The Hybristes in Homer
Author(s): H. G. Robertson
Source: The Classical Journal , Nov., 1955, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Nov., 1955), pp. 81-83
Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Inc. (CAMWS)
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3292874
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Inc. (CAMWS) is collaborating with
JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Classical Journal
This content downloaded from
154.12.255.4 on Wed, 16 Apr 2025 12:46:41 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
THE HYBRISTES IN HOMER 81
THE HYBRISTES IN HOMER general resemblance between them and
the common concept underlying them
THE MOST EXPRESSIVE group all is of
thatwords
of hybris, which may be
in Homer are those used to de- described as an aggressive self-asser-
scribe the hybristes and his words and tiveness and a disregard of divine and
works. We have agenor, agrios, adees, human sanctions which imposed limits
aeikes, athemistios or athemistos, upon conduct, frequently aggravated
aidelos, aisylos, anaides, apenes, atas- by effrontery and insolence. It is well-
thalos, aphron, tharsaleos, thymalges, known that the Greeks regarded hybris
kakomechanos, karteros, kynamyia, as a serious offence, and the richness
kynopes or kynopis, obrimoergos, of the vocabulary Homer uses to de-
schetlios, hybristes, hyperbios, hype- scribe the man of hybris is a measure
renoreon, hyperephaneon, hyperphial- of the righteous indignation he aroused.
os, and chalepos. We have also the
In the Iliad these terms are used in
abstract nouns anaideie, atasthalie,
ate, aphradie, bie, kakotes, lobe, hy- many different situations and applied
bris, hyperbasie, and hyperoplie and to many specific acts or general atti-
the verbs aao, atasthallo, ateo, biao, tudes. Thus we have criticism of youth-
ephybrizo, koiraneo, lobaomai, megal- ful irresponsibility, insulting treatment
izomai, and hybrizo. Obviously it could of a tomb, Helen's infidelity and her
not be claimed that all of these are defiance of Aphrodite, the disregard of
exactly equivalent synonyms. They the gods attributed to the seven heroes
convey various shades of meaning and at Thebes, an unprovoked attack, Her-
may express closely related or over- acles' attacks upon two gods, the blood-
lapping concepts. Some of them are thirsty behavior of Ares and Athena's
ambivalent terms. Precise definition is retaliation, the crime of Helen and
very difficult. They never have become Paris, an alleged failure of the Achae-
so weakened as to be mere terms of ans to make good their boasts, Zeus's
abuse for persons the speaker does not opposition to Athena and Athena's op-
like, but in many cases the context position to Zeus, the superior pride
does not make it quite clear what is against which Menelaus is warned, the
the specific criticism implied. There depredations of the Epeans described
does however appear to be a certain by Nestor, the bloodthirstiness with
which Menelaus charges the Trojans
and their sharing in the crime of Paris,
60 Hexameters by Montcalm for a cross erected the foolhardiness of Patroclus, Hector's
on the field of Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) after
the victory of July 8, 1758. The strata ingentia swaggering in the armor of Achilles,
ligna represents an abatis. Aeneas' recklessness in confronting
61 Hall 75. Amplicissimus for amplissinmas,
generalis for generali, consilios for consiliis. Achilles, the fury of Achilles which
62 Ibid. 76. Comii for comu (comitatu). Uxoii enraged Scamander, the highhanded in-
and Oxoii probably for Oxon. Funcnone for
functione. tervention of which Ares accuses
63 Ibid. 76. Inscription on the monument of
Margaret Brown (d. 1720). Prob for Proh. The Athena, Hector's folly in rejecting
rest is probably erroneously transcribed. Polydamas' advice, Achilles' conduct
64 Ibid. 81. Constitubus for constitutis, affectus
for affectu. in war as viewed by Priam, the high-
65 Ibid. 88-89. Inscription destroyed by fire in handedness which Menelaus denies
1859. Errors: calumen (columen); humanoribus
(humanioribus); Considici (Causidici); primam having displayed after the chariot race.
