oath, sacred or solemn voluntary promise usually involving the penalty of divine retribution for intentional falsity and often used in legal procedures. It is not certain that the oath was always considered a religious act; such ancient peoples as the Germanic tribes, Greeks, Romans, and Scythians swore by their swords or other weapons. These peoples, however, were actually invoking a symbol of the power of a war god as a guarantee of their trustworthiness.
The oath, which thus has its origins in religious customs, has become an accepted practice in modern nonreligious areas, such as in secular legal procedures. A person serving as a witness in court proceedings, such as in Anglo-American legal systems, often has to swear by the following oath: “I do solemnly swear that the testimony I am about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me God.”
The swearing of an oath before divine symbols reaches back at least to the Sumerian civilization (4th–3rd millennia bc) of the ancient Middle East and to ancient Egypt, where one often swore by his life, or ankh (“oath”), which literally means “an utterance of life.” In the Hittite Empire of the 14th–13th centuries bc, various oath gods (e.g., Indra and Mithra) were appealed to in agreements between states. Mithra, an Iranian god who became the main deity of a Hellenistic mystery (salvatory) religion, was viewed as the god of the contract (i.e., the guardian of oaths and truth).
In Eastern religions (e.g., Hinduism), an Indian, for example, might swear an oath while holding water from the holy river Ganges, which is a positive symbol of the divine.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islām oaths have been used widely. In Judaism, two kinds of oaths are forbidden: (1) a vain oath, in which one attempts to do something that is impossible to accomplish, denies self-evident facts, or attempts to negate the fulfillment of a religious precept, and (2) a false oath, in which one uses the name of God to swear falsely, thus committing a sacrilege. At the time of Jesus in the 1st century, oaths were often misused and, for that reason, were often rebuked in early Christianity. In Islām, a Muslim may make a qasam (“oath”), in which he swears, for example, upon his life, soul, honour, or faith. Because the qasam is primarily a pledge to God, a false oath is considered a danger to one’s soul.
The most frequent contemporary use of the oath occurs when a witness in an authorized legal inquiry states an intention to give all pertinent information and to tell only the truth in relating it. The precise formula varies, usually being prescribed by statute. In Anglo-American legal practice, testimony will not be received unless the witness is subject to some sanction for falsity, either by taking an oath or giving affirmation. The law provides that false testimony under oath constitutes the crime of perjury. Civil-law nations generally do not permit parties to the case to testify under oath, and they make the oath voluntary with many others. In these countries, the oath is often administered after testimony. Compare affirmation; vow.