Oneirocritica Aegyptiaca: Artemidorus of Daldis, Egypt, and the Contemporary Oneirocritic Literature...

Artemidor von Daldis und die antike Traumdeutung

Colloquia Augustana

Herausgegeben von Bernd Oberdorfer Gregor Weber und Wolfgang E J Weber

Redaktion Elisabeth Boumlswald-Rid und Tobias Ranker

Institut fuumlr Europaumlische Kulturgeschichte der Universitaumlt Augsburg

Band 33


Texte ndash Kontexte ndash Lektuumlren

Herausgegeben vonGregor Weber

DE GRUYTER

Gefoumlrdert von der Fritz Thyssen Stiftung

ISBN 978-3-11-040725-9e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-040740-2e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-040746-4ISSN 0946-9044

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataA CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen NationalbibliothekDie Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der DeutschenNationalbibliografie detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internetuumlber httpdnbdnbde abrufbar

copy 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH BerlinBostonAbbildung auf dem Einband Der traumlumende Alexander der Groszlige unter einer Platane (Smyrna ca 147 n Chr) Staatliche Muumlnzsammlung Muumlnchen Foto Nicolai KaumlstnerDruck und Bindung Hubert amp Co GmbH amp Co KG Goumlttingen Gedruckt auf saumlurefreiem PapierPrinted in Germany

wwwdegruytercom

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Zur Einfuumlhrung 7

Gregor Weber

Writing and Reading Books IV and V of Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica 17

Daniel Harris-McCoy

Emotionen in Artemidors Oneirokritika 39

Gregor Weber

La terre et les campagnes chez Arteacutemidore Mots ideacutees reacutealiteacutes 67

Christophe Chandezon

Pratiques et repreacutesentations de la justice dans lrsquoœuvre

drsquoArteacutemidore de Daldis 101

Heacutelegravene Meacutenard

Quand on recircve drsquoanimaux Place de lrsquoanimal et bestiaire du recircve dans

les Oneirokritika drsquoArteacutemidore 127

Philippe Monbrun

Dreaming of Deities Athena and Dionysus in the Oneirocritica 161

Jovan Bilbija and Jaap-Jan Flinterman

La place des mythes dans lrsquointerpreacutetation des songes drsquoArteacutemidore 189

Daniegravele Auger

6 Inhaltsverzeichnis

On Dreaming of Onersquos Mother Oedipal Dreams between Sophocles and

Artemidorus 219

Giulio Guidorizzi

The Role of Dream-Interpreters in Greek and Roman Religion 233

Gil H Renberg

Oneirocritica Aegyptiaca Artemidorus of Daldis Egypt and the

Contemporary Oneirocritic Literature in Egyptian 263

Luigi Prada

La reacuteception drsquoArteacutemidore dans lrsquoonirocritique byzantine 311

Andrei Timotin

Artemidor ndash antike Formen der Traumdeutung und ihre Rezeption

Joseph Ennemoser (1844) und Sigmund Freud (1900) 327

Beat Naumlf

Postface 349

Julien du Bouchet

Register 357

Personenregister 357

Ortsregister 359

Sachregister 360

Stellenregister 367

Die Autoren 391

Oneirocritica Aegyptiaca Artemidorus

of Daldis Egypt and the Contemporary

Oneirocritic Literature in Egyptian

Luigi Prada

At the opening of his dream book Artemidorus explains to his readers how in order

to gather as much information as possible on oneiromancy not only did he read all

books available on the topic but he also spent years consorting with dream inter-

preters around the Mediterranean In his own words

ldquoI have consorted (sc with diviners) for many years And in Greece in its cities and festi-vals and in Asia and in Italy and in the largest and most populous of the islands I have listened patiently to dreams of old and their outcomesrdquo1

Amongst the places that he mentions Egypt does not figure Yet at the time when

Artemidorus was writing these words probably in the II century AD2 an indigenous

1 Artem I prooem 2 17ndash20 ἔτεσι πολλοῖς ὡμίλησα καὶ ἐν Ἑλλάδι κατὰ πόλεις καὶ πανηγύρεις καὶ ἐν Ἀσίᾳ καὶ ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ καὶ τῶν νήσων ἐν ταῖς μεγίσταις καὶ πολυανθρωποτάταις ὑπομένων ἀκούειν παλαιοὺς ὀνείρους καὶ τούτων τὰς ἀποβάσεις All translations of passages from Arte-midorusrsquo Oneirocritica in this article are based on those of Daniel E Harris-McCoy Artemi-dorusrsquo Oneirocritica Text Translation and Commentary Oxford 2012 with occasional mod-ifications the Greek text is reproduced from Packrsquos Teubner edition All other translations of ancient texts (and transliterations of the Egyptian texts) are my own The same list of places here given (with the exception of the islands) is found again in the proem to Book V (301 10ndash12) Concerning Artemidorusrsquo travels see Roger Pack Artemidorus and His Waking World In TAPhA 86 (1955) P 280ndash290 here p 284ndash285 most recently see also Christophe Chandezon (avec la collaboration de Julien du Bouchet) Arteacutemidore Le cadre historique geacuteographique et sociale drsquoune vie In Julien du BouchetChristophe Chandezon (ed) Eacutetudes sur Arteacutemidore et lrsquointerpreacutetation des recircves Nanterre 2012 P 11ndash26 here p 25ndash26

2 Most recently on Artemidorusrsquo uncertain chronology and the possibility that his Oneirocritica may date to as late as the early III century AD see Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica (n 1) P 2 To this add also the detailed discussion with dating of Artemidorusrsquo floruit to some time between 140ndash200 AD in Chandezon Arteacutemidore (n 1) P 12ndash17

264 Luigi Prada

and ancient tradition of oneirocritic manuals was still very much alive if not even

thriving in Egypt Papyri were still being copied which contained lengthy dream

books all of them written in demotic a late stage in the evolution of the ancient

Egyptian language and script

If this large production of Egyptian oneirocritic literature did not cross the bor-

ders of Egypt and come to Artemidorusrsquo attention in antiquity its fate seems to be

a similar one even today for study and knowledge of these demotic dream books

have generally been limited to the area of demotic and Egyptological studies and

these texts have seldom come to the attention of scholars of the classical world3

This is also to be blamed on the current state of the research Many demotic dream

books remain unpublished in papyrus collections worldwide and knowledge of

them is therefore still partial and in development even in the specialised Egypto-

logical scholarship

In this paper I will give a presentation of ancient Egyptian oneiromancy in Grae-

co-Roman times focusing on the demotic dream books from the time of Artemi-

dorus In this overview I will discuss the specific features of these manuals includ-

ing the types of dreams that one finds discussed therein by comparing them with

those specific to Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica I will then investigate the presence (or

absence) of Egypt in Artemidorusrsquo own work and his relationship with the Egyp-

tian oneirocritic tradition by analysing a number of excerpts from his Oneirocriti-

ca This will permit an assessment of what influence ancient Egyptian oneiromancy

had if any on the shaping of the oneirocritic literature in Greek as exemplified in

Artemidorusrsquo own work

Ancient Egyptian oneiromancy at the time of Artemidorus the demotic dream books

The evolution of a genre and its general features

By the II century AD the oneirocritic genre had already had an over a millennium

long history in Egypt The manuscript preserving the earliest known ancient Egyp-

tian dream book pChester Beatty 3 dates to the XIII century BC and bears twelve

columns (some more some less fragmentary) of text written in hieratic a cursive

3 See for instance the overview by Johannes Renger Traum Traumdeutung I Alter Orient In Hubert CancikHelmuth Schneider (ed) Der Neue Pauly Enzyklopaumldie der Antike Altertum StuttgartWeimar 2002 (Vol 121) Col 768 No mention of the demotic oneirocritic textual production is found in it

265Artemidorus of Daldis Egypt and the Contemporary Oneirocritic Literature in Egyptian

form of the Egyptian script4 With the exception of two sections where a magical

spell for the protection of the dreamer from ominous dreams and the characterisa-

tion of a specific type of dreamer are included most of the manuscript consists of

the short descriptions of hundreds of dreams one per line following the pattern

ldquoWhen a man sees himself in a dream doing X ndash goodbad it signifies that Y will befall

himrdquo Papyrus fragments of two further dream books in hieratic have recently been

published approximately dating to respectively the VIIVI and the IV century BC5

As one may expect these two later dream books show some differences in style from

pChester Beatty 3 but overall the nature of the oneirocritic exposition is the same A

short description of the dream is directly followed by its equally short mantic inter-

pretation with a general ratio of one dream being described and explained per line

It is however with the beginning of the Ptolemaic period that the number of

dream books at least of those that have survived in the papyrological record starts

increasing dramatically By this time more and more Egyptian literary manuscripts

are written in demotic and in this script are written all Egyptian dream books ex-

tant from Graeco-Roman times The first such manuscript dates to the IVIII century

BC6 whilst parts of two further demotic dream books survive in late Ptolemaic to

early Roman papyri (ca late I century BC or thereabouts)7 But it is from later in the

Roman period the I and especially the II century AD that the number of extant

manuscripts reaches its acme Counting both the published and the unpublished

material up to about ten papyrus manuscripts containing dream books are known

4 Originally published in Alan H Gardiner Chester Beatty Gift (2 vols) London 1935 (Hieratic Pa-pyri in the British Museum Vol 3) P 7ndash23 pl 5ndash8a 12ndash12a A recent translation and commen-tary is in Kasia Szpakowska Behind Closed Eyes Dreams and Nightmares in Ancient Egypt Swansea 2003 P 76ndash114

5 Both texts pBerlin P 29009 and pBerlin P 23058 are published in Joachim F Quack Aus zwei spaumltzeitlichen Traumbuumlchern (Pap Berlin P 29009 und 23058) In Hermann KnufChristian LeitzDaniel von Recklinghausen (ed) Honi soit qui mal y pense Studien zum pharaonischen griechisch-roumlmischen und spaumltantiken Aumlgypten zu Ehren von Heinz-Josef Thissen LeuvenParisWalpole MA 2010 (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta Vol 194) P 99ndash110 pl 34ndash37

6 This is pJena 1209 published in Karl-Theodor Zauzich Aus zwei demotischen Traum-buumlchern In APF 27 (1980) P 91ndash98 pl 7ndash8 here p 96ndash98 pl 8 Here dated to the I century BC it has been correctly re-dated by Quack Aus zwei spaumltzeitlichen Traumbuumlchern (n 5) P 103 n 13 Additional fragments of this manuscript (pJena 1210+1403) are being prepared for publication

7 These two manuscripts (pBerlin P 13589+13591+23756andashc and pBerlin P 15507) are unpublished A section from one of them is shortly discussed in Luigi Prada Visions of Gods P Vienna D 6633ndash6636 a Fragmentary Pantheon in a Demotic Dream Book In Aidan M DodsonJohn J JohnstonWendy Monkhouse (ed) A Good Scribe and an Exceedingly Wise Man Studies in Honour of WJ Tait London 2014 (Golden House Publications Egyptology Vol 21) P 251ndash270 here p 261

266 Luigi Prada

from this period For some of them only small fragments survive preserving very

little text However others are more substantial and bear entire columns of writing8

A distinctive feature of these demotic books is their structuring all of them are

divided into thematic chapters each with its own heading ordering the dreams into

groups based on the general topic with which they deal Such a thematic structure

which made demotic dream books much more user-friendly and practical to con-

sult was not always found in the previous hieratic dream manuals and it was cer-

tainly absent from the earliest Egyptian dream book pChester Beatty 3

With regard to their style virtually each line contains a dreamrsquos short description

followed by its interpretation as is observed in the earlier hieratic compositions How-

ever two ways of outlining the dreams can now be found One is the traditional way

where the dream is described by means of a short clause ldquoWhen heshe does Xrdquo or

ldquoWhen Y happens to himherrdquo The other way is even more frugal in style as the dream

is described simply by mentioning the thing or being that is at its thematic core so

if a man dreams eg of eating some salted fish the relevant entry in the dream book

will not read ldquoWhen he eats salted fishrdquo but simply ldquoSalted fishrdquo While the first style is

found in demotic dream books throughout the Graeco-Roman period the latter con-

densed form is known only from a limited number of manuscripts of Roman date

To give a real taste of these demotic dream books I offer here below excerpts from

four different manuscripts all dated to approximately the II century AD The first

two show the traditional style in the dream description with a short clause pictur-

ing it and stem respectively from a section concerning types of sexual intercourse

dreamt of by a female dreamer (many but not all relating to bestiality) and from a

section dealing with types of booze that a man may dream of drinking9 As regards

8 A complete list of all these papyrus fragments and manuscripts is beyond the scope of this paper but the following discussion will hopefully give a sense of the amount of evidence that is currently at the disposal of scholars and which is now largely more abundant than what was lamented some fifty years ago (with regard to Egyptian dream books in both hieratic and demotic) by Lienhard Delekat Katoche Hierodulie und Adoptionsfreilassung Muumlnchen 1964 (Muumlnchener Beitraumlge zur Papyrusforschung und Antiken Rechtsgeschichte Vol 47) P 137 ldquoLeider besitzen wir nur zwei sehr fragmentarische Sammlungen aumlgyptischer Traumomina [hellip]rdquo For a papyrological overview of this material see Luigi Prada Papyrus Berlin P 8769 A New Look at the Text and the Reconstruction of a Lost Demotic Dream Book In Verena M Lepper (ed) Forschung in der Papyrussammlung Eine Festgabe fuumlr das Neue Museum Berlin 2012 (Aumlgyptische und Orientalische Papyri und Handschriften des Aumlgyptischen Museums und Papyrussammlung Berlin Vol 1) P 309ndash328 pl 1 here p 321ndash323

9 These passages are preserved respectively in pCarlsberg 13 and 14 verso which are published in Aksel Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (Pap Carlsberg XIII und XIV verso) Kopenhagen 1942 (Analecta Aegyptiaca Vol 3) My reading of the demotic text sometimes departs from that of Volten In preparing my transcription of the text based on the published images of the papyri I have also consulted that of Guumlnter Vittmann in the Demotische Textdatenbank


the third and fourth excerpts they show the other elliptic style and come from

a chapter dealing with dreams about trees and other botanic items and from one

about dreams featuring metal implements mostly used in temple cults10 From all

these excerpts it will appear clear how our knowledge of Egyptian dream books is

further complicated by the poor preservation state in which most of these papyri

are as they present plenty of damaged spots and lacunae

Excerpt 1 ldquo(17) When a mouse has sex with her ndash her husband will give her [hellip] (18) When a horse has sex with her ndash she will be stronger than her husband (21) When a billy goat has sex with her ndash she will die swiftly (22) When a ram has sex with her ndash Pharaoh will do good to her (23) When a cat has sex with her ndash misfortune will find [her]rdquo11

Excerpt 2 ldquo(2) [When] he [drinks] sweet beer ndash he will rejoi[ce] (3) [When he drinks] brewery [b]eer ndash [he] will li[ve hellip] (5) [When he drinks] beer and wine ndash [hellip] will [hellip] (8) When he [drin]ks boiled wine ndash they() will [hellip] (9) [When he drinks] must [wi]ne ndash [hellip]rdquo12

Excerpt 3ldquo(1) Persea tree ndash he will live with a man great of [good()]ness (2) Almond() tree ndash he will live anew he will be ha[ppy] (3) Sweet wood ndash good reputation will come to him (4) Sweet reed ndash ut supra (5) Ebony ndash he will be given property he will be ha[pp]yrdquo13

Excerpt 4ldquo(7) Incense burner ndash he will know (sc have sex with) a woman w[hom] he desires (8) Nmsy-jar ndash he will prosper the god will be gracio[us to him] (9) w-bowl ndash he will be joyful his [hellip] will [hellip] (10) Naos-sistrum (or) loop-sistrum ndash he will do [hellip] (11) Sceptre ndash he will be forceful in hi[s hellip]rdquo14

accessible via the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae online (httpaaewbbawdetlaindexhtml) and the new translation in Joachim F Quack Demotische magische und divinatorische Texte In Bernd JanowskiGernot Wilhelm (ed) Omina Orakel Rituale und Beschwoumlrungen Guumlters-loh 2008 (TUAT NF Vol 4) P 331ndash385 here p 359ndash362

10 These sections are respectively preserved in pBerlin P 8769 and pBerlin P 15683 For the for-mer which has yet to receive a complete edition see Prada Papyrus Berlin P 8769 (n 8) The latter is published in Zauzich Aus zwei demotischen Traumbuumlchern (n 6) P 92ndash96 pl 7

11 From pCarlsberg 13 frag b col x+217ndash18 21ndash23 (17) r pyn nk n-im=s r pAy=s hy r ti n=s [hellip] (18) r HtA nk n-im=s i(w)=s r naS r pAy=s hy (21) r b(y)-aA-m-pt nk n-im=s i(w)=s r mwt n tkn (22) r isw nk n-im=s r Pr-aA r ir n=s mt(t) nfrt (23) r in-my nk n-im=s r sSny n wly r gmv[=s]

12 From pCarlsberg 14 verso frag a ll 2ndash3 5 8ndash9 (2) [iw]=f [swr] Hnoy nDm iw=f r rS[y] (3) [iw=f swr H]noy n hyA(t) [iw=f] r an[x hellip] (5) [iw=f swr] Hnoy Hr irp iw=[] (8) iw=f [sw]r irp n psy iw=w() [] (9) [iw=f swr ir]p n mysl []

13 From pBerlin P 8769 col x+41ndash5 (1) SwAb iw=f anx irm rmT aA mt(t) [nfrt()] (2) awny iw=f wHm anx iw=f n[fr] (3) xt nDm r syt nfr r xpr n=f (4) sby[t] nDm(t) r-X(t) nn (5) hbyn iw=w ti n=f nke iw=f n[f]r

