Asebeia


Asebeia was a criminal charge in ancient Greece for the "desecration and mockery of divine objects", for "irreverence towards the state gods" and disrespect towards parents and dead ancestors. In English, the word is typically translated as or. Most evidence for it comes from ancient Athens.
The antonym of asebeia is eusebeia, which can be translated as "piety". As piety was the generally desired and expected form of behaviour and mindset, being called and regarded impious was already a form of punishment.

Trials in Athens

Every single citizen, including a third party, could bring this charge to the Archon basileus. Instead of a single law or text defining the charge and proceedings to take place in case of asebeia, there is an array of texts in which it appears. Plutarch, Polybios, Demosthenes and Aristotle refer to it in their texts.
The trials were publicly held at the Heliaia and were split into two steps: first the jury voted on whether the accused was guilty; if the majority found them guilty, because the laws did not prescribe a fixed punishment, the jury at the Heliaia would then decide on the punishment. Known punishments were fines, exile, death, property confiscation and atimia, with death being the most common sentence. There was no right to appeal the sentence made. Sentences were carried out or supervised by the magistrates from the eleven tribes: The Eleven. The following ancient Greeks were accused or allegedly accused of asebeia:
Even though the above individuals were alleged to have been accused of asebeia in different later sources, there is a lack of historical evidence and it was suggested that some of the accusations might have been fabricated by historians and other writers in later periods.

Outside Athens

Outside Athens, asebeia was possibly seen as a wrong state of mind rather than a crime.