Hubris (or Hybris)

Fall of Icarus

Hubris, in Greek tragedy, is the excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis. The overbearing pride leads humans to follow paths or projects which lead to certain self-destruction. In Greek drama hubris is more or less followed by nemesis. This is the lesson learned and presented in the drama: the notion of hubris in Greek drama is the downfall of a powerful, over-proud man. In this sense hubris is a crime of power. Hubris is the extreme pride or self-confidence of an individual character. which , when it offends the gods, that character is usually punished severely. Hubris is arrogance in word, deed and thought. For example, hubris is having or maintaining stubbornly an attitude which goes against or ignores, say, the prophecies, counsel or pronouncements of the Delphic Oracle. The central meaning of hubris is doing deeds and thinking thoughts more than a mere mortal human should do and think, thereby showing impiety towards the gods. Other clear examples of hubris include Xerxes' and Darius' hubris in Aeschylus' Persae. And King Creon's in Sophocles' Antigone. 

Hubris is the sin of arrogance and pride. Wealth and hubris are often coupled together. Hubris leads characters to break divine laws. Hubris is outrageous insolence or impiety and failing to do the honour due to the gods. Hubris is punished by the gods. Socrates was executed for asebeia or impiety towards the gods.

Traditional heroes have virtue and attempt to follow the code of honour [kleos] for heroes expected of them. Kleos is striving for superlative status as a virtue. But it is easy for this virtue to turn into hubris: they are vulnerable. This can create a great tragedy. Some traditional heroes fall into the trap of an illusion of their own greatness and fail due to a lack of identification and gratification to the gods. When a traditional hero remains humble he/she earns blessings from the gods, the reward of ending the journey, and being able to go back to society. The journeys and lives of traditional heroes are dependent on supernatural forces, not themselves. This is the very nature of mythology. 

 Greek tragic theatre is essentially courtroom drama where the audience is invited to judge just how guilty of Hubris the hero or protagonist in the play has been and to decide whether the punishment inflicted upon them was just for the crime they had committed. In this role members of the audience act like jurors. Indeed theatre taught the citizens of Ancient Athens how to perform one of their most important civic duties within a democratic state.



Atë (ἄτη) is the Greek goddess of mischief, delusion, ruin, and folly.

Book of Proverbs, 16:18
Proverbs 16-18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Antonym of hubris:  sophron  
Being of a sound mind, sane, in one's senses. Curbing one's desires and impulses, self-controlled, temperate, prudent, sensible. Hubris is a mode of behaviour, arising out of a state of mind. A man who is sophron will not act hubristically, conversely a man who acts hubristically cannot be sophron. Hubris and sophrosune can be regarded as antithetical.

Latin for hubris is contumēlia ("contumely, insult").
Hubris or Hybris was the mother with Zeus as father, of the god Pan. [Appollodorus]. Hybris was the personification of arrogance,

Nemesis is the inescapable agent of someone’s or something’s downfall. Nemesis was the goddess or spirit of divine retribution against those who had succumbed to hubris. Nemesis is the psychological feeling of deep shame for what one has done.

What are the concepts of hubris and nemesis?

Hubris denotes over-confidence, exaggerated pride. It can be associated with a lack of knowledge or interest in history, also with shaming or contempt of others. Nemesis is the goddess of retribution and denotes the destruction, suffering or punishment that can follow in the wake of hubris.

Hubris describes arrogant confidence, which transforms to Atë​,​ a ruinous folly or madness, then onto Nemesis, a force of retribution that resets the natural order.

References

Icarus - Wikipedia

N. R. E. Fisher

Liddell & Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon- Hubris or ὕβρις

Lewis, & Short, A Latin Dictionary, con-tŭmēlĭa

Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon, σώφρων

The Pattern of Aeschylean Tragedy
Richard S. Caldwell
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Nemesis (mythology) - Wikipedia
Kathleen N. Daly (2009). Greek and Roman Mythology, A to Z. Nemesis: Infobase Publishing. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-1-4381-2800-9.

Nicolas Ralph Edmund Fisher (1992). Hybris: A Study in the Values of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece. Aris & Phillips. ISBN 978-0-85668-144-8.

Douglas L. Cairns (1993). Aidos: The Psychology and Ethics of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9786610763689.


Catherine Collobert: Chapter on Homeric Ethics - Fame and Prudence in Ancient Ethics
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ancient_Ethics/9x6YAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=kleos+hubris&pg=PA57&printsec=frontcover

Hubris - Wikipedia

Ate (mythology) - Wikipedia

Nemesis - Wikipedia

The Fountainhead: The Evolving Roles of the Heroic Code into the Antiheroic Mode by Erin Hogshead

John Jones (1980). On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy. Stanford University Press. pp. 86–. ISBN 978-0-8047-1093-0.

Xerxes’ hubris and Darius in Aeschylus’ Persae (2008) : Papadimitropoulos, Loukas

NEMESIS : Greek Goddess of Retribution & Indignation

HYBRIS : Goddess or Spirit of Insolence, Excessive Pride & Violence

Peitho - Wikipedia

Nemesis - Greek Mythology Link

Atë - Wikipedia
Ate - Greek Mythology

Sexuality, Violence, and the Athenian Law of 'Hubris'
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Walter R. Agard
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Lauren Silberman
College Literature
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/25111712

Sophocles' Ajax and Sophoclean Plot Construction
James Tyler
The American Journal of Philology
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Douglas L. Cairns. “Hybris, Dishonour, and Thinking Big.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 116, 1996, pp. 1–32. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/631953.

La violence dans les mondes grec et romain - Nemesis, Hybris and Violence - Éditions de la Sorbonne

'Hybris' and Dishonour: I
N. R. E. Fisher
Greece & Rome
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Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/642226

'Hybris' and Dishonour: II
N. R. E. Fisher
Greece & Rome
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Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/642496

Richard G. A. Buxton (1982). Persuasion in Greek Tragedy: A Study of Peitho. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-24180-9.

Hybris: A Study in the Values of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece - Nicolas Fisher - Google Books