14 From pBerlin P 15683 col x+27ndash11 (7) sHtp iw=f r rx s-Hmt r mrA=f [s] (8) nmsy iw=f r wDA r pA nTr r Ht[p n=f] (9) xw iw=f r nDm n HAt r pAy=f [] (10) sSSy sSm iw=f r ir w[] (11) Hywa iw=f r Dre n nAy[=f ]

268 Luigi Prada

The topics of demotic dream books how specifically Egyptian are they

The topics treated in the demotic dream books are very disparate in nature Taking into

account all manuscripts and not only those dating to Roman times they include15

bull dreams in which the dreamer is suckled by a variety of creatures both human

and animal (pJena 1209)

bull dreams in which the dreamer finds himself in different cities (pJena 1403)

bull dreams in which the dreamer greets and is greeted by various people (pBerlin

P 13589)

bull dreams in which the dreamer adores a divine being such as a god or a divine

animal (pBerlin P 13591)

bull dreams in which various utterances are addressed to the dreamer (pBerlin P 13591)

bull dreams in which the dreamer is given something (pBerlin P 13591 and 23756a)

bull dreams in which the dreamer reads a variety of texts (pBerlin P 13591 and 23756a)

bull dreams in which the dreamer writes something (pBerlin P 13591)

bull dreams in which the dreamer kills someone or something (pBerlin P 15507)

bull dreams in which the dreamer carries various items (pBerlin P 15507)

bull dreams about numbers (pCarlsberg 13 frag a)

bull dreams about sexual intercourse with both humans and animals (pCarlsberg 13

frag b)

bull dreams about social activities such as conversing and playing (pCarlsberg 13

frag c)

bull dreams about drinking alcoholic beverages (pCarlsberg 14 verso frag a)

bull dreams about snakes (pCarlsberg 14 verso frags bndashc)

bull dreams in which various utterances are addressed to the dreamer (pCarlsberg 14

verso frag c)

bull dreams about eating whose object appears to be in most cases a divine animal

hypostasis (pCarlsberg 14 verso frags cndashd)16

15 The topics are listed based on a rough chronological ordering of the papyri bearing the texts from the IVIII century BC pJena 1209 and 1403 to the Roman manuscripts The list is not meant to be exhaustive and manuscripts whose nature has yet to be precisely gauged such as the most recently identified pBUG 102 which is very likely an oneirocritic manual of Ptolemaic date (information courtesy of Joachim F Quack) or a few long-forgotten and still unpublished fragments from Saqqara (briefly mentioned in various contributions including John D Ray The Form mtwf r sDm in Later Egyptian In JEA 59 [1973] P 156ndash158 here p 157) are left aside Further only chapters whose content can be assessed with relative certainty are included whilst those that for whatever reason (generally owing to damage to the manuscripts) are dis-puted or highly uncertain are excluded Similar or identical topics occurring in two or more manuscripts are listed separately

16 Concerning the correct identification of these and the following dreamsrsquo topic which were mis-understood by the original editor see Prada Papyrus Berlin P 8769 (n 8) P 319 n 46 323 n 68


bull dreams concerning a vulva (pCarlsberg 14 verso frag e)

bull dreams in which the dreamer gives birth in most cases to animals and breast-

feeds them (pCarlsberg 14 verso frag f)

bull dreams in which the dreamer swims in the company of different people (pCarls-

berg 14 verso frag f)

bull dreams in which the dreamer is presented with wreaths of different kinds

(pCarlsberg 14 verso frag g)

bull dreams about crocodiles (pCarlsberg 14 verso frag i)

bull dreams about Pharaoh (pCarlsberg 490+PSI D 56)17

bull dreams about writing (pCarlsberg 490+PSI D 56)18

bull dreams about foodstuffs mostly types of fish (pCarlsberg 649 verso)19

bull dreams about eggs (pCarlsberg 649 verso)

bull dreams about minerals stones and precious metals (pBerlin P 8769)

bull dreams about trees other botanical species and fruits (pBerlin P 8769)

bull dreams about plants (pBerlin P 15683)

bull dreams about metal implements mostly of a ritual nature (pBerlin P 15683 with

an exact textual parallel in pCtYBR 1154 verso)20

bull dreams about birds (pVienna D 6104)

bull dreams about gods (pVienna D 6633ndash6636)

bull dreams about foodstuffs and beverages (pVienna D 6644 frag a)

bull dreams in which the dreamer carries animals of all types including mammals

reptiles and insects (pVienna D 6644 frag a)

bull dreams about trees and plants (pVienna D 6668)

17 This manuscript has yet to receive a complete edition (in preparation by Joachim F Quack and Kim Ryholt) but an image of pCarlsberg 490 is published in Kim Ryholt Fra samlingen af Carlsberg Papyri In Papyrus AEliggyptologisk Tidsskrift 182 (1998) P 41ndash43 here p 42

18 This thematic section is mentioned in Luigi Prada Dreams Bilingualism and Oneiromancy in Ptolemaic Egypt Remarks on a Recent Study In ZPE 184 (2013) P 85ndash101 here p 94 n 37

19 This papyrus currently being prepared for publication by Quack and Ryholt is mentioned as in the case of the following chapter on egg-related dreams in Joachim F Quack A Black Cat from the Right and a Scarab on Your Head New Sources for Ancient Egyptian Divi-nation In Kasia Szpakowska (ed) Through a Glass Darkly Magic Dreams amp Prophecy in Ancient Egypt Swansea 2006 P 175ndash187 here p 182 Further information about it includ-ing its inventory number is available in Joachim F Quack Praumlzision in der Prognose oder Divination als Wissenschaft In Annette ImhausenTanja Pommerening (ed) Writings of Early Scholars in the Ancient Near East Egypt Rome and Greece Translating Ancient Sci-entific Texts BerlinNew York 2010 (Beitraumlge zur Altertumskunde Vol 286) P 69ndash91 here p 79ndash80

20 For pCtYBR 1154 verso and the Vienna papyri listed in the following entries all of which still await publication see the references given in Prada Papyrus Berlin P 8769 (n 8) P 325ndash327

270 Luigi Prada

As the list shows and as one might expect to be the case most chaptersrsquo topics

are rather universal in nature discussing subjects such as gods animals food or

sex and are well attested in Artemidorus too For instance one finds discussion of

breastfeeding in I 1621 cities in IV 60 greetings in I 82 and II 2 deities in II 34ndash39

(with II 33 focusing on sacrificing to the gods thus being comparable to the section

about adoring them in one of the demotic texts) and IV 72ndash77 utterances in IV 33

reading andor writing in I 53 II 45 (on writing implements and books) and III 25

numbers in II 70 sexual intercourse in I 78ndash8022 playing dice and other games in

III 1 drinking in I 66 (with focus on all beverages not only booze) snakes (and other

reptiles) in II 13 giving birth in I 14 wreaths in I 77 and IV 52 kings in IV 3123 food-

stuffs in I 67ndash73 eggs in II 43 trees and plants in II 25 III 50 and IV 11 57 various

implements (and vessels) in IV 28 58 birds in II 20ndash21 66 and III 5 65 animals

(and hunting) in II 11ndash22 III 11ndash12 28 49 and IV 56

If the identity between many of the topics in demotic dream books and in Arte-

midorus is self-evident from a general point of view looking at them in more detail

allows the specific cultural and even environmental differences to emerge Thus

to mention but a few cases the section concerning the consumption of alcoholic

drinks in pCarlsberg 14 verso focuses prominently on beer (though it also lists sev-

eral types of wine) as beer was traditionally the most popular alcoholic beverage

in Egypt24 On the other hand beer was rather unpopular in Greece and Rome and

thus is not even featured in Artemidorusrsquo dreams on drinking whose preference

naturally goes to wine25 Similarly in a section of a demotic dream book discuss-

ing trees in pBerlin P 8769 the botanical species listed (such as the persea tree the

21 No animal breastfeeding which figures so prominently in the Egyptian dream books appears in this section of Artemidorus One example however is found in the dream related in IV 22 257 6ndash8 featuring a woman and a sheep

22 Bestiality which stars in the section on sexual intercourse from pCarlsberg 13 listed above is rather marginal in Artemidorus being shortly discussed in I 80

23 Artemidorus uses the word βασιλεύς ldquokingrdquo in IV 31 265 11 whilst the demotic dream book of pCarlsberg 490+PSI D 56 speaks of Pr-aA ldquoPharaohrdquo Given the political context in the II centu-ry AD with both Greece and Egypt belonging to the Roman empire both words can also refer to (and be translated as) the emperor On the sometimes problematic translation of the term βασιλεύς in Artemidorus see Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica (n 1) P 547ndash548

24 To the point that the heading of this chapter dream bookrsquos makes mention of beer only despite later listing dreams about wine too nA X(wt) [Hno]y mtw rmT nw r-r=w ldquoThe kinds of [bee]r of which a man dreamsrdquo (pCarlsberg 14 verso frag a l 1) The Egyptian specificity of some of the themes treated in the demotic dream books as with the case of beer here was already pointed out by Gregor Weber Traum und Alltag in hellenistischer Zeit In ZRGG 50 (1998) P 22ndash39 here p 33

25 On the reputation of beer amongst Greeks and Romans see for instance Andreas Gutsfeld Bier II Griechenland und Rom In Hubert CancikHelmuth Schneider (ed) Der Neue Pauly Enzyklopaumldie der Antike Altertum StuttgartWeimar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


sycamore tree or the date palm) are specific to Egypt being either indigenous or

long since imported Even the exotic species there mentioned had been part of the

Egyptian cultural (if not natural) horizon for centuries such as ebony whose timber

was imported from further south in Africa26 The same situation is witnessed in the

demotic textsrsquo sections dealing with animals where the featured species belong to

either the local fauna (eg gazelles ibises crocodiles scarab beetles) or to that of

neighbouring lands being all part of the traditional Egyptian imagery of the an-

imal world (eg lions which originally indigenous to Egypt too were commonly

imported from the south already in Pharaonic times)27 Likewise in the discussion

of dreams dealing with deities the demotic dream books always list members of the

traditional Egyptian pantheon Thus even if many matches are naturally bound to

be present between Artemidorus and the demotic dream books as far as their gen-

eral topics are concerned (drinks trees animals deities etc) the actual subjects of

the individual dreams may be rather different being specific to respectively one or

the other cultural and natural milieu

There are also some general topics in the dreams treated by the demotic compo-

sitions which can be defined as completely Egyptian-specific from a cultural point

of view and which do not find a specific parallel in Artemidorus This is the case for

instance with the dreams in which a man adores divine animals within the chapter

of pBerlin P 13591 concerning divine worship or with the section in which dreams

about the (seemingly taboo) eating of divine animal hypostases is described in

pCarlsberg 14 verso And this is in a way also true for the elaborate chapter again

in pCarlsberg 14 verso collecting dreams about crocodiles a reptile that enjoyed a

prominent role in Egyptian life as well as religion and imagination In Artemidorus

far from having an elaborate section of its own the crocodile appears almost en

passant in III 11

Furthermore there are a few topics in the demotic dream books that do not ap-

pear to be specifically Egyptian in nature and yet are absent from Artemidorusrsquo

discussion One text from pBerlin P 15507 contains a chapter detailing dreams in

which the dreamer kills various victims both human and animal In Artemidorus

dreams about violent deaths are listed in II 49ndash53 however these are experienced

and not inflicted by the dreamer As for the demotic dream bookrsquos chapter inter-

preting dreams about a vulva in pCarlsberg 14 verso no such topic features in Ar-

temidorus in his treatment of dreams about anatomic parts in I 45 he discusses

26 On these species in the context of the Egyptian flora see the relative entries in Renate Germer Handbuch der altaumlgyptischen Heilpflanzen Wiesbaden 2008 (Philippika Vol 21)

27 On these animals see for example Pascal VernusJean Yoyotte Bestiaire des pharaons Paris 2005

272 Luigi Prada

explicitly only male genitalia Similarly no specific section about swimming ap-

pears in Artemidorus (unlike the case of pCarlsberg 14 verso) nor is there one about

stones to which on the contrary a long chapter is devoted in one of the demotic

manuals in pBerlin P 8769

On the other hand it is natural that in Artemidorus too one finds plenty of cul-

turally specific dreams which pertain quintessentially to classical civilisation and

which one would not expect to find in an Egyptian dream book Such are for in-

stance the dreams about theatre or those about athletics and other traditionally

Greek sports (including pentathlon and wrestling) in I 56ndash63

Conversely however Artemidorus is also a learned and well-travelled intellectual

with a cosmopolitan background as typical of the Second Sophistic intelligentsia to

which he belongs Thus he is conscious and sometimes even surprisingly respect-

ful of local cultural diversities28 and his Oneirocritica incorporate plenty of varia-

tions on dreams dealing with foreign or exotic subjects An example of this is the

already mentioned presence of the crocodile in III 11 in the context of a passage that

might perhaps be regarded as dealing more generally with Egyptian fauna29 the

treatment of crocodile-themed dreams is here followed by that of dreams about cats

(a less than exotic animal yet one with significant Egyptian associations) and in

III 12 about ichneumons (ie Egyptian mongooses) An even more interesting case

is in I 53 where Artemidorus discusses dreams about writing here not only does he

mention dreams in which a Roman learns the Greek alphabet and vice versa but he

also describes dreams where one reads a foreign ie non-classical script (βαρβαρικὰ δὲ γράμματα I 53 60 20)

Already in his discussion about the methods of oneiromancy at the opening of

his first book Artemidorus takes the time to highlight the important issue of differ-

entiating between common (ie universal) and particular or ethnic customs when

dealing with human behaviour and therefore also when interpreting dreams (I 8)30

As part of his exemplification aimed at showing how varied the world and hence

the world of dreams too can be he singles out a well-known aspect of Egyptian cul-

ture and belief theriomorphism Far from ridiculing it as customary to many other

classical authors31 he describes it objectively and stresses that even amongst the

Egyptians themselves there are local differences in the cult

28 See Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica (n 1) P 25ndash3029 This is also the impression of Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica (n 1) P 510 30 To this excursus compare also Artemidorusrsquo observations in IV 4 about the importance of know-

ing local customs and what is characteristic of a place (ἔθη δὲ τὰ τοπικὰ καὶ τῶν τόπων τὸ ἴδιον IV 4 247 17) See also the remarks in Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica (n 1) P 17ndash18

31 On this see Klaas AD SmelikEmily A Hemelrijk ldquoWho Knows Not What Monsters Demented Egypt Worshipsrdquo Opinions on Egyptian Animal Worship in Antiquity as Part of the Ancient


ldquoAnd the sons of the Egyptians alone honour and revere wild animals and all kinds of so-called venomous creatures as icons of the gods yet not all of them even worship the samerdquo32

Given these premises one can surely assume that Artemidorus would not have

marveled in the least at hearing of chapters specifically discussing dreams about

divine animal hypostases had he only come across a demotic dream book

This cosmopolitan horizon that appears so clear in Artemidorus is certainly lack-

ing in the Egyptian oneirocritic production which is in this respect completely pro-

vincial in nature (that is in the sense of local rather than parochial) The tradition

to which the demotic dream books belong appears to be wholly indigenous and the

natural outcome of the development of earlier Egyptian oneiromancy as attested

in dream books the earliest of which as mentioned before dates to the XIII century

BC It should also be noted that whilst Artemidorus wrote his Oneirocritica in the

II century AD or thereabouts and therefore his work reflects the intellectual envi-

ronment of the time the demotic dream books survive for the most part on papy-

ri which were copied approximately around the III century AD but this does not

imply that they were also composed at that time The opposite is probably likelier

that is that the original production of demotic dream books predates Roman times

and should be assigned to Ptolemaic times (end of IVndashend of I century BC) or even

earlier to Late Pharaonic Egypt This dating problem is a particularly complex one

and probably one destined to remain partly unsolved unless more demotic papyri

are discovered which stem from earlier periods and preserve textual parallels to

Roman manuscripts Yet even within the limits of the currently available evidence

it is certain that if we compare one of the later demotic dream books preserved in a

Roman papyrus such as pCarlsberg 14 verso (ca II century AD) to one preserved in a

manuscript which may predate it by approximately half a millennium pJena 1209

(IVIII century BC) we find no significant differences from the point of view of either

their content or style The strong continuity in the long tradition of demotic dream

books cannot be questioned

Conception of Egypt In Wolfgang Haase (ed) Principat Religion (Heidentum Roumlmische Goumltterkulte orientalische Kulte in der roumlmischen Welt [Forts]) BerlinNew York 1984 (ANRW Vol II174) P 1852ndash2000

32 Artem I 8 18 1ndash3 θηρία δὲ καὶ πάντα τὰ κινώπετα λεγόμενα ὡς εἴδωλα θεῶν Αἰγυπτίων παῖδες μόνοι τιμῶσί τε καὶ σέβονται οὐ πάντες μέντοι τὰ αὐτά

274 Luigi Prada

Theoretical frameworks and classifications of dreamers in the demotic dream books

