Impiety or Pollution

Impiety / miasma

A dishonour / disrespect to the gods this individuals and whole communities could be punished for it.

Examples of miasma

• giving birth/abortion, physically dirty, murder, attending a funeral/ being in the presence of a dead body

How could individuals purify themselves

Through following specific rites eg if they were dirty they could wash themselves

433 BC ruling passed

Allowing public prosecution of “those who did not believe in the gods”

Literary source example

Oedipus Rex - Oedipus unknowingly caused the plague in Thebes because he unknowingly killed his father - crown informs him that the oracle at Delphi told him he must expel the murderer