Helene P. Foley: Ritual Irony – Poetry and Sacrifice in Euripides

“Ritual Irony: Poetry and Sacrifice in Euripides” is a book by Helene P. Foley that argues Euripides’ later plays use sacrificial rituals to create irony by contrasting outdated poetic traditions with the realities of a democratic, late-fifth-century Athenian society. The book examines how the plays use choral poetry and sacrificial metaphor to bridge the gap between mythic ideals and a world dominated by chance, or a distant and incomprehensible divinity. Foley applies contemporary literary theory and symbolic anthropology to analyze four specific plays—Iphigenia in Aulis, The Phoenician Women, Heracles, and The Bacchae—to demonstrate this central theme.