In further drawing a general comparison between Artemidorus and the demot-

ic oneirocritic literature another limit to our understanding of the latter is the

complete lack of theoretical discussion about dreams and their interpretation in

the Egyptian handbooks Artemidorusrsquo pages are teeming with discussions about

his (and other interpretersrsquo) mantic methods about the correct and wrong ways of

proceeding in the interpretation of dreams about the nature of dreams themselves

from the point of view of their mantic meaningfulness or lack thereof about the

importance of the interpreterrsquos own skillfulness and natural talent over the pure

bookish knowledge of oneirocritic manuals and much more (see eg I 1ndash12) On

the other hand none of this contextual information is found in what remains of

the demotic dream books33 Their treatment of dreams is very brief and to the point

almost mechanical with chapters containing hundreds of lines each consisting typ-

ically of a dreamrsquos description and a dreamrsquos interpretation No space is granted to

any theoretical discussion in the body of these texts and from this perspective

these manuals in their wholly catalogue-like appearance and preeminently ency-

clopaedic vocation are much more similar to the popular Byzantine clefs des songes

than to Artemidorusrsquo treatise34 It is possible that at least a minimum of theoret-

ical reflection perhaps including instructions on how to use these dream books

was found in the introductions at the opening of the demotic dream manuals but

since none of these survive in the available papyrological evidence this cannot be

proven35

Another remarkable feature in the style of the demotic dream books in compar-

ison to Artemidorusrsquo is the treatment of the dreamer In the demotic oneirocritic

literature all the attention is on the dream whilst virtually nothing is said about

the dreamer who experiences and is affected by these nocturnal visions Everything

which one is told about the dreamer is his or her gender in most cases it is a man

(see eg excerpts 2ndash4 above) but there are also sections of at least two dream books

namely those preserved in pCarlsberg 13 and pCarlsberg 14 verso which discuss

33 See also the remarks in Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 65ndash6634 Compare several such Byzantine dream books collected in Steven M Oberhelman Dreambooks

in Byzantium Six Oneirocritica in Translation with Commentary and Introduction AldershotBurlington VT 2008 See also the contribution of Andrei Timotin in the present volume

35 The possible existence of similar introductions at the opening of dream books is suggested by their well-attested presence in another divinatory genre that of demotic astrological handbooks concerning which see Andreas Winkler On the Astrological Papyri from the Tebtunis Temple Library In Ghislaine WidmerDidier Devauchelle (ed) Actes du IXe congregraves international des eacutetudes deacutemotiques Le Caire 2009 (Bibliothegraveque drsquoEacutetude Vol 147) P 361ndash375 here p 373


dreams affecting and seemingly dreamt by a woman (see excerpt 1 above) Apart

from this sexual segregation no more information is given about the dreamer in

connection with the interpretation of his or her dreams36 There is only a handful of

exceptions one of which is in pCarlsberg 13 where a dream concerning intercourse

with a snake is said to have two very different outcomes depending on whether the

woman experiencing it is married or not

ldquoWhen a snake has sex with her ndash she will get herself a husband If [it] so happens that [she] is [married] | she will get illrdquo37

One is left wondering once again whether more information on the dreamerrsquos char-

acteristics was perhaps given in now lost introductory sections of these manuals

In this respect Artemidorusrsquo attitude is quite the opposite He pays (and urges his

reader to pay) the utmost attention to the dreamer including his or her age profes-

sion health and financial status for the interpretation of one and the same dream

can be radically different depending on the specifics of the dreamer He discusses

the importance of this principle in the theoretical excursus within his Oneirocritica

such as those in I 9 or IV 21 and this precept can also be seen at work in many an

interpretation of specific dreams such as eg in III 17 where the same dream about

moulding human figures is differently explained depending on the nature of the

dreamer who can be a gymnastic trainer or a teacher someone without offspring

a slave-dealer or a poor man a criminal a wealthy or a powerful man Nor does Ar-

temidorusrsquo elaborate exegetic technique stop here To give one further example of

how complex his interpretative strategies can be one can look at the remarks that he

makes in IV 35 where he talks of compound dreams (συνθέτων ὀνείρων IV 35 268 1)

ie dreams featuring more than one mantically significant theme In the case of such

dreams where more than one element susceptible to interpretation occurs one

should deconstruct the dream to its single components interpret each of these sepa-

rately and only then from these individual elements move back to an overall com-

bined exegesis of the whole dream Artemidorusrsquo analytical approach breaks down

36 Incidentally it appears that in earlier Egyptian oneiromancy dream books differentiated between distinct types of dreamers based on their personal characteristics This seems at least to be the case in pChester Beatty 3 which describes different groups of men listing and interpreting separately their dreams See Szpakowska Behind Closed Eyes (n 4) P 73ndash74

37 From pCarlsberg 13 frag b col x+227ndash28 r Hf nk n-im=s i(w)=s r ir n=s hy iw[=f] xpr r wn mtw[=s hy] | i(w)=s r Sny The correct reading of these lines was first established by Quack Texte (n 9) P 360 Another complex dream interpretation taking into account the dreamerrsquos life circumstances is found in the section about murderous dreams of pBerlin P 15507 where one reads iw=f xpr r tAy=f mwt anx i(w)=s mwt (n) tkr ldquoIf it so happens that his (sc the dream-errsquos) mother is alive she will die shortlyrdquo (col x+29)

276 Luigi Prada

both the dreamerrsquos identity and the dreamrsquos system to their single components in

order to understand them and it is this complexity of thought that even caught the

eye of and was commented upon by Sigmund Freud38 All of this is very far from any-

thing seen in the more mechanical methods of the demotic dream books where in

virtually all cases to one dream corresponds one and one only interpretation

The exegetic techniques of the demotic dream books

To conclude this overview of the demotic dream books and their standing with re-

spect to Artemidorusrsquo oneiromancy the techniques used in the interpretations of

the dreams remain to be discussed39

Whenever a clear connection can be seen between a dream and its exegesis this

tends to be based on analogy For instance in pCarlsberg 14 verso frag f dreams

about delivery are discussed and the matching interpretations generally explain

them as omens of events concerning the dreamerrsquos actual offspring Thus one may

read the line

ldquoWhen she gives birth to an ass ndash she will give birth to a foolish sonrdquo40

Further to this the negative character of this specific dreamrsquos interpretation pro-

phetising the birth of a foolish child may also be explained as based on analogy

with the animal of whose delivery the woman dreams this is an ass an animal that

very much like in modern Western cultures was considered by the Egyptians as

quintessentially dumb41

Analogy and the consequent mental associations appear to be the dominant

hermeneutic technique but other interpretations are based on wordplay42 For in-

38 It is worth reproducing here the relevant passage from Sigmund Freud Die Traumdeutung LeipzigWien 1900 P 67ndash68 ldquoHier [sc in Artemidorus] wird nicht nur auf den Trauminhalt sondern auch auf die Person und die Lebensumstaumlnde des Traumlumers Ruumlcksicht genommen so dass das naumlmliche Traumelement fuumlr den Reichen den Verheirateten den Redner andere Bedeutung hat als fuumlr den Armen den Ledigen und etwa den Kaufmann Das Wesentliche an diesem Verfahren ist nun dass die Deutungsarbeit nicht auf das Ganze des Traumes gerichtet wird sondern auf jedes Stuumlck des Trauminhaltes fuumlr sich als ob der Traum ein Conglomerat waumlre in dem jeder Brocken Gestein eine besondere Bestimmung verlangtrdquo

39 An extensive treatment of these is in Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 56ndash65 However most of the evidence of which he makes use is in fact from the hieratic pChester Beatty 3 rather than from later demotic dream books

40 From pCarlsberg 14 verso frag f l 3 i(w)=s ms aA i(w)=s r ms Sr n lx41 See Ingrid Bohms Saumlugetiere in der altaumlgyptischen Literatur Berlin 2013 (Aumlgyptologie Vol 2)

P 59ndash62 42 Wordplay is however not as common an interpretative device in demotic dream books as it

used to be in earlier Egyptian oneiromancy as attested in pChester Beatty 3 See Prada Dreams


stance alliteration between the subject of a dream a lion (mAey) and its exegesis

centred on the verb ldquoto seerdquo (mAA) is at the core of the following interpretation

ldquoWhen a lion has sex with her ndash she will see goodrdquo43

Especially in this case the wordplay is particularly explicit (one may even say forced

or affected) since the standard verb for ldquoto seerdquo in demotic was a different one (nw)

by Roman times mAA was instead an archaic and seldom used word

Somewhat connected to wordplay are also certain plays on the etymology (real or

supposed) and polysemy of words similarly to the proceedings discussed by Arte-

midorus too in IV 80 An example is in pBerlin P 8769 in a line already cited above

in excerpt 3

ldquoSweet wood ndash good reputation will come to himrdquo44

The object sighted by the dreamer is a ldquosweet woodrdquo xt nDm an expression indi-

cating an aromatic or balsamic wood The associated interpretation predicts that

the dreamer will enjoy a good ldquoreputationrdquo syt in demotic This substantive is

close in writing and sound to another demotic word sty which means ldquoodour

scentrdquo a word perfectly fitting to the image on which this whole dream is played

that of smell namely a pleasant smell prophetising the attainment of a good rep-

utation It is possible that what we have here may not be just a complex word-

play but a skilful play with etymologies if as one might wonder the words syt and sty are etymologically related or at least if the ancient Egyptians perceived

them to be so45

Other more complex language-based hermeneutic techniques that are found in

Artemidorus such as anagrammatical transposition or isopsephy (see eg his dis-

cussion in IV 23ndash24) are absent from demotic dream books This is due to the very

nature of the demotic script which unlike Greek is not an alphabetic writing sys-

tem and thus has a much more limited potential for such uses

(n 18) P 90ndash9343 From pCarlsberg 13 frag b col x+225 r mAey nk n-im=s i(w)=s r mAA m-nfrw44 From pBerlin P 8769 col x+43 xt nDm r syt nfr r xpr n=f 45 This may be also suggested by a similar situation witnessed in the case of the demotic word

xnSvt which from an original meaning ldquostenchrdquo ended up also assuming onto itself the figurative meaning ldquoshame disreputerdquo On the words here discussed see the relative entries in Wolja Erichsen Demotisches Glossar Kopenhagen 1954 and the brief remark (which however too freely treats the two words syt and sty as if they were one and the same) in Franccedilois Lexa Papyrus Insinger Les enseignements moraux drsquoun scribe eacutegyptien du premier siegravecle apregraves J-C Paris 1926 (vol 1) P 16 (commentaire) n 258

278 Luigi Prada

Mentions and dreams of Egypt in Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica

On some Egyptian customs in Artemidorus

Artemidorus did not visit Egypt nor does he ever show in his writings to have any

direct knowledge of the tradition of demotic dream books Nevertheless the land of

Egypt and its inhabitants enjoy a few cameos in his Oneirocritica which I will survey

and discuss here mostly following the order in which they appear in Artemidorusrsquo

work

The first appearance of Egypt in the Oneirocritica has already been quoted and

examined above It occurs in the methodological discussion of chapter I 8 18 1ndash3

where Artemidorus stresses the importance of considering what are common and

what are particular or ethnic customs around the world and cites Egyptian the-

riomorphism as a typical example of an ethnic custom as opposed to the corre-

sponding universal custom ie that all peoples venerate the gods whichever their

hypostases may be Rather than properly dealing with oneiromancy this passage is

ethnographic in nature and belongs to the long-standing tradition of amazement at

Egyptrsquos cultural peculiarities in classical authors an amazement to which Artemi-

dorus seems however immune (as pointed out before) thanks to the philosophical

and scientific approach that he takes to the topic

The next mention of Egypt appears in the discussion of dreams about the human

body more specifically in the chapter concerning dreams about being shaven As

one reads in I 22

ldquoTo dream that onersquos head is completely shaven is good for priests of the Egyptian gods and jesters and those who have the custom of being shaven But for all others it is greviousrdquo46

Artemidorus points out how this dream is auspicious for priests of the Egyptian

gods ie as one understands it not only Egyptian priests but all officiants of the

cult of Egyptian deities anywhere in the empire The reason for the positive mantic

value of this dream which is otherwise to be considered ominous is in the fact that

priests of Egyptian cults along with a few other types of professionals shave their

hair in real life too and therefore the dream is in agreement with their normal way

of life The mention of priests of the Egyptian gods here need not be seen in connec-

tion with any Egyptian oneirocritic tradition but is once again part of the standard

46 Artem I 22 29 1ndash3 ξυρᾶσθαι δὲ δοκεῖν τὴν κεφαλὴν ὅλην [πλὴν] Αἰγυπτίων θεῶν ἱερεῦσι καὶ γελωτοποιοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἔθος ἔχουσι ξυρᾶσθαι ἀγαθόν πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις πονηρόν


classical imagery repertoire on Egypt and its traditions The custom of shaving char-

acterising Egyptian priests in complete contrast to the practice of Greek priests was

already presented as noteworthy by one of the first writers of all things Egyptian

Herodotus who remarked on this fact just after stating in a famous passage how

Egypt is a wondrous land where everything seems to be and to work the opposite to

the rest of the world47

Egyptian gods in Artemidorus Serapis Isis Anubis and Harpocrates

In Artemidorusrsquo second book one finds no explicit mention of Egypt However as

part of the long section treating dreams about the gods one passage discusses four

deities that pertain to the Egyptian pantheon Serapis Isis Anubis and Harpocrates

This divine quartet is first enumerated in II 34 158 5ndash6 as part of a list of chthonic

gods and is then treated in detail in II 39 where one reads

ldquoSerapis and Isis and Anubis and Harpocrates both the gods themselves and their stat-ues and their mysteries and every legend about them and the gods that occupy the same temples as them and are worshipped on the same altars signify disturbances and dangers and threats and crises from which they contrary to expectation and hope res-cue the observer For these gods have always been considered ltto begt saviours of those who have tried everything and who have come ltuntogt the utmost danger and they immediately rescue those who are already in straits of this sort But their mysteries especially are significant of grief For ltevengt if their innate logic indicates something different this is what their myths and legends indicaterdquo48

That these Egyptian gods are treated in a section concerning gods of the underworld

is no surprise49 The first amongst them Serapis is a syncretistic version of Osiris

47 ldquoThe priests of the gods elsewhere let their hair grow long but in Egypt they shave themselvesrdquo (Hdt II 36 οἱ ἱρέες τῶν θεῶν τῇ μὲν ἄλλῃ κομέουσι ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δὲ ξυρῶνται) On this passage see Alan B Lloyd Herodotus Book II Commentary 1ndash98 Leiden 1976 (EPRO Vol 43) P 152

48 Artem II 39 175 8ndash18 Σάραπις καὶ Ἶσις καὶ Ἄνουβις καὶ Ἁρποκράτης αὐτοί τε καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ μυστήρια καὶ πᾶς ὁ περὶ αὐτῶν λόγος καὶ τῶν τούτοις συννάων τε καὶ συμβώμων θεῶν ταραχὰς καὶ κινδύνους καὶ ἀπειλὰς καὶ περιστάσεις σημαίνουσιν ἐξ ὧν καὶ παρὰ προσδοκίαν καὶ παρὰ τὰς ἐλπίδας σώζουσιν ἀεὶ γὰρ σωτῆρες ltεἶναιgt νενομισμένοι εἰσὶν οἱ θεοὶ τῶν εἰς πάντα ἀφιγμένων καὶ ltεἰςgt ἔσχατον ἐλθόντων κίνδυνον τοὺς δὲ ἤδε ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις ὄντας αὐτίκα μάλα σώζουσιν ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τὰ μυστήρια αὐτῶν πένθους ἐστὶ σημαντικά καὶ γὰρ εἰ ltκαὶgt ὁ φυσικὸς αὐτῶν λόγος ἄλλο τι περιέχει ὅ γε μυθικὸς καὶ ὁ κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν τοῦτο δείκνυσιν

49 For an extensive discussion including bibliographical references concerning these Egyptian deities and their fortune in the Hellenistic and Roman world see M Carmen Barrigoacuten Fuent-es Les dieux eacutegyptiens dans lrsquoOnirocriticon drsquoArteacutemidore In Kernos 7 (1994) P 29ndash45 Specif-ically on this passage of Artemidorus and the funerary aspects of these deities see also Jean-Claude Grenier Anubis alexandrin et romain Leiden 1977 (EPRO Vol 57) P 57ndash59 For more recent bibliography on these divinities and their cults see Michel Malaise Agrave la deacutecouverte drsquoHarpocrate agrave travers son historiographie Bruxelles 2011 (Meacutemoire de la Classe des Lettres

280 Luigi Prada

the preeminent funerary god in the Egyptian pantheon He is followed by Osirisrsquo

sister and spouse Isis The third figure is Anubis a psychopompous god who in a

number of Egyptian traditions that trickled down to classical authors contributing

to shape his reception in Graeco-Roman culture and religion was also considered

Osirisrsquo son Finally Harpocrates is a version of the god Horus (his Egyptian name

r pA poundrd meaning ldquoHorus the Childrdquo) ie Osirisrsquo and Isisrsquo son and heir The four

together thus form a coherent group attested elsewhere in classical sources char-

acterised by a strong connection with the underworld It is not unexpected that in

other classical mentions of them SerapisOsiris and Isis are equated with Pluto and

Persephone the divine royal couple ruling over Hades and this Greek divine couple

is not coincidentally also mentioned at the beginning of this very chapter II 39

of Artemidorus opening the overview of chthonic gods50 Elsewhere in the Oneir-

ocritica Artemidorus too compares Serapis to Pluto in V 26 307 14 and later on

explicitly says that Serapis is considered to be one and the same with Pluto in V 93

324 9 Further in a passage in II 12 123 12ndash14 which deals with dreams about an ele-

phant he states how this animal is associated with Pluto and how as a consequence

of this certain dreams featuring it can mean that the dreamer ldquohaving come upon

utmost danger will be savedrdquo (εἰς ἔσχατον κίνδυνον ἐλάσαντα σωθήσεσθαι) Though

no mention of Serapis is made here it is remarkable that the nature of this predic-

tion and its wording too is almost identical to the one given in the chapter about

chthonic gods not with regard to Pluto but about Serapis and his divine associates

