Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), is extreme or excessive

pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

or dangerous overconfidence and complacency, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. Hubris, arrogance, and pretension are related to the need for victory (even if it does not always mean winning) instead of reconciliation, which "friendly" groups might promote. Hubris is usually perceived as a characteristic of an individual rather than a group, although the group the offender belongs to may suffer collateral consequences from wrongful acts. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments, or capabilities. The term ''hubris'' originated in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

, where it had several different meanings depending on the context. In legal usage, it meant assault or sexual crimes and theft of public property, and in religious usage it meant emulation of divinity or transgression against a god.

Ancient Greek origin

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

, ''hubris'' referred to "outrage": actions that violated natural order, or which shamed and humiliated the victim, sometimes for the pleasure or gratification of the abuser.

Mythological usage

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

and

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

used the word "hubris" to describe transgressions against the gods.Eds.
"Hubris"
''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''. A common way that hubris was committed was when a mortal claimed to be better than a god in a particular skill or attribute. Claims like these were rarely left unpunished, and so Arachne, a talented young weaver, was transformed into a spider when she said that her skills exceeded those of the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

. Additional examples include

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

Phaethon Phaethon (; , ), also spelled Phaëthon, is the son of the Oceanids, Oceanid Clymene (mother of Phaethon), Clymene and the solar deity, sun god Helios in Greek mythology. According to most authors, Phaethon is the son of Helios who, out of a de ...

Salmoneus In Greek mythology, Salmoneus (; Ancient Greek: Σαλμωνεύς) was 'the wicked'Hesiod, '' Ehoiai'' fr. 4 as cited in Plutarch, ''Moralia'' p. 747; Scholia ad Pindar, ''Pythian Ode'' 4.263 eponymous king and founder of Salmone in Pisatis. ...

Niobe Niobe (; : Nióbē) was in Greek mythology a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa. She was the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas. Niobe is mentioned by Achilles in Homer's ''Iliad ...

Cassiopeia Cassiopeia or Cassiopea may refer to: Greek mythology * Cassiopeia (mother of Andromeda), queen of Aethiopia and mother of Andromeda * Cassiopeia (wife of Phoenix), wife of Phoenix, king of Phoenicia * Cassiopeia, wife of Epaphus, king of Egy ...

, Tantalus, and Tereus. The goddess Hybris is described in the

Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. So ...

as having "insolent encroachment upon the rights of others". These events were not limited to myth, and certain figures in history were considered to have been punished for committing hubris through their arrogance. One such person was the king

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was a List of monarchs of Persia, Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC. He was ...

as portrayed in Aeschylus's play ''

The Persians ''The Persians'' (, ''Persai'', Latinised as ''Persae'') is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. It is the second and only surviving part of a now otherwise lost trilog ...

'', and who allegedly threw chains to bind the Hellespont sea as punishment for daring to destroy his fleet. What is common in all of these examples is the breaching of limits, as the Greeks believed that the Fates (Μοῖραι) had assigned each being with a particular area of freedom, an area that even the gods could not breach.

Legal usage

ancient Athens Athens is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city of ancient Greece in t ...

, hubris was defined as the use of violence to shame the victim (this sense of hubris could also characterize rape). In legal terms, hubristic violations of the law included what might today be termed

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

-and- battery, sexual crimes, or the theft of public or sacred property. In some contexts, the term had a sexual connotation.David Cohen, "Law, society and homosexuality or hermaphrodity in Classical Athens" in ''Studies in ancient Greek and Roman society'' By Robin Osborne; p. 64 Shame was frequently reflected upon the perpetrator, as well. Crucial to this definition are the ancient Greek concepts of

honour Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself ...

(τιμή, ''timē'') and shame (αἰδώς, '' aidōs''). The concept of honour included not only the exaltation of the one receiving honour, but also the shaming of the one overcome by the act of hubris. This concept of honour is akin to a zero-sum game. Rush Rehm simplifies this definition of hubris to the contemporary concept of "insolence, contempt, and excessive violence". Two well-known cases are found in the speeches of

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...

, a prominent statesman and orator in ancient

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. These two examples occurred when first Midias punched Demosthenes in the face in the theatre ('' Against Midias''), and second when (in ''Against Conon'') a defendant allegedly assaulted a man and crowed over the victim. Yet another example of hubris appears in

Aeschines Aeschines (; Greek: ; 389314 BC) was a Greek statesman and one of the ten Attic orators. Biography Although it is known he was born in Athens, the records regarding his parentage and early life are conflicting; but it seems probable that h ...

' '' Against Timarchus'', where the defendant, Timarchus, is accused of breaking the law of hubris by submitting himself to

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

and anal intercourse. Aeschines brought this suit against Timarchus to bar him from the rights of political office and his case succeeded.Aeschines "Against Timarchus" from ''Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents'' by Thomas Hubbard (historian)

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

defined hubris as shaming the victim, not because of anything that happened to the committer or might happen to the committer, but merely for that committer's own gratification:

to cause shame to the victim, not in order that anything may happen to you, nor because anything has happened to you, but merely for your own gratification. Hubris is not the requital of past injuries; this is revenge. As for the pleasure in hubris, its cause is this: naive men think that by ill-treating others they make their own superiority the greater.

Early Christianity

In the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

, the "hubris is overweening pride, superciliousness or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution or

nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

". The word ''hubris'' as used in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

parallels the Hebrew word ''pesha'', meaning "transgression". It represents a pride that "makes a man defy God", sometimes to the degree that he considers himself an equal.

Stanley J. Grenz Stanley James Grenz (1950–2005) was an American Protestant Christian theology, Christian theologian and Christian ethics, ethicist in the Baptist tradition. Early years Grenz was born on 7 January 1950 in Alpena, Michigan. He studied at the Uni ...

''Theology for the Community of God''
Pub: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000 – "The Greek word ''hubris'', which occurs occasionally in the New Testament (e.g., Acts 27:10, 21; 2 Cor.12:10). parallels the Hebrew ''pasha''. William Barclay offers a helpful definition of the term. ''Hubris'', he writes, 'is mingled pride and cruelty. ''Hubris'' is the pride which makes a man defy God, and the arrogant contempt which makes him trample on the hearts of his fellow men.' ..Hence, it is the forgetting of personal creatureliness and the attempt to be equal with God."

Modern usage

In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride combined with arrogance. Hubris is also referred to as "pride that blinds" because it often causes a committer of hubris to act in foolish ways that belie common sense.

Arrogance

The

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

defines "arrogance" in terms of "high or inflated opinion of one's own abilities, importance, etc., that gives rise to presumption or excessive self-confidence, or to a feeling or attitude of being superior to others .." Adrian Davies sees arrogance as more generic and less severe than hubris.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Narcissism Barriers to critical thinking Pride Psychological attitude Religious terminology Seven deadly sins Concepts in ancient Greek ethics