Originally the intentional use of violence to humiliate or degrade others, Hubris has evolved–an overweening presumption that leads a person to disregard the divinely fixed limits on human action in an ordered cosmos.

The most famous example of hubris in ancient Greece was the case of Meidias. In 348 BCE struck the orator Demosthenes in the face when the latter was dressed in ceremonial robes and performing an official function. This sense of hubris could also characterize rape. Hubris was a crime at least from the time of Solon (6th century BCE), and any citizen could bring charges against another party, as was the case also for treason or impiety. (In contrast, only a member of the victim’s family could bring murder charges.)

The most important discussion of hubris in antiquity is by Aristotle in his Rhetoric:

Hubris consists in doing and saying things that cause shame to the victim…simply for the pleasure of it. Retaliation is not hubris, but revenge.…Young men and the rich are hubristic because they think they are better than other people.

Hubris fit into the shame culture of archaic and Classical Greece, in which people’s actions were guided by avoiding shame and seeking honor. However, it did not fit into the culture of internalized guilt, which became crucial in later antiquity and characterizes the modern West.

Today, hubris is everywhere, but now we also know why. This is part of the genetic evolution to claim peace of mind and soul. Animals have no issue–fight or flight–only humans think about a third choice. It always leads to downfall, not just of individuals but societies and nations, from a Pharaohs onward.