Hubris

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Hubris or hybris (Greek ὕβρις), according to its modern usage, is exaggerated self pride, arrogance or self-confidence (overbearing pride), often resulting in fatal retribution. In Ancient Greece, "hubris" referred to actions taken in order to shame and humiliate the victim, thereby making oneself seem superior.

Hubris was a crime in classical Athens. It was considered the greatest sin of the ancient Greek world. The category of acts constituting hubris for the ancient Greeks apparently broadened from the original specific reference to molestation of a corpse, or a humiliation of a defeated foe, to molestation, or irreverent, "outrageous treatment", in general. The meaning was further generalized in its modern English usage to apply to any outrageous act or exhibition of pride or disregard for basic moral law. Such an act may be referred to as an "act of hubris", or the person committing the act may be said to be hubristic. Ate, Greek for 'ruin, folly, delusion', is the action performed by the hero, usually because of his/her hubris, or great pride, that leads to his/her death or downfall.

Hubris in ancient Greece

Violations of the law against hubris ranged from what might today be termed assault and battery, to sexual assault, to the theft of public or sacred property. Two well-known cases are found in the speeches of Demosthenes; first, when Meidias punched Demosthenes in the face in the theater (Against Meidias). The second (Against Konon) involved a defendant who allegedly assaulted a man and crowed over the victim like a fighting cock. Perhaps the primary example of hubris is Achilles' treatment of Hector's corpse in the Homer's Iliad. Similarly Creon commits hubris in refusing to bury Polynices in Sophocles' Antigone. In the tragedy Agamemnon, by Aeschylus, Agamemnon initially rejects the hubris of walking on the fine purple tapestry, an act which is suggested by Clytemnestra in hopes of bringing his ruin. This act may be seen as a desecration of a divinely woven tapestry, as a general flouting of the strictures imposed by the gods, or simply as an act of extreme pride and lack of humility before the gods, tempting them to retribution.

Another example is that of Oedipus. In Oedipus the King, while on the road to Thebes, Oedipus meets King Laius of Thebes who is unknown to him as his biological father. Oedipus kills King Laius over which of them has the right of way, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of the oracle Loxias that Oedipus is destined to murder his own father.

Hubris against the gods is often attributed as a character flaw of the heroes in Greek tragedy, and the cause of the "nemesis", or destruction, which befalls these characters. However, this represents only a small proportion of occurrences of hubris in Greek literature, and for the most part hubris refers to infractions by mortals against other mortals. Therefore, it is now generally agreed that the Greeks did not generally think of hubris as a religious matter, still less that it was normally punished by the gods.

Aristotle defined hubris as follows:

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: men think that by ill-treating others they make their own superiority the greater.

Crucial to this definition are the ancient Greek concepts of honor (timē) and shame. The concept of timē included not only the exaltation of the one receiving honor, but also the shaming of the one overcome by the act of hubris. This concept of honor is akin to a zero-sum game. Rush Rehm simplifies this definition to the contemporary concept of "insolence, contempt, and excessive violence".

Hubris in modern times

In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance; it is often associated with a lack of knowledge, interest in, and exploration of history, combined with a lack of humility. An accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow, similar to the occasional pairing of hubris and Nemesis in the Greek world. The proverb "pride goes before a fall" is thought to sum up the modern definition of hubris. In reference to someone being in Hubrity: Hubrity is a fullfillment of being hubris or a continual behavoir of being prideful. Victor in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein exudes hubris in order to become a great scientist, but eventually regretting this previous desire.

Hubris in popular culture

The Onion magazine article
In the beginning scenes of the Futurama episode "A Head In The Polls" characters Bender and Fry are seen watching the reoccuring show-within-a-show The Scary Door, a parody of The Twilight Zone. This episode specifically parodies The Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last". In this comedic version, after breaking his only pair of glasses, a man realizes aloud "Wait, my eyes aren't that bad, I can still read the large print versions!" at which point his eyeballs fall out of their sockets. The man starts to panic, but still the optimist, the man states "Well, luckily I know how to read braille." Then his hands too fall off. Finally, silencing momentary screaming, his tongue and head follow suit. Bender watching, says to Fry that the man was "cursed by his own hubris".
In the film, 300 (adapted from the comic by Frank Miller) the narrator says “The God King (Xerxes) has betrayed a fatal flaw: hubris. Easy to taunt, easy to trick…the mad king throws the best he has at us. Xerxes has taken the bait.” Xerxes' sends his best soldiers to attack the spartans, falling into a spartan trap.

Notes

References

Cairns, Douglas L. "Hybris, Dishonour, and Thinking Big." Journal of Hellenic Studies 116 (1996) 1-32.
Fisher, Nick (1992). Hybris: a study in the values of honour and shame in Ancient Greece. Warminster, UK: Aris & Phillips. A book-length discussion of the meaning and implications of hybristic behavior in ancient Greece.
MacDowell, Douglas. "Hybris in Athens." Greece and Rome 23 (1976) 14-31.