DREAM INTERPRETATION IN ANCIENT-TIMES

Abstract

With the praradigm of the chinese man whose dream is to be a dreaming butterfly the author takes up the question of identity of the dreamer. In particular he is concerned with the position of the dream between unconsciousness, consciousness and reality. A dream of Blaise Pascal is reported to be a similar analogy: there is a king who dreams twelve hours a day to be a craftsman wondering about who he is in reality. At all times the ideas of dream differ, the interpretation depends on cultural and social structures as well as the mental attitude of the person who is occupied with the dream. Dreams play an important role in almost every antique literary work and almost every important philosopher has been occupied with them. It was Freud who examined scientifically the phenomenon of dream as a message of the unconsciousness with a manifest dreamcontent and latent dreamthoughts. The modern experimental dream research is more interested in the psychophysiological aspect of dreams. The oldest testimonials of dream interpretations are to be found in an egyptian papyrus in 2000 b.c. - different to the psychoanalytic interpretation of dreams of today the important dream is not anchored in the psyche of man, but sent by god. The divine dream act as a messenger of god, it can also have consequences in reality. Besides there are deceptive dreams - Homer adjudges them even an own gender having their residence near sunset. In the >>theogonia<< of Hesiod dreams are considered as children of the night, Hermes, the messanger of god, is their leader. Lukian of Samosate transfers the whereabouts and the residence of dreams to a phantastic island in the ocean with the idea of gates for right, false and obscene dreams and nightmares. Temples for truth and mystification are placed in the centre of the phantastic island with the sophist Antiphon as the initiator of the first greek book of dream interprettation. Lukian attributes the dreams an individual existence - they disappear when tried to approach - besides collective dreams are described, for example by Philarchos on the occasion of the sacrilegious execution of Krotonians by the inhabitants of Sybaris: The revenge of the gods follows in form of a collective dream, threatening punishment to all responsibles. Artemidoros, the most important investigator of dreams in the second century p.c., called this sort of dreams a normal phenomenon and reports veritable epidemics of dreams in critical situations of public live. Telling the sun-god the dreams bringing disasters as well religious ceremonies will help to destroy the nightmares. To sprincle water as a symbol for cleaning is also thought to be effective. Pythagoras was the first to. introduce sleep and dreams as a therapeutic instrument in temples. After a preparing ritual, mainly fasting, sexual abstinence, prayer and meditation, the patient had to lie down to sleep in an Asclepios or Serapis sanctuary. The appearence of a deity in the dream was regarded as on optimal prognosis. Due to this hopeful attitude towards dreams the number of dream interpretators increased as well as the number of charlatans. You could even subscribe for one year of dreaminterpretation. Compared to the Middle Ages dreams are rarely for national intentions, referring rather to oracles, to the fly of birds and the interpretations of the omens out of the visceral of victims. Only Alexander the Great was accompanied by an interpretator of dreams all the time. Artemidoros of Daldis was the most important dream-reader in antiquity, he acquired theoretical and practical knowledge in dream-work and he regarded the interpretations of dreams as very important. He collected written notes, published five big books and finally divided dreams into categories in the same way as later Macrobius: >>Somnium<< - a dream showing the future, >>insomnium<< showing the present time, >>phantasma<< the appearance for abnormal figures in the stage between sleeping and being awake including nightmares, >>oraculum<< an evident message about the future by an important person or by god and finally >>visio<< a dream close to reality. Referring to the interpretation dreams were differentiated in own, strange, common, public and cosmic ones and there are rules on what dreams refer to. Six principles are decisive for the interpretation: >>nature<<, >>law<<, >>tradition<<, >>time<<, >>art<< and >>name<<. It's a good meaning if something happens in the dream according to nature, otherwise it is a bad omen. Earlier philosophical schools consider especially the prophetic strength of dreams; the younger schools try to clear up, the mental, physical and psychological aspects of a dream. Thus the Pythagoraers were teaching that the whole air was full of souls - called demons or heroes - and they send the dreams and significant signs to man and animals. Demokrit supposed certain pictures in the universe full of divine power, entering through the pores of the body and producing appearances of dreams. At the same time these pictures represent the mental characteristics from who they emanate, that is why it is possible to link with persons and things which are far away. Socrates plad for the prophetic power of dreams as divine inspiration; Platon emphasized the interaction of the different parts of the soul in their development. It is necessary to keep clear the reasonable part of the soul for experiencing the truth in a dream. It was not before Aristoteles that someone tried to explore the nature of dreams out of the action of the soul. In doing so he regarded the perception as more important than thinking. It was his opinion, that the senses are not only influenced from outside but even from inside with the origin in the heart. It is because of his more scientific attitude towards dreams that he doubts about the prophetic power of dreams. He accepts only connections with real events and concludes that dreams are either cause or omen. He explains dreams referring to times, places or persons which are far away, with the propagation of a movement initiated in the distance. This can concern the sleeping person. That is why people dream so often of their friends because of the big interest even if they are far away and that is why stars can influence the people. The interpretation of Aristoteles is in contrast with the earlier conceptions because it set the nature of dreams in to a mental an spiritual way of man. There is an analogy to the genious exposures of Sigmund Freud and the importance of dreams in psychoanalysis.