(II 39 175 14ndash15)

The mention of the four Egyptian gods in Artemidorus has its roots in the fame

that these had enjoyed in the Greek-speaking world since Hellenistic times and is

thus mediated rather than directly depending on an original Egyptian source this

is in a way confirmed also by Artemidorusrsquo silence on their Egyptian identity as he

explicitly labels them only as chthonic and not as Egyptian gods The same holds

true with regard to the interpretation that Artemidorus gives to the dreams featur-

Collection in-8ordm 3e Seacuterie Vol 572079) and the anthology of commented original sources in Laurent Bricault Les cultes isiaques dans le monde greacuteco-romain Paris 2013 (La Roue agrave LivresDocuments Vol 66) The latter includes in his collection both this passage of Artemidorus (as his text 166b) and the others mentioning or relating to Serapis (texts 83i 135b 139cndashd 165c) to be discussed later in the present paper

50 Concerning the filiation of Anubis and Harpocrates in classical writers see for example their presentation by an author almost contemporary to Artemidorus Plutarch He pictures Anubis as Osirisrsquo illegitimate son from his other sister Nephthys whom Isis yet raised as her own child (Plut Is XIV 356 f) and Harpocrates as Osirisrsquo and Isisrsquo child whom he distinguishes as sepa-rate from their other child Horus (ibid XIXndashXX 358 e) Further Plutarch also identifies Serapis with Osiris (ibid XXVIIIndashXXIX 362 b) and speaks of the equivalence of respectively Serapis with Pluto and Isis with Persephone (ibid XXVII 361 e)


ing them when he explains that seeing these divinities (or anything connected with

them)51 means that the dreamer will go through (or already is suffering) serious af-

flictions from which he will be saved virtually in extremis once all hopes have been

given up Hence these deities are both a source of grief and of ultimate salvation

This exegesis is evidently dependent on the classical reception of the myth of Osiris

a thorough exposition of which is given by Plutarch in his De Iside et Osiride and

establishes an implicit analogy between the fate of the dreamer and that of these

deities For as the dreamer has to suffer sharp vicissitudes of fortune but will even-

tually be safe similarly Osiris (ie Artemidorusrsquo Serapis) Isis and their offspring too

had to suffer injustice and persecution (or in the case of Osiris even murder) at the

hand of the wicked god Seth the Greek Typhon but eventually triumphed over him

when Seth was defeated by Horus who thus avenged his father Osiris This popular

myth is therefore at the origin of this dream intepretationrsquos aetiology establishing

an analogy between these gods their myth and the dreamer In this respect the

prediction itself is derived from speculation based on the reception of these deitiesrsquo

myths in classical culture and the connection with Egypt is stricto sensu only sec-

ondary and mediated

Before concluding the analysis of this chapter II 39 it is worth remarking that a

dream concerning one of these Egyptian gods mentioned by Artemidorus is pre-

served in a fragment of a demotic dream book dating to approximately the II cen-

tury AD pVienna D 6633 Here within a chapter devoted to dreams about gods one

reads

ldquoAnubis son of Osiris ndash he will be protected in a troublesome situationrdquo52

Despite the customary brevity of the demotic text the similarity between this pre-

diction and the interpretation in Artemidorus can certainly appear striking at first

sight in both cases there is mention of a situation of danger for the dreamer from

which he will eventually be safe However this match cannot be considered spe-

cific enough to suggest the presence of a direct link between Artemidorus and this

Egyptian oneirocritic manual In demotic dream books the prediction ldquohe will be

protected in a troublesome situationrdquo is found with relative frequency as thanks to

its general tone (which can be easily and suitably applied to many events in the av-

erage dreamerrsquos life) it is fit to be coupled with multiple dreams Certainly it is not

specific to this dream about Anubis nor to dreams about gods only As for Artemi-

51 This includes their mysteries on which Artemidorus lays particular stress in the final part of this section from chapter II 39 Divine mysteries are discussed again by him in IV 39

52 From pVienna D 6633 col x+2x+9 Inpw sA Wsir iw=w r nxtv=f n mt(t) aAt This dream has already been presented in Prada Visions (n 7) P 266 n 57

282 Luigi Prada

dorus as already discussed his exegesis is explained as inspired by analogy with the

myth of Osiris and therefore need not have been sourced from anywhere else but

from Artemidorusrsquo own interpretative techniques Further Artemidorusrsquo exegesis

applies to Anubis as well as the other deities associated with him being referred en

masse to this chthonic group of four whilst it applies only to Anubis in the demotic

text No mention of the other gods cited by Artemidorus is found in the surviving

fragments of this manuscript but even if these were originally present (as is possi-

ble and indeed virtually certain in the case of a prominent goddess such as Isis) dif-

ferent predictions might well have been found in combination with them I there-

fore believe that this match in the interpretation of a dream about Anubis between

Artemidorus and a demotic dream book is a case of independent convergence if not

just a sheer coincidence to which no special significance can be attached

More dreams of Serapis in Artemidorus

Of the four Egyptian gods discussed in II 39 Serapis appears again elsewhere in the

Oneirocritica In the present section I will briefly discuss these additional passages

about him but I will only summarise rather than quote them in full since their rel-

evance to the current discussion is in fact rather limited

In II 44 Serapis is mentioned in the context of a polemic passage where Artemi-

dorus criticises other authors of dream books for collecting dreams that can barely

be deemed credible especially ldquomedical prescriptions and treatments furnished by

Serapisrdquo53 This polemic recurs elsewhere in the Oneirocritica as in IV 22 Here no

mention of Serapis is made but a quick allusion to Egypt is still present for Artemi-

dorus remarks how it would be pointless to research the medical prescriptions that

gods have given in dreams to a large number of people in several different localities

including Alexandria (IV 22 255 11) It is fair to understand that at least in the case

of the mention of Alexandria the allusion is again to Serapis and to the common

53 Artem II 44 179 17ndash18 συνταγὰς καὶ θεραπείας τὰς ὑπὸ Σαράπιδος δοθείσας (this occurrence of Serapisrsquo name is omitted in Packrsquos index nominum sv Σάραπις) The authors that Artemidorus mentions are Geminus of Tyre Demetrius of Phalerum and Artemon of Miletus on whom see respectively Darius Del Corno Graecorum de re onirocritica scriptorum reliquiae Mila-noVarese 1969 (Testi e Documenti per lo Studio dellrsquoAntichitagrave Vol 26) P 119 138ndash139 (where he raises doubts about the identification of the Demetrius mentioned by Artemidorus with Demetrius of Phalerum) and 110ndash114 See also p 126 for an anonymous writer against whom Artemidorus polemicises in IV 22 still in connection with medical prescriptions in dreams and p 125 for a certain Serapion of Ascalon (not mentioned in Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica) of whom we know nothing besides the name but whose lost writings perhaps might have treat-ed similar medical cures prescribed by Serapis On Artemidorusrsquo polemic concerning medical dreams see also Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica (n 1) P 492


use of practicing incubation in his sanctuaries The fame of Serapis as a healing god

manifesting himself in dreams was well-established in the Hellenistic and Roman

world54 making him a figure in many regards similar to that of another healing god

whose help was sought by means of incubation in his temples Asclepius (equivalent

to the Egyptian ImhotepImouthes in terms of interpretatio Graeca) A famous tes-

timony to Asclepiusrsquo celebrity in this role is in the Hieroi Logoi by Aelius Aristides

the story of his long stay in the sanctuary of Asclepius in Pergamum another city

which together with Alexandria is mentioned by Artemidorus as a centre famous

for incubation practices in IV 2255

The problem of Artemidorusrsquo views on incubation practices has already been

discussed extensively by his scholars nor is it particularly relevant to the current

study for incubation in the classical world was not exclusively connected with

Egypt and its sanctuaries only but was a much wider phenomenon with centres

throughout the Mediterranean world What however I should like to remark here

is that Artemidorusrsquo polemic is specifically addressed against the authors of that

literature on dream prescriptions that flourished in association with these incuba-

tion practices and is not an open attack on incubation per se let alone on the gods

associated with it such as Serapis56 Thus I am also hesitant to embrace the sugges-

tion advanced by a number of scholars who regard Artemidorus as a supporter of

Greek traditions and of the traditional classical pantheon over the cults and gods

imported from the East such as the Egyptian deities treated in II 3957 The fact that

in all the actual dreams featuring Serapis that Artemidorus reports (which I will list

54 The very first manifestation of Serapis to the official establisher of his cult Ptolemy I Soter had taken place in a dream as narrated by Plutarch see Plut Is XXVIII 361 fndash362 a On in-cubation practices within sanctuaries of Serapis in Egypt see besides the relevant sections of the studies cited above in n 49 the brief overview based on original sources collected by Serge Sauneron Les songes et leur interpreacutetation dans lrsquoEacutegypte ancienne In Les songes et leur interpreacutetation Eacutegypte ancienne Babylone Hittites Canaan Israeumll Islam peuples altaiumlques Persans Kurdes Inde Cambodge Chine Japon Paris 1959 (Sources Orientales Vol 2) P 17ndash61 here p 49ndash50 Sauneronrsquos study albeit in many respects outdated is still a most valuable in-troduction to the study of dreams and oneiromancy in Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman Egypt and one of the few making full use of the primary sources in both Egyptian and Greek

55 On healing dreams sanctuaries of Asclepius and Aelius Aristides see now several of the collected essays in Steven M Oberhelman (ed) Dreams Healing and Medicine in Greece From Antiquity to the Present FarnhamBurlington VT 2013

56 As already remarked by Barrigoacuten Fuentes Les dieux eacutegyptiens (n 49) P 3957 See Dario Del Corno Contributi papirologici allo studio dellrsquoonirocritica In Atti dellrsquoXI Con-

gresso Internazionale di Papirologia Milano 1966 P 109ndash117 here p 115ndash117 and Barrigoacuten Fuentes Les dieux eacutegyptiens (n 49) P 44ndash45 According to the latter the difference in the treatment given by Artemidorus to dreams about two equally thaumaturgic gods Serapis and Asclepius (with the former featuring in accounts of ominous dreams only and the latter be-ing associated albeit not always with auspicious dreams) is due to Artemidorusrsquo supposed

284 Luigi Prada

shortly) the outcome of the dream is always negative (and in most cases lethal) for

the dreamer seems hardly due to an alleged personal dislike of Artemidorus against

Serapis Rather it appears dictated by the equivalence established between Serapis

and Pluto an equivalence which as already discussed above had not been impro-

vised by Artemidorus but was well established in the Greek reception of Serapis and

of the older myth of Osiris

This can be seen clearly when one looks at Artemidorusrsquo treatment of dreams

about Pluto himself which are generally associated with death and fatal dangers

Whilst the main theoretical treatment of Pluto in II 39 174 13ndash20 is mostly positive

elsewhere in the Oneirocritica dreams with a Plutonian connection or content are

dim in outcome see eg the elephant-themed dreams in II 12 123 10ndash14 though

here the dreamer may also attain salvation in extremis and the dream about car-

rying Pluto in II 56 185 3ndash10 with its generally lethal consequences Similarly in

the Serapis-themed dreams described in V 26 and 93 (for more about which see

here below) Pluto is named as the reason why the outcome of both is the dream-

errsquos death for Pluto lord of the underworld can be equated with Serapis as Arte-

midorus himself explains Therefore it seems fairer to conclude that the negative

outcome of dreams featuring Serapis in the Oneirocritica is due not to his being an

oriental god looked at with suspicion but to his being a chthonic god and the (orig-

inally Egyptian) counterpart of Pluto Ultimately this is confirmed by the fact that

Pluto himself receives virtually the same treatment as Serapis in the Oneirocritica

yet he is a perfectly traditional member of the Greek pantheon of old

Moving on in this overview of dreams about Serapis the god also appears in a

few other passages of Artemidorusrsquo Books IV and V some of which have already

been mentioned in the previous discussion In IV 80 295 25ndash296 10 it is reported

how a man desirous of having children was incapable of unraveling the meaning

of a dream in which he had seen himself collecting a debt and handing a receipt

to his debtor The location of the story as Artemidorus specifies is Egypt namely

Alexandria homeland of the cult of Serapis After being unable to find a dream in-

terpreter capable of explaining his dream this man is said to have prayed to Serapis

asking the god to disclose its meaning to him clearly by means of a revelation in a

dream possibly by incubation and Serapis did appear to him revealing that the

meaning of the dream (which Artemidorus explains through a play on etymology)

was that he would not have children58 Interestingly albeit somewhat unsurprising-

ldquodeacutefense du pantheacuteon grec face agrave lrsquoeacutetrangerrdquo (p 44) a view about which I feel however rather sceptical

58 For a discussion of the etymological interpretation of this dream and its possible Egyptian connection see the next main section of this article


ly the only two mentions of Alexandria in Artemidorus here (IV 80 296 5) and in

IV 22 255 11 (mentioned above) are both connected with revelatory (and probably

incubatory) dreams and Serapis (though the god is not openly mentioned in IV 22)

Four short dreams concerning Serapis all of which have a most ominous out-

come (ie the dreamerrsquos death) are described in the last book of the Oneirocritica In

V 26 307 11ndash17 Artemidorus tells how a man who had dreamt of wearing a bronze

plate tied around his neck with the name of Serapis written on it died from a quinsy

seven days later The nature of Serapis as a chthonic god equivalent to Pluto was

meant to warn the man of his impending death the fact that Serapisrsquo name consists

of seven letters was a sign that seven days would elapse between this dream and the

manrsquos death and the plate with the name of Serapis hanging around his neck was

a symbol of the quinsy which would take his life In V 92 324 1ndash7 it is related how

a sick man prayed to Serapis begging him to appear to him and give him a sign by

waving either his right or his left hand to let him know whether he would live or

die He then dreamt of entering the temple of Serapis (whether the famous one in

Alexandria or perhaps some other outside Egypt is not specified) and that Cerberus

was shaking his right paw at him As Artemidorus explains he died for Cerberus

symbolised death and by shaking his paw he was welcoming him In V 93 324 8ndash10

a man is said to have dreamt of being placed by Serapis into the godrsquos traditional

basket-like headgear the calathus and to have died as an outcome of this dream

To this Artemidorus gives again an explanation connected to the fact that Serapis

is Pluto by his act the god of the dead was seizing this man and his life Lastly in

V 94 324 11ndash16 another solicited dream is related A man who had prayed to Serapis

before undergoing surgery had been told by the god in a dream that he would regain

health by this operation he died and as Artemidorus explains this happened be-

cause Serapis is a chthonic god His promise to the man was respected for death did

give him his health back by putting a definitive end to his illness

As is clear from this overview none of these other dreams show any specific Egyp-

tian features in their content apart from the name of Serapis nor do their inter-

pretations These are either rather general based on the equation Serapis = Pluto =

death or in fact present Greek rather than Egyptian elements A clear example is

for instance in the exegesis of the dream in V 26 where the mention of the number

of letters in Serapisrsquo name seven (τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ γράμματα ἑπτὰ ἔχει V 26 307 15)

confirms that Artemidorus is explaining this dream in fully Greek cultural terms

for the indigenous Egyptian scripts including demotic are no alphabetic writing

systems

286 Luigi Prada

Dreaming of Egyptian fauna in Artemidorus

Moving on from Serapis to other Aegyptiaca appearing in the Oneirocritica in

chapters III 11ndash12 it is possible that the mention in a sequence of dreams about

a crocodile a cat and an ichneumon may represent a consistent group of dreams

about animals culturally andor naturally associated with Egypt as already men-

tioned previously in this article This however need not necessarily be the case and

these animals might be cited here without any specific Egyptian connection in Ar-

temidorusrsquo mind which of the two is the case it is probably impossible to tell with

certainty

Still with regard to animals in IV 56 279 9 a τυφλίνης is mentioned this word in-

dicates either a fish endemic to the Nile or a type of blind snake Considering that its

mention comes within a section about animals that look more dangerous than they

actually are and that it follows the name of a snake and of a puffing toad it seems

fair to suppose that this is another reptile and not the Nile fish59 Hence it also has

no relevance to Egypt and the current discussion

Artemidorus and the phoenix the dream of the Egyptian

The next (and for this analysis last) passage of the Oneirocritica to feature Egypt

is worthy of special attention inasmuch as scholars have surmised that it might

contain a direct reference the only in all of Artemidorusrsquo books to Egyptian oneiro-

mancy60 The relevant passage occurs within chapter IV 47 which discusses dreams

about mythological creatures and more specifically treats the problem of dreams

featuring mythological subjects about which there exist two potentially mutually

contradictory traditions The mythological figure at the centre of the dream here

recorded is the phoenix about which the following is said

ldquoFor example a certain man dreamt that he was painting ltthegt phoenix bird An Egyp-tian said that the observer of the dream had come into such a state of poverty that due to his extreme lack of money he set his dead father upon his back and carried him out to the grave For the phoenix also buries its own father And so I do not know whether the dream came to pass in this way but that man indeed related it thus and according to this version of the myth it was fitting that it would come truerdquo61

59 Of this opinion is also Robert J White The Interpretation of Dreams Oneirocritica by Artemi-dorus Torrance CA 1990 (2nd edition) P 302 n 35

60 See Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 59 and Del Corno Contributi (n 57) P 11161 Artem IV 47 273 5ndash12 οἷον [ὁ παρὰ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου λεχθεὶς ὄνειρος] ἔδοξέ τις ltτὸνgt φοίνικα τὸ

