An Ancient Dream Manual: Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams

An Ancient Dream Manual

Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams
 
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Date of Publication:
 
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Product details:

ISBN13:9780198843825
ISBN10:0198843828
Binding:Hardback
No. of pages:256 pages
Size:223x146x23 mm
Weight:456 g
Language:English
228
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Short description:

Accompanying the new translation of Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams in the Oxford World's Classics series, this volume aims to provide the non-specialist reader with a readable and engaging road-map to this vast and complex text and to the theory and practice of dream-interpretation in antiquity.

Long description:
Artemidorus' Oneirocritica ('The Interpretation of Dreams') is the only dream-book which has been preserved from Graeco-Roman antiquity. Composed around AD 200, it comprises a treatise and manual on dreams, their classification, and the various analytical tools which should be applied to their interpretation, making Artemidorus both one of the earliest documented and arguably the single most important predecessor and precursor of Freud.

Artemidorus travelled widely through Greece, Asia, and Italy to collect people's dreams and record their outcomes, in the process casting a vivid light on social mores and religious beliefs in the Severan age: this volume, published as a companion to the new translation of The Interpretation of Dreams by Martin Hammond in the Oxford World's Classics series, aims to provide the non-specialist reader with a readable and engaging road-map to this vast and complex text. It offers a detailed analysis of Artemidorus' theory of dreams and the social function of ancient dream-interpretation, while also aiming to foster an understanding of the ways in which Artemidorus might be of interest to the cultural or social historian of the Graeco-Roman world. Alongside chapters on Artemidorus' life, career, and world-view, it also provides valuable insights into his conceptions of the human body, sexuality, the natural world, and the gods; his attitudes towards Rome, the contemporary Greek polis, and the social order; and his knowledge of Greek literature, myth, and history. In addition, its accessible exploration of the differences and similarities between ancient traditions of dream-analysis and modern psychoanalytic approaches will make this volume of interest to anybody with an interest in the history of dreams and dream interpretation.

Concise and informative ... Thonemann entertainingly exploits the opening scene of Aristophanes' Wasps as a way of introducing and illustrating the practice of dream interpretation and the consultation of interpreters ... Thonemann goes to great lengths to situate Artemidorus in a context, and to explicate the practice of dream interpretation in relation to its social and cultural background; the chapter on the range of Artemidorus' reading is also illuminating ... an outstanding resource.
Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Maps
The Snake and the Whale
Artemidorus and the Oneirocritica
How to Interpret a Dream
The Body
Sexuality and Gender
The Natural World
Cities of Dreams
Books and Literary Culture
The Gods
Festivals and Games
Status and Values
An Invisible Empire
Epilogue: Artemidorus after Antiquity
Further Reading
Index