(primum); prolventoris (?); illustravunt (illus-
trarunt); corpori (corporis); lentissimi (lentis-
sime); amicus (amicis); filius (filios); inimicam The chief embodiment of hybris in
(unicam). Hospitium Graiense = Gray's Inn. the Iliad is of course Agamemnon. Re-
66 First School Society, Ye Burying Place of
Windsor, Connecticut, n.p., n.d., pagination lack- peatedly in the quarrel scene and oc-
ing. In Newberry Library, Chicago. The inscrip-
tion should perhaps read: Vita nobis pro meritis casionally elsewhere his conduct is re-
charus, morte flendus. ferred to in terms of hybris or its
67 Hall 100. No further indication of location.
Generosis for Generosus. synonyms. Later he himself condemns
This content downloaded from
154.12.255.4 on Wed, 16 Apr 2025 12:46:41 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
82 H. G. ROBERTSON
his conduct, using the complementary overbearing attitude as shown in the
term ate. Hybris and ate are overlap- truculence and unscrupulousness dis-
ping concepts, the former emphasiz- played in their speeches, and in the
ing the quality of acts as affecting oth-hurling of the footstool and the ox's
er people, the latter emphasizing the hoof. These last two incidents are sig-
personal consequences for the guilty nificant in the story as furnishing con-
party. crete overt acts of hybris which bring
Achilles also is not entirely guiltless the situation to a climax and make us
of hybris. There are slight hints of this feel that the patience of Odysseus can-
in the quarrel scene when Agamemnon not endure much longer.
imputes to him some of the attributes The use of the theme of hybris is
of the hybristes and when Nestor tells one of the many points of resemblance
both disputants that they have been between the Iliad and the Odyssey.
acting badly. Later we have more defi- Both poems may be regarded among
nite charges that the hero of the poem other things as treatises upon the iniq-
is something of a hybristes. The river uity of hybris and in both hybris cre-
god Scamander says as much, Priam ates the situation upon which the plot
describes him as atasthalon obrimoer- is built and in both it takes the form
gon, and most significant is the lan- of misappropriating what is another's.
guage of Zeus in describing his con- In the two poems the "villains" are
tinued ill-treatment of Hector. embodiments of hybris and the heroes
In the Odyssey we find much the are slightly tinctured with it. In the
same group of terms used to describe delineation of hybristai the character-
many acts and attitudes. These include ization in the Iliad is more effective
the slaying of the Sun-god's cattle, the than that in the Odyssey. There is noth-
follies of mankind as instanced by Ae- ing subtle about the suitors, and while
gisthus, the impious boast of Aias, the the leaders among them are slightly
insolence of the Giants, the journey of differentiated, they are all very much
Telemachus as viewed by Antinous, of a piece and their one conspicuous
the plundering of the Cyclopes, the characteristic is their hybris. Agamem-
gossip feared by Nausicaa, the uncivil- non on the other hand is not a mere
ized ways of Polyphemus, the reck- personification. He has some attributes
lessness of Odysseus in taunting Poly- of greatness, but he is not big enough
phemus, the insolent airs of Melan- for the part he is called upon to play
thius, the imaginary depredations of and he is tempted to try to compensate
Odysseus' fictitious followers in Egypt, for a certain weakness of character by
the shameless mendicancy with which adopting some of the methods of the
Antinous charges Odysseus, unfair in- hybristes. The hybris of Odysseus is
terference by spectators in a fist-fight, not a serious fault, as it takes the
the fictitious deeds of wantonness to form merely of a slight tendency to
which Odysseus ascribes his low es- recklessness and bravado. This adds
tate, and the misconduct of some of interest to the story of his adventures
Odysseus' serving-women. and rather appeals to the sympathy of
But the main embodiments of hybris the reader, who likes to have the vir-
are the suitors, whose constant epithets tues of his characters redeemed by
are agenores, anaideis, hyperenoreon- some minor vices. The hybris of Achil-
tes, and hyperphialoi, while atasthalos les is a more serious matter and is
and its synonyms are repeatedly ap- more vitally connected with the plot,
plied to their words and actions. Their since it is one of the influences which
hybris manifests itself in their misap- temporarily transform his naturally
propriating and wasting Odysseus' sub- generous disposition and bring him and
stance, in their generally insolent and others to tragedy.