ὄρνεον ζωγραφεῖν εἶπεν Αἰγύπτιος ὅτι ὁ ἰδὼν τὸν ὄνειρον εἰς τοσοῦτον ἧκε πενίας ὥστε τὸν πατέρα ἀποθανόντα δι᾽ ἀπορίαν πολλὴν αὐτὸς ὑποδὺς ἐβάστασε καὶ ἐξεκόμισε καὶ γὰρ ὁ φοίνιξ


The passage goes on (IV 47 273 12ndash274 2) saying that according to a different tradi-

tion of the phoenixrsquos myth (one better known both in antiquity and nowadays) the

phoenix does not have a father when it feels that its time has come it flies to Egypt

assembles a pyre from aromatic plants and substances and throws itself on it After

this a worm is generated from its ashes which eventually becomes again a phoenix

and flies back to the place from which it had come Based on this other version of

the myth Artemidorus concludes another interpretation of the dream above could

also suggest that as the phoenix does not actually have a father (but is self-generat-

ed from its own ashes) the dreamer too is bound to be bereft of his parents62

The number of direct mentions of Egypt and all things Egyptian in this dream

is the highest in all of Artemidorusrsquo work Egypt is mentioned twice in the context

of the phoenixrsquos flying to and out of Egypt before and after its death and rebirth

according to the alternative version of the myth (IV 47 273 1520) and an Egyptian

man the one who is said to have related the dream is also mentioned twice (IV 47

273 57) though his first mention is universally considered to be an interpolation to

be expunged which was added at a later stage almost as a heading to this passage

The connection between the land of Egypt and the phoenix is standard and is

found in many authors most notably in Herodotus who transmits in his Egyptian

logos the first version of the myth given by Artemidorus the one concerned with

the phoenixrsquos fatherrsquos burial (Hdt II 73)63 Far from clear is instead the mention of

the Egyptian who is said to have recorded how the dreamer of this phoenix-themed

dream ended up carrying his deceased father to the burial on his own shoulders

due to his lack of financial means Neither here nor later in the same passage (where

the subject ἐκεῖνος ndash IV 47 273 11 ndash can only refer back to the Egyptian) is this man

[τὸ ὄρνεον] τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα καταθάπτει εἰ μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἀπέβη ὁ ὄνειρος οὐκ οἶδα ἀλλ᾽ οὖν γε ἐκεῖνος οὕτω διηγεῖτο καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο τῆς ἱστορίας εἰκὸς ἦν ἀποβεβηκέναι

62 On the two versions of the myth of the phoenix see Roelof van den Broek The Myth of the Phoenix according to Classical and Early Christian Traditions Leiden 1972 (EPRO Vol 24) P 146ndash161 (with specific discussion of Artemidorusrsquo passage at p 151) Concerning this dream about the phoenix in Artemidorus see also Jean HubauxMaxime Leroy Le mythe du pheacutenix dans les litteacuteratures grecque et latine Liegravege 1939 (Bibliothegraveque de la Faculteacute de Philosophie et Lettres de lrsquoUniversiteacute de Liegravege Vol 82) P 160ndash162

63 Herodotus when relating the myth of the phoenix as he professes to have heard it in Egypt mentions that he did not see the bird in person (as it would visit Egypt very rarely once every five hundred years) but only its likeness in a picture (γραφή) It is perhaps an interesting coincidence that in the dream described by Artemidorus the actual phoenix is absent too and the dreamer sees himself in the action of painting (ζωγραφεῖν) the bird On Herodotus and the phoenix see Lloyd Herodotus (n 47) P 317ndash322 and most recently Franccediloise Labrique Le regard drsquoHeacuterodote sur le pheacutenix (II 73) In Laurent CoulonPascale Giovannelli-JouannaFlore Kimmel-Clauzet (ed) Heacuterodote et lrsquoEacutegypte Regards croiseacutes sur le livre II de lrsquoEnquecircte drsquoHeacuterodote Lyon 2013 (Collection de la Maison de lrsquoOrient et de la Meacutediterraneacutee Vol 51) P 119ndash143

288 Luigi Prada

said to have interpreted this dream Artemidorusrsquo words are in fact rather vague

and the verbs that he uses to describe the actions of this Egyptian are εἶπεν (ldquohe

saidrdquo IV 47 273 6) and διηγεῖτο (ldquohe relatedrdquo IV 47 273 11) It does not seem un-

wise to understand that this Egyptian who reported the dream was possibly also

its original interpreter as all scholars who have commented on this passage have

assumed but it should be borne in mind that Artemidorus does not state this un-

ambiguously The core problem remains the fact that the figure of this Egyptian is

introduced ex abrupto and nothing at all is said about him Who was he Was this

an Egyptian who authored a dream book known to Artemidorus Or was this some

Egyptian that Artemidorus had either met in his travels or of whom (and whose sto-

ry about the dream of the phoenix) he had heard either in person by a third party

or from his readings It is probably impossible to answer these questions Nor is this

the only passage where Artemidorus ascribes the description andor interpretation

of dreams to individuals whom he anonymously and cursorily indicates simply by

means of their geographical origin leaving his readers (certainly at least the mod-

ern ones) in the dark64

Whatever the identity of this Egyptian man may be it is nevertheless clear that

in Artemidorusrsquo discussion of this dream all references to Egypt are filtered through

the tradition (or rather traditions) of the myth of the phoenix as it had developed in

classical culture and that it is not directly dependent on ancient Egyptian traditions

or on the bnw-bird the Egyptian figure that is considered to be at the origin of the

classical phoenix65 Once again as seen in the case of Serapis in connection with the

Osirian myth there is a substantial degree of separation between Artemidorus and

ancient Egyptrsquos original sources and traditions even when he speaks of Egypt his

knowledge of and interest in this land and its culture seems to be minimal or even

inexistent

One may even wonder whether the mention of the Egyptian who related the

dream of the phoenix could just be a most vague and fictional attribution which

was established due to the traditional Egyptian setting of the myth of the phoe-

nix an ad hoc attribution for which Artemidorus himself would not need to be

64 See the (perhaps even more puzzling than our Egyptian) Cypriot youngster of IV 83 (ὁ Κύπριος νεανίσκος IV 83 298 21) and his multiple interpretations of a dream It is curious to notice that one manuscript out of the two representing Artemidorusrsquo Greek textual tradition (V in Packrsquos edition) presents instead of ὁ Κύπριος νεανίσκος the reading ὁ Σύρος ldquothe Syrianrdquo (I take it as an ethnonym rather than as the personal name ldquoSyrusrdquo which is found elsewhere but in different contexts and as a common slaversquos name in Book IV see IV 24 and 81) The same codex V also has a slightly different reading in the case of the Egyptian of IV 47 as it writes ὁ Αἰγύπτιος ldquothe Egyptianrdquo rather than simply Αἰγύπτιος ldquoan Egyptianrdquo (the latter is preferred by Pack for his edition)

65 See van den Broek The Myth of the Phoenix (n 62) P 20ndash21


deemed responsible but which he may have found already in his sources and hence

reproduced

Pseudepigraphous attributions of oneirocritic and more generally divinatory

works to Egyptian authors are certainly known from classical (as well as Byzantine)

times The most relevant example is probably that of the dream book of Horus cited

by Dio Chrysostom in one of his speeches whether or not this book actually ever

existed its mention by Dio testifies to the popularity of real or supposed Egyptian

works with regard to oneiromancy66 Another instance is the case of Melampus a

mythical soothsayer whose figure had already been associated with Egypt and its

wisdom at the time of Herodotus (see Hdt II 49) and under whose name sever-

al books of divination circulated in antiquity67 To this group of Egyptian pseude-

pigrapha then the mention of the anonymous Αἰγύπτιος in Oneirocritica IV 47

could in theory be added if one chooses to think of him (with all the reservations

that have been made above) as the possible author of a dream book or a similar

composition

66 See Del Corno Graecorum de re onirocritica (n 53) P 70 151 and Baudouin van de Walle Les songes laquo drsquoHorus raquo mentionneacutes dans Dion Chrysostome (Or XI 129 eacuted Budeacute) In CE 18 (1943) P 264 Whether this Horus was meant to be the name of an individual perhaps a priest or of the god himself it is not possible to know Further in Diorsquos passage this text is said to contain the descriptions of dreams but nothing is stated about the presence of their interpretations It seems nevertheless reasonable to take this as implied and consider this book as a dream interpretation manual and not just a collection of dream accounts Both Del Corno and van de Walle consider the existence of this dream book in antiquity as certain In my opinion this is rather doubtful and this dream book of Horus may be Diorsquos plain invention Its only mention occurs in Diorsquos Trojan Discourse (XI 129) a piece of rhetoric virtuosity concerning the events of the war of Troy which claims to be the report of what had been revealed to Dio by a venerable old Egyptian priest (τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἱερέων ἑνὸς εὖ μάλα γέροντος XI 37) ndash certainly himself a fictitious figure

67 See Del Corno Graecorum de re onirocritica (n 53) P 71ndash72 152ndash153 and more recently Sal-vatore Costanza Corpus palmomanticum Graecum Firenze 2009 (Papyrologica Florentina Vol 39) P 20ndash22 Artemidorus mentions Melampus once in III 28 though he makes no ref-erence to his affiliations with Egypt Del Corno Graecorum de re onirocritica (n 53) P 155 suggests that another pseudepigraphous dream book that of Phemonoe (mentioned by Arte-midorus too see II 9 and IV 2) might also have been influenced by an Egyptian oneirocritic manual such as pChester Beatty 3 (which one should be reminded dates to the XIII century BC) as both appear to share an elementary binary distinction of dreams into lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo ones This suggestion of his is very weak if not plainly unfounded and cannot be accepted

290 Luigi Prada

Echoes of Egyptian oneiromancy in Artemidorus

Modern scholarship and the supposed connection between Egyptian oneiromancy and Artemidorus

The previous section of this article has discussed how none of the few mentions of

Egypt in the Oneirocritica appear to stem from a direct knowledge or interest of Ar-

temidorus in the Egyptian civilisation and its traditions let alone directly from the

ancient Egyptian oneirocritic literature Earlier scholarship (within the domain of

Egyptology rather than classics) however has often claimed that a strong connec-

tion between Egyptian oneiromancy and the Greek tradition of dream books as wit-

nessed in Artemidorus can be proven and this alleged connection has been pushed

as far as to suggest a partial filiation of Greek oneiromancy from its more ancient

Egyptian counterpart68 This was originally the view of Aksel Volten who aimed

to prove such a connection by comparing interpretations of dreams and exegetic

techniques in the Egyptian dream books and in Artemidorus (as well as later Byzan-

tine dream books)69 His treatment of the topic remains a most valuable one which

raises plenty of points for discussion that could be further developed in fact his

publication has perhaps suffered from being little known outside the boundaries of

Egyptology and it is to be hoped that more future studies on classical oneiromancy

will take it into due consideration Nevertheless as far as Voltenrsquos core idea goes ie

68 See eg Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 59 (ldquoDie allegorische Deutung die mit Ideacuteassociationen und Bildern arbeitet haben die Griechen [hellip] von den Aumlgyptern uumlbernommen [hellip]rdquo) p 69 (ldquo[hellip] duumlrfen wir hingegen mit Sicherheit behaupten dass aumlgyptische Traumdeu-tung mit der babylonischen zusammen in der spaumlteren griechischen mohammedanischen und europaumlischen weitergelebt hatrdquo) p 73 (ldquo[hellip] Beispiele die unzweifelhaften Zusammen-hang zwischen aumlgyptischer und spaumlterer Traumdeutung zeigen [hellip]rdquo) van de Walle Les songes (n 66) P 264 (ldquo[hellip] les principes et les meacutethodes onirocritiques des Eacutegyptiens srsquoeacutetaient trans-mises dans le monde heacutellenistique les nombreux rapprochements que le savant danois [sc Volten] a proposeacutes [hellip] le prouvent agrave lrsquoeacutevidencerdquo) Del Corno Contributi (n 57) P 111 (ldquoUn buon numero di interpretazioni di Artemidoro presenta riscontri con le laquoChiaviraquo egizie ma lrsquoau-tore non appare consapevole [hellip] di questa lontana originerdquo) Friedhelm Hoffmann Aumlgypten Kultur und Lebenswelt in griechisch-roumlmischer Zeit Eine Darstellung nach den demotischen Quellen Berlin 2000 (Studienbuumlcher Geschichte und Kultur der Alten Welt Vol sn) P 136 (ldquoFuumlr einen Einfluszlig der aumlgyptischen Traumdeutung auf die griechische sprechen aber nicht nur uumlbereinstimmende Deutungen sondern auch die gleichen inzwischen weiterentwickelt-en Deutungstechniken [hellip]rdquo) Edda Bresciani La porta dei sogni Interpreti e sognatori nellrsquoEgit-to antico Torino 2005 (Saggi Vol 867) P 155 (ldquo[hellip] come Axel [sic] Volten ha mostrato [hellip] crsquoegrave unrsquoaffinitagrave sicura tra interpretazioni di sogni egiziani e greci soprattutto nella raccolta di Arte-midoro contemporaneo con questi testi demotici [hellip]rdquo)

69 In Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 69ndash78 In the following discussion I will focus on Artemidorus only and leave aside the later Byzantine oneirocritic authors


the influence of Egyptian oneiromancy on Artemidorus and its survival in his work

the problem is much more complex than Voltenrsquos assertive conclusions suggest

and in my view such influence is in fact unlikely and remains unproven

In the present section of this paper I will scrutinise some of the comparisons that

Volten establishes between Egyptian texts and Artemidorus and which he takes as

proofs of the close connection between the two oneirocritic and cultural traditions

that they represent70 As I will argue none of them holds as an unmistakable proof

Some are so general and vague that they do not even prove a relationship of any

sort with Egypt whilst others where an Egyptian cultural presence is unambiguous

can be argued to have derived from types of Egyptian sources and traditions other

than oneirocritic literature and always without direct exposure of Artemidorus to

Egyptian original sources but through the mediation of the commonplace imagery

and reception of Egypt in classical culture

A general issue with Voltenrsquos comparison between Egyptian and Artemidorian

passages needs to be highlighted before tackling his study Peculiarly most (virtual-

ly all) excerpts that he chooses to cite from Egyptian oneirocritic manuals and com-

pare with passages from Artemidorus do not come from the contemporary demotic

dream books the texts that were copied and read in Roman Egypt but from pChes-

ter Beatty 3 the hieratic dream book from the XIII century BC This is puzzling and

in my view further weakens his conclusions for if significant connections were to

actually exist between Egyptian oneiromancy and Artemidorus one would expect

these to be found possibly in even larger number in documents that are contempo-

rary in date rather than separated by almost a millennium and a half

Some putative cases of ancient Egyptian dream interpretation surviving in Artemidorus

Let us start this review with the only three passages from demotic dream books that

Volten thinks are paralleled in Artemidorus all of which concern animals71 In II 12

119 13ndash19 Artemidorus discusses dreams featuring a ram a figure that he holds as a

symbol of a master a ruler or a king On the Egyptian side Volten refers to pCarls-

berg 13 frag b col x+222 (previously cited in this paper in excerpt 1) which de-

scribes a bestiality-themed dream about a ram (isw) whose matching interpretation

70 For space constraints I cannot analyse here all passages listed by Volten however the speci-mens that I have chosen will offer a sufficient idea of what I consider to be the main issues with his treatment of the evidence and with his conclusions

71 All listed in Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 78

292 Luigi Prada

predicts that Pharaoh will in some way benefit the dreamer72 On the basis of this

he assumes that the connection between a ram (dream) and the king (interpreta-

tion) found in both the Egyptian dream book and in Artemidorus is a meaningful

similarity The match between a ram and a leading figure however seems a rather

natural one to be established by analogy one that can develop independently in

multiple cultures based on the observation of the behaviour of a ram as head of its

herd and the ramrsquos dominating character is explicitly given as part of the reasons

for his interpretation by Artemidorus himself Further Artemidorus points out how

his analysis is also based on a wordplay that is fully Greek in nature for the ramrsquos

name he explains is κριός and ldquothe ancients used to say kreiein to mean lsquoto rulersquordquo

(κρείειν γὰρ τὸ ἄρχειν ἔλεγον οἱ παλαιοί II 12 119 14ndash15) The Egyptian connection of

this interpretation seems therefore inexistent

Just after this in II 12 119 20ndash120 10 Artemidorus discusses dreams about goats

(αἶγες) For him all dreams featuring these animals are inauspicious something that

he explains once again on the basis of both linguistic means (wordplay) and gener-

al analogy (based on this animalrsquos typical behaviour) Volten compares this section

of the Oneirocritica with pCarlsberg 13 frag b col x+221 where a dream featuring a

billy goat (b(y)-aA-m-pt) copulating with the dreamer predicts the latterrsquos death and

he highlights the equivalence of a goat with bad luck as a shared pattern between

the Greek and Egyptian traditions This is however not generally the case when one

looks elsewhere in demotic dream books for a billy goat occurs as the subject of

dreams in pCarlsberg 14 verso frag f l 8 and pJena 1209 ll 9ndash10 but in neither

case here is the prediction inauspicious Further in pCarlsberg 14 verso frag d l 6

a dream about a she-goat (anxt) is presented and in this case too the matching pre-

diction is not one of bad luck Again the grounds upon which Volten identifies an

allegedly shared Graeco-Egyptian pattern in the motif goats = bad luck are far from

firm Firstly Artemidorus himself accounts for his interpretation with reasons that

need not have been derived from an external culture (Greek wordplay and analogy

with the goatrsquos natural character) Secondly whilst in Artemidorus a dream about a

goat is always unlucky this is the case only in one out of multiple instances in the

demotic dream books73

72 To this dream one could also add pCarlsberg 14 verso frag d l 1 where another dream featuring a ram announces that the dreamer will become owner (nb) of some property (namely a field) and pJena 1209 l 11 (published after Voltenrsquos study) where another dream about a ram is discussed and its interpretation states that the dreamer will live with his superior (Hry) For a discussion of the association between ram and power in Egyptian texts see Bohms Saumlugetiere (n 41) P 414ndash416

