Impietas

Impietas is a Latin noun meaning impiety or irreverence toward the gods. It denotes a lack of piety and, more broadly, disrespect toward sacred things, rites, or persons. The term is formed from the prefix in- meaning not, combined with pietas (piety), itself from piet- devotion or dutifulness.

In classical Roman thought, pietas signified dutiful reverence toward the gods, family, and homeland. Impietas therefore marked a deviation from civic and religious duty and could be used in moralizing discourse to condemn sacrilegious acts such as neglect of sacrifices, profanation of offerings, or blasphemous expressions.

In later Christian and modern usage, impiety translates the same general idea into English as irreverence toward God or sacred things. As a theological or ethical term, impiety is often discussed in relation to questions of belief, worship, and moral conduct. In scholarly contexts, impietas appears in discussions of Roman religion, religious ideology, and the vocabulary of piety.

The noun is feminine, impietas, impietatis, and belongs to the third declension. Related terms include pietas (piety), sacrilege, and blasphemy. Today, impietas is primarily of historical and linguistic interest, used to analyze concepts of duty and reverence in ancient texts and to trace the transmission of the idea of impiety into English as “impiety.”