Artemidorus' Oneirocritica Text, Translation, and Commentary

by Harris-McCoy, Daniel E.

• ISBN13: 9780199593477
• ISBN10: 0199593477
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-11-17
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In ancient Greece and Rome, dreams were believed by many to offer insight into future events. Artemidorus'Oneirocritica, a treatise on dream-divination and compendium of dream-interpretations written in Ancient Greek in the mid-second to early-third centuries AD, is the only surviving text from antiquity that instructs its readers in the art of using dreams to predict the future. In it, Artemidorus discusses the nature of dreams and how to interpret them, and provides an encyclopaedic catalogue of interpretations of dreams relating to the natural, human, and divine worlds. In this volume, Harris-McCoy offers a revised Greek text of theOneirocriticawith facing English translation, a detailed introduction, and scholarly commentary. Seeking to demonstrate the richness and intelligence of this understudied text, he gives particular emphasis to theOneirocritica's composition and construction, and its aesthetic, intellectual, and political foundations and context.

Author Biography

Daniel Harris-McCoy is currently a visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at Boston College. His research generally relates to Greek and Latin history of ideas. In addition to dreams, he is interested in how knowledge was transmitted in antiquity and the intellectual, aesthetic, and political dimensions of ancient technical and compilatory literature.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
I. Artemidorus, the Oneirocritica, and its Purpose
II. Composition
III. Interpretation
IV. Organization
V. 'Political' Dimensions
VI. The Autobiography of Artemidorus Redux
VII. Cultural Contexts, Underpinnings, and Parallels
VIII. Greek Text and English Translation
Text and Translation
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
Book 5
Commentary
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
Book 5
Differences from the 1964 Teubner Text
Bibliography