Decency and Trial

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Decency and Trial
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Decency and Trial

Aidos and Diki in Greek.

I ve studied Aidos for a long time since I find the symbolism behind it's mythology fascinating. Read the following and you will see for yourselves.

As many Greek pagans may know, Aidos is referred to as the Goddess of shame, humility and modesty. In Ancient Greek mythology she is referred to more as a personified concept than a deity. A lot of people confuse her with Nemesis (Godess of revenge).

However Aidos is not what most of the people think. Since she is the Goddess of shame a lot of people relate her to something negative. But in fact the name Aidos it self means decency (that's the best word to translate it since in modern Greek there is no word to describe it. It is a combination of justice, the morality, the moral conscience, respect for the unwritten laws, the pride and self awareness). In mythology she is known to be the daughter of Prometheas. Moreover she is said to be the last diety to leave the earth.

In mythology Aidos and Diki were the divinest gifts Zeus offered to humanity. Aidos touched all humans unexceptionally in order to grant them shame and self awareness... what most people today call morality. Aidos did that (as an order from Zeus some say) in order to create peace among humans so they wouldn't have to face contradictions. With the presence of feelings of shame humans would be kind to each other and equal. The rich would feel shame in front of the poor in order to help them (charity comes from shame in combination with gratitude in Greek philosphy) and the poor would be ashamed in front of the rich in order not to steal from them. In general this shame expresses the feelings which humans feel for any act that contravenes the established moral code of their social environment this so called shame is closer to the concept of respect and modesty and is not related to guilt and remorse. However an interesting point in this situation is that even Aidos touched all humans and granted them shame wether the humans accepted it or not was up to their own free will and character. (Since ancient Greeks valued individuality greatly)

That's why along with Aidos Zeus gave humans Diki (trial)

Diki : it is the feeling of justice, the perception of justice and injustice, respect of the written law and the rights of others.

In mythology Diki was one of the Ores (meaning hours) which were daughters of Zeus and Themidos. Ores were the sisters of the three Fates (Mires) and the nymphs also they were the first ones to welcome Aphrodite in the world. They were responsible to watch people's actions.

Diki's role was to turn injustice to justice when needed.

So since humans were free to follow their wil and reject Aidos (decency) some of them would attempt to cause harm to another or the society itself. Which indicates that a gift from God wouldn't suffice for the humans to remain kind and pure. So for those who didn't accept Aidos there was the trial (Diki) and those two together make the concept of justice and democracy. In fact the first concept of democracy ever known to humanity.

To conclude I would like to stress that the decency and the trial (Aidos and Diki ) are moral qualities similar or identical to the wisdom and justice, respectively, constituting the moral ideal of Greek civilization and later other civilizations until today.

Note: it is essential for the achievement of knowledge and wisdom to interpret myths properly and not literary. There is always a symbolism behind the legend and this is the blessing of learning mythology. Spot the symbolism and turn it into pure wisdom.

Thank you all for reading.

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