Asebeia
Impiety — the crime of failing to honor the gods properly, disrespecting sacred things, or introducing foreign religious practices.
The Meaning of Asebeia
Asebeia was both a moral failing and a criminal offense under Athenian law. The famous trial of Socrates in 399 BCE charged him with asebeia — failing to recognize the gods the city recognized and introducing new divine beings — alongside corrupting the youth. The penalty was death. Anaxagoras had faced similar charges decades earlier for claiming the sun was a hot stone rather than a god. Alcibiades was accused of asebeia for allegedly profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries. The concept reflected the Greek understanding that religious practice was a civic obligation: neglect or mockery of the gods damaged the entire community's standing with the divine, inviting divine punishment on all citizens. Proper eusebeia (piety) was not primarily a matter of inner belief but of correct ritual performance, sacrifice, and respect. Asebeia prosecutions were thus political and social instruments as much as purely religious ones — deviance in religious behavior was read as deviance in civic commitment.
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Fun Fact
Socrates is the most famous victim of an asebeia charge, but the Athenians also prosecuted the sculptor Pheidias, the philosopher Anaxagoras, and the playwright Diagoras under the same category.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Divine Justice
💭 conceptEthics
The principle that the gods punish wrongdoing and uphold moral order in the cosmos
Dikē
💭 conceptreligion, ethics, law
Justice, right order, or the way things ought to be — both the divine personification of justice and the principle of cosmic and social rightness.
Aidos
💭 conceptShame, modesty, and reverence
Aidos was the Greek concept of shame, reverence, and the inner sense of propriety that restrained people from acting dishonourably — the opposite of hubris.
Hubris
💭 conceptThe cardinal sin of Greek ethics
Hubris was the gravest moral offence — arrogance of overstepping human boundaries or defying the gods.
Goddess of Justice
💭 conceptJustice, law, moral order, custom
Themis upholds divine law and natural order, counselling Zeus on what is right and presiding over assemblies.
Nomos
💭 conceptlaw, custom, convention
Human-made law and custom, as opposed to the natural order (physis).
Timē
💭 conceptethics, social values
Honor, worth, or the social recognition owed to a person of standing — the currency of Homeric social life and a central concept in Greek ethics.
Dike
💭 conceptJustice and the natural order
Dike was both a goddess and the concept of justice — not human legislation but the cosmic order that governs right and wrong.
Orgia
💭 conceptreligion, mystery cults
Secret rites or sacred acts — the hidden ritual performances of mystery cults, particularly Dionysian worship, not originally referring to sexual excess.
Eleos
💭 conceptEthics and Emotion
The Greek concept of mercy and compassion, personified as a god and central to Athenian civic identity.
Draconian
💭 conceptHarsh laws, severe punishment, rigid authority
Excessively harsh or severe, from Draco, the Athenian lawgiver whose code prescribed death for nearly every offence.
Antinomia
💭 conceptlaw, philosophy
A contradiction between two laws or principles — the tension when equally valid rules yield opposite conclusions in the same case.