This content downloaded from
154.12.255.4 on Wed, 16 Apr 2025 12:46:41 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Aeschylus and Herodotusl
THE STORY of the Greeks' success- Both Aeschylus and Herodotus were
ful resistance against the two Per- impressed by the grand scale of the
sian invasions conducted by Darius and enterprise, and the drama of the con-
Xerxes has been a source of inspira- flict. The Persian Wars demanded the
tion to succeeding generations. Admir- utmost exertions on the part of the
ers of the Hellenic civilization see ex- Greeks, and the challenge to their na-
hibited in the struggle the finest char- tional security and freedom far sur-
acteristics of the Greek people. Lovers passed all other crises which they were
of freedom point to the Persian Wars called upon to meet. Greek independ-
as the earliest triumphs of free people ence was at stake; human destiny it-
in the endless wars against tyranny self seemed to be involved. The career
and oppression. The portrayal of a of Xerxes afforded many instances of
seemingly irresistible Persian power irony, reversal of fortune, and divine
threatening to engulf the Greek world retribution. These typically dramatic
evokes the universal feeling of sym- qualities enlisted the interest of the
pathy for the underdog. The unexpect- historian, Herodotus, as well as the
ed outcome presents a spectacle of tragedian, Aeschylus.2
human life replete with drama and J. A. K. Thompson in his book,
conducive to moral instruction. Irony: An Historical Introduction, re-
The sources of information concern- marks3 that the method of Herodotus
ing the Persian Wars and their effect is strictly parallel with that of the
upon the Greek world are found in the tragic dramatists. Herodotus accepts
dramatic history compiled by Herod- the view of life called ironic because
otus and the historical drama com- it naturally leads to the sense of irony
posed by Aeschylus. The superficial re- in human affairs. His history might be
semblances between these two works called the tragedy of King Xerxes.
are familiar. Both Aeschylus and He- Everything leads up to that, and the
rodotus wrote primarily for an Atheni- whole machinery of dramatic irony is
an audience. Each writer was a pio- brought into action, till Hubris is at
neer in his own field of literature. Play- last followed by Nemesis. The fall of
wright and historian alike emphasized Xerxes was something more than the
the fateful importance of the conflict fall of the world's loftiest head; it was
between Persian monarchy and Atheni- the defeat of barbarism. That, one can-
an democracy. To both men the per- not doubt, was the most important
sonality and character of the Persian event in the history of world civiliza-
monarch, Xerxes, constituted the maintion; for it established the foundations
point of interest. of civilization. The poular mind dram-
Significantly, the Persian Wars in- atized it as the Fall of Xerxes. Like-
spired two writers of supreme ability. wise in discussing the Aeschylean trag-
The hybristes in Homer furnished a in social control. It also helped to save
pattern of behavior which was widelythe Greeks from uncritical admiration
exploited by later writers and used to of such ambiguous qualities as energy,
point a moral or to give universality personality, the desire for achieve-
to tales from mythology or legend. The ment, or the impulse to dominate. The
concept of hybris had a prominent Greeks' hatred of hybris was one of
place in Greek thought and had impor-the things that made them an essen-
tant religious, moral, social, and legal tially humane and civilized race.
implications. It operated as a check H. G. ROBERTSON
upon conduct and was a valuable factor University of Toronto
83
This content downloaded from
154.12.255.4 on Wed, 16 Apr 2025 12:46:41 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
