THE ANSWER LIES IN DREAMS

THEME: Looking into the future ARTEMIDORUS’ ONEIROCRITICA Perhaps the most famous dream interpretation of the ancient world are the six dreams interpreted by Joseph (Genesis 37-41). These involve various dreams: his own, his fellow prisoners, even the pharaoh's. Joseph declares that the interpretation of dreams belongs to God (Genesis 40:8), and other ancient religions, too, placed significant importance on the interpretation of dreams, regarding them as religious experiences, even down to catering for having dreams within temple precincts. Almost every ancient culture regarded dreams and dream interpretation as important whether it be Assyrian, Chinese, Egyptian, Hebrew, Celtic, Greek, Roman, or any other. On the other hand, we might argue that the inclusion of dreams and their interpretation in historical and literary accounts, such as the many in Herodotus, are more likely…