The Hubris reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Hubris

Hubris is exaggerated pride or self-confidence often resulting in retribution. It is a common theme in Greek tragedies and mythology, whose stories often featured protagonists suffering from hubris and subsequently being punished by the gods for it. In Greek law, it most often refers to drunken violence wreaked by aristocrats upon commoners. In poetry and mythology, the word carries the connotation of the perpetrator comparing him/herself as equal to or greater than a/the god/ess/es.

There was also a goddess called Hubris (or Hybris), the personification of the above concept, insolence, lack of restraint and instinct. She spent most of his time among mortals.

Greek mythological characters punished for their hubris:

  1. Arachne
  2. Bellerophon
  3. Chione
  4. Cinyras
  5. Ephialtes
  6. Iasion
  7. Marsyas
  8. Niobe
  9. Otus
  10. Salmoneus
  11. Thamyris


See also Impiety