73 On the ambivalent characterisation of goats in Egyptian texts see Bohms Saumlugetiere (n 41) P 433ndash435


The third and last association with a demotic dream book highlighted by Volten

concerns dreams about ravens which Artemidorus lists in II 20 137 4ndash5 for him

a raven (κόραξ) symbolises an adulterer and a thief owing to the analogy between

those human types and the birdrsquos colour and changing voice To Volten this sug-

gests a correlation with pCarlsberg 14 verso frag f l 6 where dreaming of giving

birth to a raven (Abo) is said to announce the birth of a foolish son74 hence for him

the equivalence of a raven with an unworthy person is a shared feature of the Arte-

midorian and the demotic traditions The connection appears however to be very

tenuous if not plainly absent not only for the rather vague match between the two

predictions (adulterer and thief versus stupid child) but once again because Arte-

midorus sufficiently justifies his own based on analogy with the natural behaviour

of ravens

I will now briefly survey a couple of the many parallels that Volten draws between

pChester Beatty 3 the earliest known ancient Egyptian (and lsquopre-demoticrsquo) dream

book and Artemidorus though I have already expressed my reservations about his

heavy use of this much earlier Egyptian text With regard to Artemidorusrsquo treatment

of teeth in dreams as representing the members of onersquos household and of their

falling as representing these relationsrsquo deaths in I 31 37 14ndash38 6 Volten establishes

a connection with a dream recorded in pChester Beatty 3 col x+812 where the fall

of the dreamerrsquos teeth is explained through a wordplay as a bad omen announcing

the death of one of the members of his household75 The match of images is undeni-

able However one wonders whether it can really be used to prove a derivation of Ar-

temidorusrsquo interpretation from an Egyptian oneirocritic source as Volten does Not

only is Artemidorusrsquo treatment much more elaborate than that in pChester Beatty 3

(with the fall of onersquos teeth being also explained later in the chapter as possibly

symbolising other events including the loss of onersquos belongings) but dreams about

loosing onersquos teeth are considered to announce a relativersquos death in many societies

and popular cultures not only in ancient Egypt and the classical world but even in

modern times76 On this basis to suggest an actual derivation of Artemidorusrsquo in-

terpretation from its Egyptian counterpart seems to be rather forcing the evidence

74 This prediction in the papyrus is largely in lacuna but the restoration is almost certainly cor-rect See Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 98 On this dream and generally about the raven in ancient Egypt see VernusYoyotte Bestiaire (n 27) P 365ndash366

75 See Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 75ndash7676 See Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 76 and the reference to such beliefs in Den-

mark and Germany To this add for example the Italian popular saying ldquocaduta di denti morte di parentirdquo See also the comparative analysis of classical sources and modern folklore in Campbell Bonner The Omen in Herodotus VI 107 In CPh 1 (1906) P 235ndash238 In Voltenrsquos perspective the existence of the same concept in modern Western societies may be an addi-tional confirmation of his view that the original interpretation of tooth fall-related dreams

294 Luigi Prada

Another example concerns the treatment of dreams about beds and mattresses

that Artemidorus presents in I 74 80 25ndash27 stating that they symbolise the dream-

errsquos wife This is associated by Volten with pChester Beatty 3 col x+725 where a

dream in which one sees his bed going up in flames is said to announce that his

wife will be driven away77 Pace Volten and his views the logical association between

the bed and onersquos wife is a rather natural and universal one as both are liable to

be assigned a sexual connotation No cultural borrowing can be suggested based

on this scant and generic evidence Similarly the parallel that Volten establishes

between dreams about mirrors in Artemidorusrsquo chapter II 7 107 26ndash108 3 (to be

further compared with the dream in V 67) and in pChester Beatty 3 col x+71178 is

also highly unconvincing He highlights the fact that in both texts the interpreta-

tion of dreams about mirrors is explained in connection with events having to do

with the dreamerrsquos wife However the analogy between onersquos reflected image in a

mirror ie onersquos double and his partner appears based on too general an analogy to

be necessarily due to cultural contacts between Egypt and Artemidorus not to men-

tion also the frequent association with muliebrity that an item like a mirror with its

cosmetic implications had in ancient societies Further one should also point out

that the dream is interpreted ominously in pChester Beatty 3 whilst it is said to be

a lucky dream in Artemidorus And while the exegesis of the Egyptian dream book

explains the dream from a male dreamerrsquos perspective only announcing a change

of wife for him Artemidorusrsquo text is also more elaborate arguing that when dreamt

by a woman this dream can signify good luck with regard to her finding a husband

(the implicit connection still being in the theme of the double here announcing for

her a bridegroom)

stemming from Egypt entered Greek culture and hence modern European folklore However the idea of such a multisecular continuity appears rather unconvincing in the absence of fur-ther documentation to support it Also the mental association between teeth and people close to the dreamer and that between the actions of falling and dying appear too common to be necessarily ascribed to cultural borrowings and to exclude the possibility of an independent convergence Finally it can also be noted that in the relevant line of pChester Beatty 3 the wordplay does not even establish a connection between the words for ldquoteethrdquo and ldquorelativesrdquo (or those for ldquofallingrdquo and ldquodyingrdquo) but is more prosaically based on a figura etymologica be-tween the preposition Xr meaning ldquounderrdquo (as the text translates literally ldquohis teeth falling under himrdquo ibHw=f xr Xr=f) and the derived substantive Xry meaning ldquosubordinaterela-tiverdquo (ldquobad it means the death of a man belonging to his subordinatesrelativesrdquo Dw mwt s pw n Xryw=f)

77 Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 74ndash7578 Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 73ndash74


Egyptian cultural elements as the interpretative key to some of Artemidorusrsquo dreams

In a few other cases Volten discusses passages of Artemidorus in which he recognis-

es elements proper to Egyptian culture though he is unable to point out any paral-

lels specifically in oneirocritic manuals from Egypt It will be interesting to survey

some of these passages too to see whether these elements actually have an Egyp-

tian connection and if so whether they can be proven to have entered Artemidorusrsquo

Oneirocritica directly from Egyptian sources or as seems to be the case with the

passages analysed earlier in this article their knowledge had come to Artemidorus

in an indirect and mediated fashion without any proper contact with Egypt

The first passage is in chapter II 12 124 15ndash125 3 of the Oneirocritica Here in dis-

cussing dreams featuring a dog-faced baboon (κυνοκέφαλος) Artemidorus says that

a specific prophetic meaning of this animal is the announcement of sickness es-

pecially the sacred sickness (epilepsy) for as he goes on to explain this sickness

is sacred to Selene the moon and so is the dog-faced baboon As highlighted by

Volten the connection between the baboon and the moon is certainly Egyptian for

the baboon was an animal hypostasis of the god Thoth who was typically connected

with the moon79 This Egyptian connection in the Oneirocritica is however far from

direct and Artemidorus himself might have been even unaware of the Egyptian ori-

gin of this association between baboons and the moon which probably came to him

already filtered by the classical reception of Egyptian cults80 Certainly no connec-

tion with Egyptian oneiromancy can be suspected This appears to be supported by

the fact that dreams involving baboons (aan) are found in demotic oneirocritic liter-

ature81 yet their preserved matching predictions typically do not contain mentions

or allusions to the moon the god Thoth or sickness

79 Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 70 See also White The Interpretation (n 59) P 276 n 34 who cites a passage in Horapollo also identifying the baboon with the moon (in this and other instances White expands on references and points that were originally identi-fied and highlighted by Pack in his editionrsquos commentary) On this animalrsquos association with Thoth in Egyptian literary texts see Bohms Saumlugetiere (n 41) P 30ndash32

80 Unlike Artemidorus his contemporary Aelian explicitly refers to Egyptian beliefs while dis-cussing the ibis (which with the baboon was the other principal animal hypostasis of Thoth) in his tract on natural history and states that this bird had a sacred connection with the moon (Ail nat II 35 38) In II 38 Aelian also relates the ibisrsquo sacred connection with the moon to its habit of never leaving Egypt for he says as the moon is considered the moistest of all celestial bod-ies thus Egypt is considered the moistest of countries The concept of the moonrsquos moistness is found throughout classical culture and also in Artemidorus (I 80 97 25ndash98 3 where dreaming of having intercourse with Selenethe moon is said to be a potential sign of dropsy due to the moonrsquos dampness) for references see White The Interpretation (n 59) P 270ndash271 n 100

81 Eg in pJena 1209 l 12 pCarlsberg 13 frag b col x+229 and pVienna D 6644 frag a col x+215

296 Luigi Prada

Another excerpt selected by Volten is from chapter IV 80 296 8ndash1082 a dream

discussed earlier in this paper with regard to the figure of Serapis Here a man who

wished to have children is said to have dreamt of collecting a debt and giving his

debtor a receipt The meaning of the vision explains Artemidorus was that he was

bound not to have children since the one who gives a receipt for the repayment of a

debt no longer receives its interest and the word for ldquointerestrdquo τόκος can also mean

ldquooffspringrdquo Volten surmises that the origin of this wordplay in Artemidorus may

possibly be Egyptian for in demotic too the word ms(t) can mean both ldquooffspringrdquo

and ldquointerestrdquo This suggestion seems slightly forced as there is no reason to estab-

lish a connection between the matching polysemy of the Egyptian and the Greek

word The mental association between biological and financial generation (ie in-

terest as lsquo[money] generating [other money]rsquo) seems rather straightforward and no

derivation of the polysemy of the Greek word from its Egyptian counterpart need be

postulated Further the use of the word τόκος in Greek in the meaning of ldquointerestrdquo

is far from rare and is attested already in authors much earlier than Artemidorus

A more interesting parallel suggested by Volten between Artemidorus and Egyp-

tian traditions concerns I 51 58 10ndash14 where Artemidorus argues that dreaming

of performing agricultural activities is auspicious for people who wish to marry or

are still childless for a field symbolises a wife and seeds the children83 The image

of ploughing a field as a sexual metaphor is rather obvious and universal and re-

ally need not be ascribed to Egyptian parallels But Volten also points out a more

specific and remarkable parallelism which concerns Artemidorusrsquo specification on

how seeds and plants represent offspring and more specifically how wheat (πυρός)

announces the birth of a son and barley (κριθή) that of a daughter84 Now Volten

points out that the equivalences wheat = son and barley = daughter are Egyptian

being found in earlier Egyptian literature not in a dream book but in birth prog-

nosis texts in hieratic from Pharaonic times In these Egyptian texts in order to

discover whether a woman is pregnant and if so what the sex of the child is it is

recommended to have her urinate daily on wheat and barley grains Depending on

which of the two will sprout the baby will be a son or a daughter Volten claims that

in the Egyptian birth prognosis texts if the wheat sprouts it will be a baby boy but

if the barley germinates then it will be a baby girl in this the match with Artemi-

dorusrsquo image would be a perfect one However Volten is mistaken in his reading of

the Egyptian texts for in them it is the barley (it) that announces the birth of a son

82 Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 71ndash72 n 383 Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 69ndash7084 Artemidorus also adds that pulses (ὄσπρια) represent miscarriages about which point see

Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica (n 1) P 448


and the wheat (more specifically emmer bdt) that of a daughter thus being actual-

ly the other way round than in Artemidorus85 In this new light the contact between

the Egyptian birth prognosis and the passage of Artemidorus is limited to the more

general comparison between sprouting seeds and the arrival of offspring It is none-

theless true that a birth prognosis similar to the Egyptian one (ie to have a woman

urinate on barley and wheat and see which one is to sprout ndash though again with a

reverse matching between seed type and child sex) is found also in Greek medical

writers as well as in later modern European traditions86 This may or may not have

originally stemmed from earlier Egyptian medical sources Even if it did however

and even if Artemidorusrsquo interpretation originated from such medical prescriptions

with Egyptian roots this would still be a case of mediated cultural contact as this

seed-related birth prognosis was already common knowledge in Greek medical lit-

erature at the time of Artemidorus

To conclude this survey it is worthwhile to have a look at two more passages

from Artemidorus for which an Egyptian connection has been suggested though

this time not by Volten The first is in Oneirocritica II 13 126 20ndash23 where Arte-

midorus discusses dreams about a serpent (δράκων) and states that this reptile can

symbolise time both because of its length and because of its becoming young again

after sloughing off its old skin This last association is based not only on the analogy

between the cyclical growth and sloughing off of the serpentrsquos skin and the seasonsrsquo

cycle but also on a pun on the word for ldquoold skinrdquo γῆρας whose primary meaning

is simply ldquoold agerdquo Artemidorusrsquo explanation is self-sufficient and his wordplay is

clearly based on the polysemy of the Greek word Yet an Egyptian parallel to this

passage has been advocated This suggested parallel is in Horapollo I 287 where the

author claims that in the hieroglyphic script a serpent (ὄφις) that bites its own tail

ie an ouroboros can be used to indicate the universe (κόσμος) One of the explana-

85 The translation mistake is already found in the reference that Volten gives for these Egyptian medical texts in the edition of pCarlsberg 8 ie Erik Iversen Papyrus Carlsberg No VIII With some Remarks on the Egyptian Origin of some Popular Birth Prognoses Koslashbenhavn 1939 (Det Kgl Danske Videnskabernes Selskab Historisk-filologiske Meddelelser Vol 26 5) P 14 It is clear that the key to the prognosis (and the reason for the inversion between its Egyptian and Greek versions) does not lie in the specific type of cereal used but in the grammatical gender of the word indicating it Thus a baby boy is announced by the sprouting of wheat (πυρός masculine) in Greek and barley (it also masculine) in Egyptian The same gender analogy holds true for a baby girl whose birth is announced by cereals indicated by feminine words (κριθή and bdt)

86 See Iversen Papyrus Carlsberg No VIII (n 85) P 13ndash2087 See White The Interpretation (n 59) P 277 n 40 To be exact White simply reproduces the

passage from Horapollo without explicitly stating whether he suspects a close connection between it and Artemidorusrsquo interpretation

298 Luigi Prada

tions which Horapollo gives for this is that like the serpent sloughs off its own skin

the universe gets cyclically renewed in the continous succession of the years88 De-

spite the similarity in the general comparison between a serpent and the flowing of

time in both Artemidorus and Horapollo the image used by Artemidorus appears

to be established on a rather obvious analogy (sloughing off of skin = cyclical renew-

al of the year gt serpent = time) and endorsed by a specifically Greek wordplay on

γῆρας so that it seems hard to suggest with any degree of probability a connection

between this passage of his and Egyptian beliefs (or rather later classical percep-

tions and re-elaborations of Egyptian images) Further the association of a serpent

with the flowing of time in a writer of Aegyptiaca such as Horapollo is specific to

the ouroboros the serpent biting its own tail whilst in Artemidorus the subject is

a plain serpent

The other passage that I wish to highlight is in chapter II 20 138 15ndash17 where Ar-

temidorus briefly mentions dreams featuring a pelican (πελεκάν) stating that this

bird can represent senseless men He does not give any explanation as to why this

is the case this leaves the modern reader (and perhaps the ancient too) in the dark

as the connection between pelicans and foolishness is not an obvious one nor is

foolishness a distinctive attribute of pelicans in classical tradition89 However there

is another author who connects pelicans to foolishness and who also explains the

reason for this associaton This is Horapollo (I 54) who tells how it is in the pelicanrsquos

nature to expose itself and its chicks to danger by laying its eggs on the ground and

how this is the reason why the hieroglyphic sign depicting this bird should indi-

cate foolishness90 In this case it is interesting to notice how a connection between

Artemidorus and Horapollo an author intimately associated with Egypt can be es-

tablished Yet even if the connection between the pelican and foolishness was orig-

inally an authentic Egyptian motif and not one later developed in classical milieus

(which remains doubtful)91 Artemidorus appears unaware of this possible Egyptian

88 On this passage of Horapollo see the commentary in Francesco Sbordone Hori Apollinis Hi-eroglyphica Napoli 1940 P 4ndash6

89 On pelicans in classical culture see DrsquoArcy Wentworth Thompson A Glossary of Greek Birds London 1936 (2nd edition) P 231ndash233 or W Geoffrey Arnott Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z LondonNew York 2007 (The Ancient World from A to Z Vol sn) P 172ndash173

90 See White The Interpretation (n 59) P 282ndash283 n 86 On this section of Horapollo and earlier scholarsrsquo attempts to connect this tradition with a possible Egyptian wordplay see Sbordone Hori Apollinis Hieroglyphica (n 88) P 112ndash113

91 See Louis Keimer Interpreacutetation de quelques passages drsquoHorapollon Le Caire 1947 (Suppleacute-ment aux Annales du Service des Antiquiteacutes de lrsquoEacutegypte Vol 5) P 54 who suggests that this whole passage of Horapollo may have a Greek and not Egyptian origin for the pelican at least nowadays does not breed in Egypt On the other hand see now VernusYoyotte Bestiaire (n 27) P 403ndash405 who discuss evidence about pelicans nesting (and possibly also being bred) in Pharaonic Egypt


association so that even this theme of the pelican does not seem to offer a direct

albeit only hypothetical bridging between him and ancient Egypt

Shifting conclusions the mutual extraneousness of Egyptian oneiromancy and Artemidorus

