In
ancient 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 (550 BC) depicting
Prometheus serving his sentence, tied to a column
Hesiod and
Aeschylus used the word "hubris" to describe transgressions against the gods. 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. Additional examples include
Icarus,
Phaethon,
Salmoneus,
Niobe,
Cassiopeia,
Tantalus, and
Tereus. The goddess
Hybris is described in the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition 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 as portrayed in Aeschylus's play
The Persians, 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 as protector of gladiators treading on Hubris, 2nd-century,
Archaeological Museum of Patras,
Greece In
ancient Athens, 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-and-
battery, sexual crimes, or the theft of public or sacred property. In some contexts, the term had a sexual connotation. Shame was frequently reflected upon the perpetrator, as well. Crucial to this definition are the ancient Greek concepts of
honour (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, a prominent statesman and orator in ancient
Greece. 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'
Against Timarchus, where the defendant, Timarchus, is accused of breaking the law of hubris by submitting himself to
prostitution and anal intercourse. Aeschines brought this suit against Timarchus to bar him from the rights of political office and his case succeeded.
Aristotle 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 "hubris is
overweening pride,
superciliousness or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution or
nemesis". The word
hubris as used in the
New Testament 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. == Modern usage ==