Dr. B asked me to post this info, so here you go.

Within the third choral ode is the line “Hybris sires the tyrant…” There are two especially interesting observations to make about this line in the context of Oedipus and our class. The first observation is regarding the word “hybris”. The glossary - within the version of “Oedipus Rex” that I have - has an entry on it which reads:

Hybris (hubris) – Debate over the precise meaning of this word, so important for our understanding of Greek literature and Greek law, has been going on for centuries, and studies still come out offering new interpretations. In his Rhetoric, the great philosopher Aristotle, who lived in Athens in the century after Sophocles’ death, defined hybris as physical or verbal assault that brings shame to the victim, but no reward to the agent other than the personal satisfaction received from inflicting disgrace on another. Aristotle associates the act of hybris with the state of anger. (It is important to note that hybris is the act of violence itself; modern readers often make the mistake of thinking of it as some kind of attitude or pride.)
In Athenian law, hybris was more serious than simple assault, whether the act was physical or verbal; it could be punished by death. Because someone who got away with hybris would have placed himself in a position of superiority, the Chorus of our play can say that “hybris creates a tyrant” by giving him power over other men.
Originally, the idea of hybris seems to have referred to cultivated plants that grew beyond their designated boundaries and, thus, had to be pruned; eventually, its metaphorical application to humans became the only meaning of the word.

The second observation is the word “sire”, which is constantly used throughout the text and is especially interesting in terms of paternity and paternal authority. Not only does it refer to the male parent (father), it’s also used as a respectful form of address for someone in a position of power, i.e. a king.

~Jenna P.