The result emerging from the analysis of these selected dreams is that no connec-

tions or even echoes of Egyptian oneirocritic literature even of the contemporary

corpus of dream books in demotic are present in Artemidorus Of the dreams sur-

veyed above which had been said to prove an affiliation between Artemidorus and

Egyptian dream books several in fact turn out not to even present elements that can

be deemed with certainty to be Egyptian (eg those about rams) Others in which

reflections of Egyptian traditions may be identified (eg those about dog-faced ba-

boons) do not necessarily prove a direct contact between Artemidorus and Egyp-

tian sources for the Egyptian elements in them belong to the standard repertoire

of Egyptrsquos reception in classical culture from which Artemidorus appears to have

derived them sometimes being possibly even unaware of and certainly uninterest-

ed in their original Egyptian connections Further in no case are these Egypt-related

elements specifically connected with or ultimately derived from Egyptian dream

books and oneirocritic wisdom but they find their origin in other areas of Egyptrsquos

culture such as religious traditions

These observations are not meant to deny either the great value or the interest of

Voltenrsquos comparative analysis of the Egyptian and the Greek oneirocritic traditions

with regard to both their subject matters and their hermeneutic techniques Like

that of many other intellectuals of his time Artemidorusrsquo culture and formation is

rather eclectic and a work like his Oneirocritica is bound to be miscellaneous in the

selection and use of its materials thus comparing it with both Greek and non-Greek

sources can only further our understanding of it The case of Artemidorusrsquo interpre-

tation of dreams about pelicans and the parallel found in Horapollo is emblematic

regardless of whether or not this characterisation of the pelicanrsquos nature was origi-

nally Egyptian

The aim of my discussion is only to point out how Voltenrsquos treatment of the sourc-

es is sometimes tendentious and aimed at supporting his idea of a significant con-

nection of Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica with its Egyptian counterparts to the point of

suggesting that material from Egyptian dream books was incorporated in Artemi-

dorusrsquo work and thus survived the end of the ancient Egyptian civilisation and its

written culture The available sources do not appear to support this view nothing

connects Artemidorus to ancient Egyptian dream books and if in him one can still

find some echoes of Egypt these are far echoes of Egyptian cultural and religious

300 Luigi Prada

elements but not echoes of Egyptian oneiromancy itself Lastly to suggest that the

similarity in the chief methods used by Egyptian oneirocritic texts and Artemidorus

such as analogy of imagery and wordplay is significant and may add to the conclu-

sion that the two are intertwined92 is unconvincing as well Techniques like analogy

and wordplay are certainly all too common literary (as well as oral) devices which

permeate a multitude of genres besides oneiromancy and are found in many a cul-

ture their development and use in different societies and traditions such as Egypt

and Greece can hardly be expected to suggest an interconnection between the two

Contextualising Artemidorusrsquo extraneousness to the Egyptian oneirocritic tradition

Two oneirocritic traditions with almost opposite characters the demotic dream books and Artemidorus

In contrast to what has been assumed by all scholars who previously researched the

topic I believe it can be firmly held that Artemidorus and his Oneirocritica are com-

pletely extraneous to the Egyptian oneirocritic tradition which nevertheless was

still very much alive at his time as shown by the demotic dream books preserved

in papyri of Roman age93 On the one hand dreams and interpretations of Artemi-

dorusrsquo that in the past have been suspected of showing a specific and direct Egyptian

connection often do not reveal any certain Egyptian derivation once scrutinised

again On the other hand even if all these passages could be proven to be connected

with Egyptian oneirocritic traditions (which again is not the case) it is important to

realise that their number would still be a minimal percentage of the total therefore

too small to suggest a significant derivation of Artemidorusrsquo oneirocritic knowledge

from Egypt As also touched upon above94 even when one looks at other classical

oneirocritic authors from and before the time of Artemidorus it is hard to detect

with certainty a strong and real connection with Egyptian dream interpretation be-

sides perhaps the faccedilade of pseudepigraphous attributions95

92 Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 59 71ndash7293 On these scholarsrsquo opposite view see above n 68 The only thorough study on the topic was

in fact the one carried out by Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) whilst all subsequent scholars have tended to repeat his views without reviewing anew and systematically the original sources

94 See n 66ndash67 95 Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (n 9) P 70 lamented that it was impossible to gauge

the work of other classical oneirocirtic writers besides Artemidorus owing to the loss of their


What is the reason then for this complete separation between Artemidorusrsquo onei-

rocritic manual and the contemporary Egyptian tradition of demotic dream books

The most obvious answer is probably the best one Artemidorus did not know about

the Egyptian tradition of oneiromancy and about the demotic oneirocritic literature

for he never visited Egypt (as he implicitly tells us at the beginning of his Oneirocriti-

ca) nor generally in his work does he ever appear particularly interested in anything

Egyptian unlike many other earlier and contemporary Greek men of letters

Even if he never set foot in Egypt one may wonder how is it possible that Arte-

midorus never heard or read anything about this oneirocritic production in Egypt

Trying to answer this question may take one into the territory of sheer speculation

It is possible however to point out some concrete aspects in both Artemidorusrsquo

investigative method and in the nature of ancient Egyptian oneiromancy which

might have contributed to determining this mutual alienness

First Artemidorus is no ethnographic writer of oneiromancy Despite his aware-

ness of local differences as emerges clearly from his discussion in I 8 (or perhaps

exactly because of this awareness which allows him to put all local differences aside

and focus on the general picture) and despite his occasional mentions of lsquoexoticrsquo

sources (as in the case of the Egyptian man in IV 47) Artemidorusrsquo work is deeply

rooted in classical culture His readership is Greek and so are his written sources

whenever he indicates them Owing to his scientific rigour in presenting oneiro-

mancy as a respectful and rationally sound discipline Artemidorus is also not inter-

ested in and is actually steering clear of any kind of pseudepigraphous attribution

of dream-related wisdom to exotic peoples or civilisations of old In this respect he

could not be any further from the approach to oneiromancy found in a work like for

instance the Byzantine Oneirocriticon of Achmet which claims to contain a florile-

gium of Indian Persian and Egyptian dream books96

Second the demotic oneirocritic literature was not as easily accessible as the

other dream books those in Greek which Artemidorus says to have painstakingly

procured himself (see I prooem) Not only because of the obvious reason of being

written in a foreign language and script but most of all because even within the

borders of Egypt their readership was numerically and socially much more limited

than in the case of their Greek equivalents in the Greek-speaking world Also due

to reasons of literacy which in the case of demotic was traditionally lower than in

books Now however the material collected in Del Corno Graecorum de re onirocritica (n 53) makes it partly possible to get an idea of the work of some of Artemidorusrsquo contemporaries and predecessors

96 On this see Maria Mavroudi A Byzantine Book on Dream Interpretation The Oneirocriticon of Achmet and Its Arabic Sources LeidenBostonKoumlln 2002 (The Medieval Mediterranean Peo-ples Economies and Cultures 400ndash1453 Vol 36) P 41ndash59

302 Luigi Prada

that of Greek possession and use of demotic dream books (as of demotic literary

texts as a whole) in Roman Egypt appear to have been the prerogative of priests of

the indigenous Egyptian cults97 This is confirmed by the provenance of the demotic

papyri containing dream books which particularly in the Roman period appear

to stem from temple libraries and to have belonged to their rich stock of scientific

(including divinatory) manuals98 Demotic oneirocritic literature was therefore not

only a scholarly but also a priestly business (for at this time the indigenous intelli-

gentsia coincided with the local priesthood) predominantly researched copied and

studied within a temple milieu

Consequently even the traditional figure of the Egyptian dream interpreter ap-

pears to have been radically different from its professional Greek counterpart in the

II century AD The former was a member of the priesthood able to read and use the

relevant handbooks in demotic which were considered to be a type of scientific text

no more or less than for instance a medical manual Thus at least in the surviving

sources in Egyptian one does not find any theoretical reservations on the validity

of oneiromancy and the respectability of priests practicing amongst other forms

of divination this art On the other hand in the classical world oneiromancy was

recurrently under attack accused of being a pseudo-science as emerges very clearly

even from certain apologetic and polemic passages in Artemidorus (see eg I proo-

em) Similarly dream interpreters both the popular practitioners and the writers

of dream books with higher scholarly aspirations could easily be fingered as charla-

tans Ironically this disparaging attitude is sometimes showcased by Artemidorus

himself who uses it against some of his rivals in the field (see eg IV 22)99

There are also other aspects in the light of which the demotic dream books and

Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica are virtually at the antipodes of one another in their way

of dealing with dreams The demotic dream books are rather short in the description

and interpretation of dreams and their style is rather repetitive and mechanical

much more similar to that of the handy clefs des songes from Byzantine times as

remarked earlier in this article rather than to Artemidorusrsquo100 In this respect and

in their lack of articulation and so as to say personalisation of the single interpre-

97 See Prada Dreams (n 18) P 96ndash9798 See Kim Ryholt Libraries in Ancient Egypt In Jason KoumlnigKaterina OikonomopoulouGreg

Woolf (ed) Ancient Libraries Cambridge 2013 P 23ndash37 here p 33ndash3499 Some observations about the differences between the professional figure of the traditional

Egyptian dream interpreter versus the Greek practitioners are in Del Corno Contributi (n 57) P 113ndash114 On Artemidorus and his apology in defence of (properly practiced) oneiromancy see also Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica (n 1) P 32

100 The apparent monotony of the demotic dream booksrsquo style should be seen in the context of the language and style of ancient Egyptian divinatory literature rather than be considered plainly dull or even be demeaned (as is the case eg in Del Corno Contributi (n 57) P 110ndash111


tations of dreams (in connection with different types of dreamers or life conditions

affecting the dreamer) they appear to be the expression of a highly bookish and

abstract conception of oneiromancy one that gives the impression of being at least

in these textsrsquo compilations rather detached from daily life experiences and prac-

tice The opposite is true in the case of Artemidorus and his Oneirocritica Alongside

his scientific theoretical and even literary discussions his varied approach to onei-

romancy is often a practical and empiric one and testifies to Greek oneiromancy

as being a business very much alive not only in books but also in everyday life

practiced in sanctuaries as well as market squares and giving origin to sour quar-

rels amongst its practitioners and scholars Artemidorus himself states how a good

dream interpreter should not entirely rely on dream books for these are not enough

by themselves (see eg I 12 and IV 4) When addressing his son at the end of one of

the books that he dedicates to him (IV 84)101 he also adds that in his intentions his

Oneirocritica are not meant to be a plain repertoire of dreams with their outcomes

ie a clef des songes but an in-depth study of the problems of dream interpreta-

tion where the account of dreams is simply to be used for illustrative purposes as a

handy corpus of examples vis-agrave-vis the main discussion

In connection with the seemingly more bookish nature of the demotic dream

books versus the emphasis put by Artemidorus on the empiric aspects of his re-

search there is also the question concerning the nature of the dreams discussed

in the two traditions Many dreams that Artemidorus presents are supposedly real

dreams that is dreams that had been experienced by dreamers past and contem-

porary to him about which he had heard or read and which he then recorded in

his work In the case of Book V the entire repertoire is explicitly said to be of real

experienced dreams102 But in the case of the demotic dream books the impression

is that these manuals intend to cover all that one can possibly dream of thus sys-

tematically surveying in each thematic chapter all the relevant objects persons

or situations that one could ever sight in a dream No point is ever made that the

dreams listed were actually ever experienced nor do these demotic manuals seem

to care at all about this empiric side of oneiromancy rather it appears that their

aim is to be (ideally) all-inclusive dictionaries even encyclopaedias of dreams that

can be fruitfully employed with any possible (past present or future) dream-relat-

ldquoAlle formulette interpretative delle laquoChiaviraquo egizie si sostituisce in Grecia una sistematica fondata su postulati e procedimenti logici [hellip]rdquo)

101 Accidentally unmarked and unnumbered in Packrsquos edition this chapter starts at its p 299 15 102 See Artem V prooem 301 3 ldquoto compose a treatise on dreams that have actually borne fruitrdquo

(ἱστορίαν ὀνείρων ἀποβεβηκότων συναγαγεῖν) See also Dario Del Corno Artemidoro Il libro dei sogni Milano 1975 (Biblioteca Adelphi Vol 62) P xxxviiindashxli

304 Luigi Prada

ed scenario103 Given all these significant differences between Artemidorusrsquo and the

demotic dream booksrsquo approach to oneiromancy one could suppose that amus-

ingly Artemidorus would not have thought very highly of this demotic oneirocritic

literature had he had the chance to come across it

Beyond Artemidorus the coexistence and interaction of Egyptian and classical traditions on dreams

The evidence discussed in this paper has been used to show how Artemidorus of

Daldis the best known author of oneiromancy to survive from classical antiquity

and his Oneirocritica have no connection with the Egyptian tradition of dream books

Although the latter still lived and possibly flourished in II century AD Egypt it does

not appear to have had any contact let alone influence on the work of the Daldianus

This should not suggest however that the same applies to the relationship between

Egyptian and Greek oneirocritic and dream-related traditions as a whole

A discussion of this breadth cannot be attempted here as it is far beyond the scope

of this article yet it is worth stressing in conclusion to this paper that Egyptian

and Greek cultures did interact with one another in the field of dreams and oneiro-

mancy too104 This is the case for instance with aspects of the diffusion around the

Graeco-Roman world of incubation practices connected to Serapis and Isis which I

touched upon before Concerning the production of oneirocritic literature this in-

teraction is not limited to pseudo- or post-constructions of Egyptian influences on

later dream books as is the case with the alleged Egyptian dream book included

in the Byzantine Oneirocriticon of Achmet but can find a more concrete and direct

expression This can probably be seen in pOxy XXXI 2607 the only known Greek

papyrus from Egypt bearing part of a dream book105 The brief and essential style

103 A similar approach may be found in the introduction to the pseudepigraphous dream book of Tarphan the dream interpreter of Pharaoh allegedly embedded in the Oneirocriticon of Ach-met Here in chapter 4 the purported author states that based on what he learned in his long career as a dream interpreter he can now give an exposition of ldquoall that of which people can possibly dreamrdquo (πάντα ὅσα ἐνδέχεται θεωρεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους 3 23ndash24 Drexl) The sentence is potentially and perhaps deliberately ambiguous as it could mean that the dreams that Tarphan came across in his career cover all that can be humanly dreamt of but it could also be taken to mean (as I suspect) that based on his experience Tarphanrsquos wisdom is such that he can now compile a complete list of all dreams which can possibly be dreamt even those that he never actually came across before Unfortunately as already mentioned above in the case of the demotic dream books no introduction which could have potentially contained infor-mation of this type survives

104 As already argued for example in Del Corno Contributi (n 57) 105 Despite the oversight in William V Harris Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity Cam-

bridge MALondon 2009 P 134 and most recently Juliette Harrisson Dreams and Dreaming


of this unattributed dream book palaeographically dated to the III century AD and

stemming from Oxyrhynchus is the same found in the demotic dream manuals

and one could legitimately argue that this papyrus may contain a composition

heavily influenced by Egyptian oneirocritic literature

But perhaps the most emblematic example of osmosis between Egyptian and clas-

sical culture with regard to the oneiric world and more specifically healing dreams

probably obtained by means of incubation survives in a monument from the II cen-

tury AD the time of both Artemidorus and many demotic dream books which stands

in Rome This is the Pincio also known as Barberini obelisk a monument erected by

order of the emperor Hadrian probably in the first half of the 130rsquos AD following

the death of Antinoos and inscribed with hieroglyphic texts expressly composed to

commemorate the life death and deification of the emperorrsquos favourite106 Here as

part of the celebration of Antinoosrsquo new divine prerogatives his beneficent action

towards the wretched is described amongst others in the following terms

ldquoHe went from his mound (sc sepulchre) to numerous tem[ples] of the whole world for he heard the prayer of the one invoking him He healed the sickness of the poor having sent a dreamrdquo107

in the Roman Empire Cultural Memory and Imagination LondonNew York 2013 P 195 who deny the existence of dream books in Greek in the papyrological evidence On this papyrus fragment see Prada Dreams (n 18) P 97 and Luigi Prada P Oxy XXXI 2607 Re-edited A Greek Oneirocriticon from Roman Egypt In Tomasz DerdaJakub UrbanikAdam ŁajtarGrzegorz Ochała (ed) Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Papyrology Warsaw [forthcom-ing] (Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplements)

106 On Antinoosrsquo apotheosis and the Pincio obelisk see the recent studies by Jean-Claude Grenier LrsquoOsiris Antinoos Montpellier 2008 (Cahiers laquo Eacutegypte Nilotique et Meacutediterraneacuteenne raquo Vol 1) Available at httpwwwenim-egyptologiefrindexphppage=cenimampn=1 and by Gil H Ren-berg Hadrian and the Oracles of Antinous (SHA Hadr 147) With an Appendix on the So-called Antinoeion at Hadrianrsquos Villa and Romersquos Monte Pincio Obelisk In Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 55 (2010) P 159ndash198

107 From section IIIc Smn=f m iAt=f iw (= r) gs[w-prw] aSAw n tA Dr=f Hr sDmn=f nH n aS n=f snbn=f mr iwty m hAbn=f rsw(t) For the original passage in full see Hugo Meyer (ed) Der Obelisk des Antinoos Eine kommentierte Edition Muumlnchen 1994 P 56 (facsimile) pl 14ndash15 (photographs)

