Ritual Irony: Poetry and Sacrifice in EuripidesExamining Euripides' representation of sacrificial ritual against the background of late fifth-century Athens, Helene P. Foley shows that each of these plays confronts directly the difficulty of making an archaic poetic tradition relevant to a democratic society. She explores the important mediating role played by choral poetry and ritual in the plays, asserting that Euripides' sacrificial metaphors and ritual performances link an anachronistic mythic ideal with a world dominated by "chance" or an incomprehensible divinity. Foley utilizes the ideas and methodology of contemporary literary theory and symbolic anthropology, addressing issues central to the emerging dialogue between the two fields. Her conclusions have important implications for the study of Greek tragedy as a whole and for our understanding of Euripides' tragic irony, his conception of religion, and the role of his choral odes. |
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Page 20
... say that the gods are governed by a king , for men themselves are either still ruled by a king , or were so in ancient ... says to his daughters ( 980–83 ) : My children , we must pray to the Argives , sacrifice and pour liba- tions to ...
... say that the gods are governed by a king , for men themselves are either still ruled by a king , or were so in ancient ... says to his daughters ( 980–83 ) : My children , we must pray to the Argives , sacrifice and pour liba- tions to ...
Page 178
... says ( Pythian 9.87 ) : " That man is mute who does not lend his voice to Heracles . " For Pindar , Heracles is the major Panhellenic model of aretē ( Nem . 1.31-34 ) , the foil for the athletes and kings praised in his poems . In the ...
... says ( Pythian 9.87 ) : " That man is mute who does not lend his voice to Heracles . " For Pindar , Heracles is the major Panhellenic model of aretē ( Nem . 1.31-34 ) , the foil for the athletes and kings praised in his poems . In the ...
Page 241
... say that you really saw the god ? What sort of being was he ? " he asks at 477. Or , in lines SOI - 2 : P. And where ... says , what he ought to see ( 924 ) : You seem to lead on ahead of us as a bull and to have grown horns on your head ...
... say that you really saw the god ? What sort of being was he ? " he asks at 477. Or , in lines SOI - 2 : P. And where ... says , what he ought to see ( 924 ) : You seem to lead on ahead of us as a bull and to have grown horns on your head ...
Contents
Preface | 9 |
Drama and Sacrifice | 17 |
The Iphigenia in Aulis | 65 |
Copyright | |
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Achilles Aeschylean Aeschylus Agamemnon Agave agōn Amphitryon animal Antigone Antigone's aretē argues Aristophanes Artemis Athenian Athens audience Aulis Bacchae becomes bowman brothers Burkert Cadmus celebration characters choral odes chorus cles Clytemnestra comedy comic context costume Creon crisis cult culture dance Detienne Dionysiac Dionysus discussion divine drama earlier Electra emphasizes epic epinician Eteocles Euripidean Euripides exile festival final scenes Girard god's gods Greek tragedy Helen Hera Heracles hero heroic heroism hoplite human sacrifice Iliad interpretation Iphigenia Jocasta killing literary Lycus madness maenads marriage marriage and sacrifice mask Mastronarde Megara Menoeceus messenger murder myth mythical Odysseus Oedipus offers onstage Orestes Panhellenic Pentheus peripety Phoenissae Pindar play plot poet poetic poetry polis political Polyneices praise prologue relation religious rites ritual role Rudhardt sacri sacrificial death social song Sophocles speech stasimon suppliant action symbolic theatrical Theban Thebes Theseus tion Tiresias tradition tragic Vernant victim violence women Zeus