Eusebia, Dharma and Piety

Introduction

The word Eusebia in Classical Greece meant the adherence to tradition, or piety, and it is a similar concept to Dharma, with some differences. The connection of Dharma and Eusebia was also noticed during the pre-Christian era with the 250 BCE edicts of Indian Emperor Ashoka who used Eusebia as a translation of Dharma in Greek. This concept of piety and adherence to order was undoubtedly reflected in Germanic, Slavic and Celtic societies but with less exact cognates and sources than seen with Vedic and Greco-Roman cultures. This shows that European concepts of piety, virtue and tradition were already there, in Pagan civilization, long before Abrahamic religions came about.

Eusebia

Eusebia in Rome was known as Pietas, a Daimon as well as a concept in the myths of both cultures. A Daimon or Daemon in mythology is a spirit or lesser deity that ranks in-between the material world and the Gods. Piety was one of the most important virtues in Greek and Roman societies, so much so that the label of impiety was used as a punishment. Pietas not only pertained to the relationship between humans and gods, but to that between family members as well, as seen in stories from the times of Ancient Rome in which children display Pietas through love of their parents. Like Dharma, there is evidence of Eusebia or Pietas being an upholding of cosmic law or divine law, as it was also a part of the Mos Maiorum, the wider ancestral customs of the Roman people, which evolved and was adapted to later European civilizations. A symbol of piety, at least to the Romans, was Aeneas, a demigod and minor character in the Iliad but the main focus of the Aeneid. He is an ancestor of Romulus and Remus as the founder of Lavinium, a predecessor of Rome. Aeneas embodies Pietas in his fulfillment of his duty to his people and destiny to start Rome, while sacrificing his own happiness. In later sources he is often described as pious or with the epithet "pius".

"Care for the gods, the very meaning of religio, had therefore to go through life, and one might thus understand why Cicero wrote that religion was "necessary". Religious behavior – pietas in Latin, eusebeia in Greek – belonged to action and not to contemplation. Consequently religious acts took place wherever the faithful were: in houses, boroughs, associations, cities, military camps, cemeteries, in the country, on boats. 'When pious travelers happen to pass by a sacred grove or a cult place on their way, they are used to make a vow, or a fruit offering, or to sit down for a while" - Apuleius, Florida 1.1

Impiety and hubris were important concepts to the Pagan Greek and Roman cultures as well, as can be seen in the speech by Aeschines, known as Against Timarchus. This speech accuses Timarchus of prostitution, squandering his inheritance, embezzlement, bribery, sycophancy and for these reasons claims he is unfit to be in the public eye. Timarchus was found guilty and was subject to disenfranchisement. This is one of the many examples of punishment for impiety and offensive behavior. The opposite of Eusebia in Greece was Asebia personified as Dyssebia, a Daimon that drives one to impiety and lawlessness. Dyssebia was also seen by authorities such as Aeschylus as the mother of Hybris, the Daimon of outrageous behavior and insolence. Hybris is the embodiment of the concept of hybris also spelled “hubris,” which refers to actions that violate natural law. This demonstrates that impiety was known to breed offensive and insolent behavior.

Dharma

A lot of what was said about Eusebia could also be said about Dharma as it is a concept dependent on religious devotion and societal order. The goal of Dharma is to live in order within the world and cosmos to uphold Rta, divine truth or order. The God with the most connection to Dharma is Mitra, who bears the title of Dharmaraj along with Yama. Mitra is a deity in the Rigveda and is the upholder of Rta and Dharma. Yudhishthira is also seen as an incarnation of Mitra, according to Wikander and Dumezil. Yudhishthira was a model of piety and upholder of Dharma who ascended to heaven in myth. Yudhishthira in the Mahabharata is said to have told a half-truth, non-dharmic behavior, and is stripped of his floating chariot. This has similarities to the story of Tyr losing his arm as a result of a dishonest trick. The Vedic culture also had a concept of Adharma and the concept of Karma. Adharma is not quite the "opposite" of Dharma like Eusebia and Asebia, it is anything not in accord with Dharma. Vice, impiety, wickedness, unnaturalness were considered amongst Adharmic qualities and punished in Vedic society. Karma, although not inherently good or bad, shows again how impiety can worsen one's state. A simplistic explanation of Karma is the principle of cause and effect, action and reaction. Good actions and pious behavior will lead to good consequences while impiety and horrible actions will lead to horrible consequences. This is much like how impiety (Dyssebia) could be seen as the mother of offenisve behavior (Hybris) in the Greek tradition.

Conclusion

These concepts, as I said in the introduction, undoubtedly came about in other Indo-European cultures as well. The ancient Germanic cultures may have had cognates with these concepts with their ideas of the Norns, Urlag and Wyrd. The similarities between the Greek, Roman and Vedic concepts are, however, the most sourced and the closest direct cognates. The virtues of Piety and the upholding of order were common among our Pagan ancestors and are not at all recently invented concepts. This also disproves modernist interpretations and ideas of ancient Indo-European societies that are celebrations of impious and liberal behavior outside of any order, latching themselves onto the aesthetics of a religion.