Hubris isn’t just pride; it’s not just arrogance. It’s also “a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the gods” according to the Miriam-Webster dictionary.

And the ancient Greeks from whom we got the word had lots of stories to illustrate the point.

Odysseus was a clever guy but arrogant. On his trip home from the Trojan War, he blinded a Cyclops, tricked him, and escaped. He should have left it at that. Instead, he shouted back that he was Odysseus of Ithaca. Then he insulted the Cyclops’s father, Poseidon, the god of the sea.

Punishment: Poseidon turned Odysseus’s one-week trip home into a ten-year journey.

Arachne was a fantastic weaver. She told everyone that she was even better than the goddess Athena. In fact, she challenged Athena to a weaving contest. In the Roman retelling of the story, she wove a tapestry showing scenes of the gods infidelities. Now that’s hubris! No wonder Athena turned her into a spider.

I’m no expert on Greek myths, but it seems that hubris figures in many of them. Remember Icarus who flew too close to the sun and melted the wax that held the feathers of his wings together. His hubris sent him falling into the sea and drowning.

Then there’s Niobe. Poor Niobe. She made the mistake of boasting to the goddess Leto, about her seven sons and seven daughters. You don’t make that kind of boast to someone who only has two children, even if those children happen to be Apollo and Artemis. Niobe paid dearly for her hubris. Leto sent Apollo to kill Niobe’s sons and Artemis to kill the daughters.

Putin thought he could conquer Kyiv in three days. In fact, his military even carried parade uniforms with them for their victory parade through Kyiv. But the Ukrainian people fought back with all their might. Now, more than three years later, Russia controls only 12% of Ukrainian land, but they have sustained 936,210 casualties, and they have damaged their own economy.

If Putin were a Greek hero, the punishment of the gods would be more decisive. But this isn’t over yet.

Trump’s hubris extends to the whole world (except for 3 or 4 special “friends”). In announcing exceptionally large tariffs on 90 countries, Trump seems to believe he can force them to bow to his whims. He’s finding out, though, that in many cases they’re refusing to bow down. Will the gods punish him for his hubris, or will we all be made to suffer?

Greek myths are only myths, but they always portray some truth about the real world and about our desire for justice.

P.S. I didn’t include Elon Musk in this post, but there’s new book out about him called Hubris Maximus: the Shattering of Elon Musk by Faiz Siddiqui. It was published just five days ago.