Damaris (Acts 17:34), a woman of Athens, who believed in the message of Paul. That one word "believe" presents a whole sermon in itself. Paul had just preached to the Athenians on Mars Hill, but many of them did not believe, for many were ignorant of God. But Damaris and a man, Dionysius, had the spiritual receptivity to receive Paul's message based on the theme, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
       Damaris must have been a woman of distinction or she would not have been singled out with Dionysius, one of the judges of the great court.
       In all probability she was one of the Hetairai, constituting a highly intellectual class of women who associated with philosophers and statesmen. This may be the reason she was in the audience when Paul delivered his address on Mars Hill.
       We learn from Acts 17:18 that he had spoken before certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, who "took him, and brought him unto Aeropagus."
       Some commentators have suggested that Damaris was the wife of Dionysius; however, this is rather improbable for the Greek wife lived in seculsion. The Hetairai were the only free women in Athens. If Damaris had been a wife, her presence would not have been recognized in that concourse on Mars Hill. If the wife of Dionysius, she would have been, according to oriental custom, mentioned as such. Instead of "a woman named Damaris," we would have "and his wife Damaris." Or more likely still, her name would have been omitted.