Pride in the Name of Love - Hubris and the Greek Hero

"Sing, Goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus,

that accursed anger. which brought the Greeks endless sufferings

and sent the might souls of many warriors to Hades"

Homer, The Iliad Book 1- Translated by E.V Rieu 

The greatest sulk of all time, also happens to be one of the greatest stories of all time. Filled with heroes, beautiful women, gods at war, epic battles and one man's hubris. Hubris is the Ancient Greek concept of excessive pride, a pride that eventually brings shame upon it's perpetrator. 

The shame of hubris isn't just the prerogative of Achilles however. It is something that several heroes of Greek myth and legend suffer during their adventures. They rise to the top, only to be brought low by their hubris, more often than not at the hand of the gods. 

Briseis is taken from AchillesCup from the British Museum

The tale of  Achilles in the Iliad is often the most commonly used example of hubris in a Greek hero. After Agamemnon returns his own prize of a woman to her father, a priest of Apollo to prevent a plague, Agamemnon commands that Achilles battle prize of a woman named Briseis be given to him as a replacement.

Achilles robbed of his honour and prize, freely awarded him by the Greeks, refuses to fight again until Agamemnon apologises. The Trojan forces soon take the iniative and the Greeks are pushed right back to their ships. Still Achilles will not fight. In fact is is not until his beloved, Patroculus is killed, taking Achilles places in the line, that he rejoins the fight.

Achilles stubbornness and refusal of earlier reparations from Agamemnon directly leads to the death of his beloved Patroculus. But other heroes suffer from this same issue of overwhelming pride, that equally has a sting in its tale, literally in the case of Orion the Hunter. It is interesting that the theme of the perils of excessive pride shows up so often in Greek myth. Clearly it was a fault that Greeks, in their striving for both physical and mental perfection, believed should be avoided and it was such an important lesson that it shows up in their myths again and again. 

THESEUS

Theseus is many things during his famous adventures. Hero, fighter, lover. He had killed the dreaded Minotaur with the aid of the kings daughter, the lovely Ariadne and had promised to marry her in return. However on his journey home, ungrateful Theseus, no doubt puffed up on his own success and forgetting he owed it all to Ariadne, left her behind on a beach. 

Praying to the gods for revenge, Dionysus heard her and after falling in love with her and marrying the girl, he granted her revenge. The sailors were made to forget to change the sails of the ship, black and white sails had been provided to give a visible sign of success to the King Aegeus. Seeing the black sail which marked failure, he threw himself into what is now the Aegean sea and drowned. 

"Aegeus, who therefore, in despair, threw himself down from the rock and was dashed to pieces"

Plutarch Life of Theseus Chapter 22

So the hubris of Theseus, in forgetting he owed his victory to Ariadne, was repaid by a god in the death of his father. 

Bellerophon and Pegasus from the British Museum

BELLEROPHON

Bellerophon is your typical Greek hero, entwined in warring factions of family, death at every turn and danger around every corner. Sent to the King of Lycia with a note that the bearer of the note should be killed, he was tasked with murdering the Chimaera, a fire breathing monster, with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and a serpent's tail. Aided by the goddess Athena, who lent him the winged horse Pegasus, Bellerophon slew the terrifying monster. 

However, eventually becoming too proud of his achievements, Bellerophon tried to fly Pegasus to Olympus. As mortals were only allowed on Olympus under invitation of a God, Zeus punished proud Bellerophon. Sending a fly to bite at Pegasus, the hero was thrown from his back and landed in a thorn bush. Blinded, lame and severely chastised by the gods for his pride, Bellerophon lived the rest of life homeless and alone.

ORION

Constellation of Orion

Orion, son of Poseidon and that great constellation in the sky, angered many of the gods in the heavens during his life, especially when abandoning the goddess Eos who loved him, to hunt with Artemis. He soon angered Mother Earth by boasting he could kill all the animals and monsters in the world, her children. She sent a giant scorpion to chase him and after he failed to kill it, he jumped into the sea and swam towards Eos for her protection. 

On the island of Delos, where Orion was headed, Artemis and Apollo waited. Apollo, knowing full well what he was doing, challenged Artemis to hit the small shape bobbing in the sea. Accepting the challenge she fired true and killed Orion. After being forbidden to bring him back to life, Artemis raised Orion to the sky, where he is eternally chased by his Scorpion across the stars. 

All these heroes have the same under lying message to their myth and legend. Their pride, their hubris, is eventually punished by the gods and it gives us an insight into Greek views of what a hero and Greek should be, strong but never ungrateful in the case of Thesues. Brave like Bellerophon but not impudent. Powerful but not boastful like Orion. A hero was a hero and a Greek was a Greek but they should always be careful of hubris. 

The lesson of hubris is one that Greek myth and legend taught the world so well, that two thousand years later, when the King James Bible was published in 1611, there the same message was. 

"Pride goeth before a fall"

King James Bible Proverbs 16:18

Hubris, that accursed anger, which brought the Greek's endless suffering. 

Thanks for Reading

James