306 Luigi Prada

Particularly in this passage Antinoosrsquo divine features are clearly inspired by those

of other pre-existing thaumaturgic deities such as AsclepiusImhotep and Serapis

whose gracious intervention in human lives would often take place by means of

dream revelations obtained by incubation in the relevant godrsquos sanctuary The im-

plicit connection with Serapis is particularly strong for both that god as well as the

deceased and now deified Antinoos could be identified with Osiris

No better evidence than this hieroglyphic inscription carved on an obelisk delib-

erately wanted by one of the most learned amongst the Roman emperors can more

directly represent the interconnection between the Egyptian and the Graeco-Ro-

man worlds with regard to the dream phenomenon particularly in its religious con-

notations Artemidorus might have been impermeable to any Egyptian influence

in composing his Oneirocritica but this does not seem to have been the case with

many of his contemporaries nor with many aspects of the society in which he was

living


Bibliography

W Geoffrey Arnott Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z LondonNew York 2007

(The Ancient World from A to Z Vol sn)

M Carmen Barrigoacuten Fuentes Les dieux eacutegyptiens dans lrsquoOnirocriticon drsquoArteacutemidore

In Kernos 7 (1994) P 29ndash45

Ingrid Bohms Saumlugetiere in der altaumlgyptischen Literatur Berlin 2013 (Aumlgyptologie

Vol 2)

Campbell Bonner The Omen in Herodotus VI 107 In CPh 1 (1906) P 235ndash238

Edda Bresciani La porta dei sogni Interpreti e sognatori nellrsquoEgitto antico Torino

2005 (Saggi Vol 867)

Laurent Bricault Les cultes isiaques dans le monde greacuteco-romain Paris 2013 (La

Roue agrave LivresDocuments Vol 66)

Christophe Chandezon (avec la collaboration de Julien du Bouchet) Arteacutemidore Le

cadre historique geacuteographique et sociale drsquoune vie In Julien du BouchetChris-

tophe Chandezon (ed) Eacutetudes sur Arteacutemidore et lrsquointerpreacutetation des recircves Nan-

terre 2012 P 11ndash26

Salvatore Costanza Corpus palmomanticum Graecum Firenze 2009 (Papyrologica

Florentina Vol 39)

Dario Del Corno Contributi papirologici allo studio dellrsquoonirocritica In Atti dellrsquoXI

Congresso Internazionale di Papirologia Milano 1966 P 109ndash117

Darius Del Corno Graecorum de re onirocritica scriptorum reliquiae MilanoVare-

se 1969 (Testi e Documenti per lo Studio dellrsquoAntichitagrave Vol 26)

Dario Del Corno Artemidoro Il libro dei sogni Milano 1975 (Biblioteca Adelphi

Vol 62)

Lienhard Delekat Katoche Hierodulie und Adoptionsfreilassung Muumlnchen 1964

(Muumlnchener Beitraumlge zur Papyrusforschung und Antiken Rechtsgeschichte

Vol 47)

Wolja Erichsen Demotisches Glossar Kopenhagen 1954

Sigmund Freud Die Traumdeutung LeipzigWien 1900

Alan H Gardiner Chester Beatty Gift (2 vols) London 1935 (Hieratic Papyri in the

British Museum Vol 3)

Renate Germer Handbuch der altaumlgyptischen Heilpflanzen Wiesbaden 2008

(Philippika Vol 21)

Jean-Claude Grenier Anubis alexandrin et romain Leiden 1977 (EPRO Vol 57)

Jean-Claude Grenier LrsquoOsiris Antinoos Montpellier 2008 (Cahiers laquo Eacutegypte Nilo-

tique et Meacutediterraneacuteenne raquo Vol 1) Available at httpwwwenim-egyptologie

frindexphppage=cenimampn=1

308 Luigi Prada

Andreas Gutsfeld Bier II Griechenland und Rom In Hubert CancikHelmuth Sch-

neider (ed) Der Neue Pauly Enzyklopaumldie der Antike Altertum StuttgartWei-

mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653

William V Harris Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity Cambridge MA

London 2009

Daniel E Harris-McCoy Artemidorusrsquo Oneirocritica Text Translation and Com-

mentary Oxford 2012

Juliette Harrisson Dreams and Dreaming in the Roman Empire Cultural Memory

and Imagination LondonNew York 2013

Friedhelm Hoffmann Aumlgypten Kultur und Lebenswelt in griechisch-roumlmischer Zeit

Eine Darstellung nach den demotischen Quellen Berlin 2000 (Studienbuumlcher

Geschichte und Kultur der Alten Welt Vol sn)

Jean HubauxMaxime Leroy Le mythe du pheacutenix dans les litteacuteratures grecque et

latine Liegravege 1939 (Bibliothegraveque de la Faculteacute de Philosophie et Lettres de lrsquoUni-

versiteacute de Liegravege Vol 82)

Erik Iversen Papyrus Carlsberg No VIII With some Remarks on the Egyptian Origin

of some Popular Birth Prognoses Koslashbenhavn 1939 (Det Kgl Danske Videnskab-

ernes Selskab Historisk-filologiske Meddelelser Vol 26 5)

Louis Keimer Interpreacutetation de quelques passages drsquoHorapollon Le Caire 1947 (Sup-

pleacutement aux Annales du Service des Antiquiteacutes de lrsquoEacutegypte Vol 5)

Franccediloise Labrique Le regard drsquoHeacuterodote sur le pheacutenix (II 73) In Laurent Coulon

Pascale Giovannelli-JouannaFlore Kimmel-Clauzet (ed) Heacuterodote et lrsquoEacutegypte

Regards croiseacutes sur le livre II de lrsquoEnquecircte drsquoHeacuterodote Lyon 2013 (Collection de la

Maison de lrsquoOrient et de la Meacutediterraneacutee Vol 51) P 119ndash143

Franccedilois Lexa Papyrus Insinger Les enseignements moraux drsquoun scribe eacutegyptien

du premier siegravecle apregraves J-C Paris 1926 (vol 1)

Alan B Lloyd Herodotus Book II Commentary 1ndash98 Leiden 1976 (EPRO Vol 43)

Michel Malaise Agrave la deacutecouverte drsquoHarpocrate agrave travers son historiographie Brux-

elles 2011 (Meacutemoire de la Classe des Lettres Collection in-8ordm 3e Seacuterie Vol 572079)

Maria Mavroudi A Byzantine Book on Dream Interpretation The Oneirocriticon of

Achmet and Its Arabic Sources LeidenBostonKoumlln 2002 (The Medieval Medi-

terranean Peoples Economies and Cultures 400ndash1453 Vol 36)

Hugo Meyer (ed) Der Obelisk des Antinoos Eine kommentierte Edition Muumlnchen

1994

Steven M Oberhelman Dreambooks in Byzantium Six Oneirocritica in Translation

with Commentary and Introduction AldershotBurlington VT 2008

Steven M Oberhelman (ed) Dreams Healing and Medicine in Greece From Antiq-

uity to the Present FarnhamBurlington VT 2013


Roger Pack Artemidorus and His Waking World In TAPhA 86 (1955) P 280ndash290

Luigi Prada Papyrus Berlin P 8769 A New Look at the Text and the Reconstruction

of a Lost Demotic Dream Book In Verena M Lepper (ed) Forschung in der Papy-

russammlung Eine Festgabe fuumlr das Neue Museum Berlin 2012 (Aumlgyptische und

Orientalische Papyri und Handschriften des Aumlgyptischen Museums und Papy-

russammlung Berlin Vol 1) P 309ndash328 pl 1

Luigi Prada Dreams Bilingualism and Oneiromancy in Ptolemaic Egypt Remarks

on a Recent Study In ZPE 184 (2013) P 85ndash101

Luigi Prada Visions of Gods P Vienna D 6633ndash6636 a Fragmentary Pantheon in a

Demotic Dream Book In Aidan M DodsonJohn J JohnstonWendy Monkhouse

(ed) A Good Scribe and an Exceedingly Wise Man Studies in Honour of W J Tait

London 2014 (Golden House Publications Egyptology Vol 21) P 251ndash270

Luigi Prada P Oxy XXXI 2607 Re-edited A Greek Oneirocriticon from Roman Egypt

In Tomasz DerdaJakub UrbanikAdam ŁajtarGrzegorz Ochała (ed) Proceed-

ings of the 27th International Congress of Papyrology Warsaw [forthcoming]

(Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplements)

Joachim F Quack A Black Cat from the Right and a Scarab on Your Head New Sourc-

es for Ancient Egyptian Divination In Kasia Szpakowska (ed) Through a Glass

Darkly Magic Dreams amp Prophecy in Ancient Egypt Swansea 2006 P 175ndash187

Joachim F Quack Demotische magische und divinatorische Texte In Bernd

JanowskiGernot Wilhelm (ed) Omina Orakel Rituale und Beschwoumlrungen

Guumltersloh 2008 (TUAT NF Vol 4) P 331ndash385

Joachim F Quack Aus zwei spaumltzeitlichen Traumbuumlchern (Pap Berlin P 29009 und

23058) In Hermann KnufChristian LeitzDaniel von Recklinghausen (ed) Honi

soit qui mal y pense Studien zum pharaonischen griechisch-roumlmischen und

spaumltantiken Aumlgypten zu Ehren von Heinz-Josef Thissen LeuvenParisWalpole

MA 2010 (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta Vol 194) P 99ndash110 pl 34ndash37

Joachim F Quack Praumlzision in der Prognose oder Divination als Wissenschaft In

Annette ImhausenTanja Pommerening (ed) Writings of Early Scholars in the

Ancient Near East Egypt Rome and Greece Translating Ancient Scientific Texts

BerlinNew York 2010 (Beitraumlge zur Altertumskunde Vol 286) P 69ndash91 here

p 79ndash80

John D Ray The Form mtwf r sDm in Later Egyptian In JEA 59 [1973] P 156ndash158

Gil H Renberg Hadrian and the Oracles of Antinous (SHA Hadr 147) With an Ap-

pendix on the So-called Antinoeion at Hadrianrsquos Villa and Romersquos Monte Pincio

Obelisk In Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 55 (2010) P 159ndash198

310 Luigi Prada

Johannes Renger Traum Traumdeutung I Alter Orient In Hubert CancikHel-

muth Schneider (ed) Der Neue Pauly Enzyklopaumldie der Antike Altertum Stutt-

gartWeimar 2002 (Vol 121) Col 768

Kim Ryholt Fra samlingen af Carlsberg Papyri In Papyrus AEliggyptologisk Tidsskrift

182 (1998) P 41ndash43

Kim Ryholt Libraries in Ancient Egypt In Jason KoumlnigKaterina Oikonomopoulou

Greg Woolf (ed) Ancient Libraries Cambridge 2013 P 23ndash37

Serge Sauneron Les songes et leur interpreacutetation dans lrsquoEacutegypte ancienne In Les

songes et leur interpreacutetation Eacutegypte ancienne Babylone Hittites Canaan Israeumll

Islam peuples altaiumlques Persans Kurdes Inde Cambodge Chine Japon Paris

1959 (Sources Orientales Vol 2) P 17ndash61

Francesco Sbordone Hori Apollinis Hieroglyphica Napoli 1940

Klaas AD SmelikEmily A Hemelrijk ldquoWho Knows Not What Monsters Demented

Egypt Worshipsrdquo Opinions on Egyptian Animal Worship in Antiquity as Part

of the Ancient Conception of Egypt In Wolfgang Haase (ed) Principat Religion

(Heidentum Roumlmische Goumltterkulte orientalische Kulte in der roumlmischen Welt

[Forts]) BerlinNew York 1984 (ANRW Vol II174) P 1852ndash2000

Kasia Szpakowska Behind Closed Eyes Dreams and Nightmares in Ancient Egypt

Swansea 2003

DrsquoArcy Wentworth Thompson A Glossary of Greek Birds London 1936 (2nd edition)

Roelof van den Broek The Myth of the Phoenix according to Classical and Early

Christian Traditions Leiden 1972 (EPRO Vol 24)

Baudouin van de Walle Les songes laquo drsquoHorus raquo mentionneacutes dans Dion Chrysostome

(Or XI 129 eacuted Budeacute) In CE 18 (1943) P 264

Pascal VernusJean Yoyotte Bestiaire des pharaons Paris 2005

Aksel Volten Demotische Traumdeutung (Pap Carlsberg XIII und XIV verso) Ko-

penhagen 1942 (Analecta Aegyptiaca Vol 3)

Gregor Weber Traum und Alltag in hellenistischer Zeit In ZRGG 50 (1998) P 22ndash39

Robert J White The Interpretation of Dreams Oneirocritica by Artemidorus Tor-

rance CA 1990 (2nd edition)

Andreas Winkler On the Astrological Papyri from the Tebtunis Temple Library In

Ghislaine WidmerDidier Devauchelle (ed) Actes du IXe congregraves international

des eacutetudes deacutemotiques Le Caire 2009 (Bibliothegraveque drsquoEacutetude Vol 147) P 361ndash375

Karl-Theodor Zauzich Aus zwei demotischen Traumbuumlchern In APF 27 (1980)

P 91ndash98 pl 7ndash8

Colloquia Augustana

Herausgegeben von Bernd Oberdorfer Gregor Weber und Wolfgang E J Weber

Redaktion Elisabeth Boumlswald-Rid und Tobias Ranker

Institut fuumlr Europaumlische Kulturgeschichte der Universitaumlt Augsburg

Band 33




DE GRUYTER






wwwdegruytercom

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Zur Einfuumlhrung 7

Gregor Weber


Daniel Harris-McCoy


Gregor Weber








Philippe Monbrun




Daniegravele Auger



Artemidorus 219

Giulio Guidorizzi


Gil H Renberg



Luigi Prada


Andrei Timotin



Beat Naumlf

Postface 349

Julien du Bouchet

Register 357


Ortsregister 359

Sachregister 360

Stellenregister 367

Die Autoren 391




Luigi Prada










264 Luigi Prada













logical scholarship












































266 Luigi Prada












































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003




















DE GRUYTER






wwwdegruytercom

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Zur Einfuumlhrung 7

Gregor Weber


Daniel Harris-McCoy


Gregor Weber








Philippe Monbrun




Daniegravele Auger



Artemidorus 219

Giulio Guidorizzi


Gil H Renberg



Luigi Prada


Andrei Timotin



Beat Naumlf

Postface 349

Julien du Bouchet

Register 357


Ortsregister 359

Sachregister 360

Stellenregister 367

Die Autoren 391




Luigi Prada










264 Luigi Prada













logical scholarship












































266 Luigi Prada












































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003






















wwwdegruytercom

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Zur Einfuumlhrung 7

Gregor Weber


Daniel Harris-McCoy


Gregor Weber








Philippe Monbrun




Daniegravele Auger



Artemidorus 219

Giulio Guidorizzi


Gil H Renberg



Luigi Prada


Andrei Timotin



Beat Naumlf

Postface 349

Julien du Bouchet

Register 357


Ortsregister 359

Sachregister 360

Stellenregister 367

Die Autoren 391




Luigi Prada










264 Luigi Prada













logical scholarship












































266 Luigi Prada












































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















Inhaltsverzeichnis

Zur Einfuumlhrung 7

Gregor Weber


Daniel Harris-McCoy


Gregor Weber








Philippe Monbrun




Daniegravele Auger



Artemidorus 219

Giulio Guidorizzi


Gil H Renberg



Luigi Prada


Andrei Timotin



Beat Naumlf

Postface 349

Julien du Bouchet

Register 357


Ortsregister 359

Sachregister 360

Stellenregister 367

Die Autoren 391




Luigi Prada










264 Luigi Prada













logical scholarship












































266 Luigi Prada












































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003



















Artemidorus 219

Giulio Guidorizzi


Gil H Renberg



Luigi Prada


Andrei Timotin



Beat Naumlf

Postface 349

Julien du Bouchet

Register 357


Ortsregister 359

Sachregister 360

Stellenregister 367

Die Autoren 391




Luigi Prada










264 Luigi Prada













logical scholarship












































266 Luigi Prada












































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003




















Luigi Prada










264 Luigi Prada













logical scholarship












































266 Luigi Prada












































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















264 Luigi Prada













logical scholarship












































266 Luigi Prada












































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003











































266 Luigi Prada












































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003


































268 Luigi Prada








P 13589)











frag b)


frag c)




verso frag c)

































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003













































270 Luigi Prada























































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003











































passant in III 11











272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















272 Luigi Prada

































































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003















































274 Luigi Prada






















proven35









































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003















































276 Luigi Prada














read the line
























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003



























in excerpt 3










them to be so45








278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















278 Luigi Prada







work














one reads in I 22






























280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003




































280 Luigi Prada






















(II 39 175 14ndash15)


























ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003


































ondary and mediated





reads














282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















282 Luigi Prada























































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003












































284 Luigi Prada









































































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003





















































systems

286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















286 Luigi Prada









certainty
















































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003













































288 Luigi Prada


























inexistent









reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003



















reproduced













composition



290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















290 Luigi Prada






















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003


















































292 Luigi Prada














































of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003





























of ravens






















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















294 Luigi Prada
























her a bridegroom)































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003













































296 Luigi Prada



































































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003















































298 Luigi Prada












a plain serpent
















































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003













































nally Egyptian









300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















300 Luigi Prada


































































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003





















































302 Luigi Prada







































































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003





















































304 Luigi Prada














































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003




































306 Luigi Prada














living


Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003


















Bibliography






Vol 2)











Florentina Vol 39)






Vol 62)



Vol 47)






(Philippika Vol 21)





308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















308 Luigi Prada



mar 1997 (Vol 2) Col 653


London 2009


mentary Oxford 2012



























1994





































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















































p 79ndash80





310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















310 Luigi Prada





182 (1998) P 41ndash43














Swansea 2003

















Oneirocritica Aegyptiaca: Artemidorus of Daldis, Egypt, and the Contemporary Oneirocritic Literature...

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Transcript of Oneirocritica Aegyptiaca: Artemidorus of Daldis, Egypt, and the Contemporary Oneirocritic Literature...