dreams in antiquity

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Aelius Aristides and the Technology of Oracular DreamsAuthor(s): Luther H. MartinSource: Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Spring 1987), pp. 65-72Published by: Berghahn BooksStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41298873 .

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Aelius Aristides and the

Technology of Oracular Dreams

Luther H. Martin

Two importanttextson dreaming survive fromantiquity,both from

the second century AD: the Oneirocritica,r Scienceof Dreams byArtemidorus fromthe late second century),1 nd the HieroiLogoi orSacred Tales by Aelius Aristides written a. 117-118).

2 Both supposea broad, three-fold lassification f dreams common in antiquity:the

enhypnionr non-predictivedream, the oneiros r predictive dream,and the chrematismosr oracular dream.3 Artemidorus was a profes-sional dream specialist concerned with taxonomic distinctionsbetween ordinary dreaming as either predictive, oneira),or non-

predictive, (enhypnia).4Aristides, on the other hand, was a rhetori-cian and sophistwho recorded his chrematismoi,r oracular dreams,a

type of dreaming which belonged to the specialized practices of theincubation cults. Artemidorus' systematicdiscussion of dreams estab-lished him as an authorityfor subsequent popular dream practices,while Aristides'personal testimonieswere generallyneglected.

Luther . Martins associaterofessornd chair freligiont TheUniversityfVermontwheree pecializesn the tudyfHellenisticeligionsnd the heoryfreligion.e istheauthorfHellenisticeligions: n IntroductionOxford niversityress, 987)andnumerousrticlesnHellenisticeligions.e has o-editedssaysnJungndthe tudyf

ReligionUniversityress

fAmerica

1985)nd

TechnologiesftheSelf:A Seminar

withMichel oucaultTheUniversityfMassachusettsress1987).1. RogerA. Pack,ed.,Artemidorialdiani, nirocriticonibriV (Leipzig: .G.

Teubner,1963); RobertJ. White,The InterpretationfDreams: neirocriticayArtemidorus,oyesClassical tudiesParkRidge,N.J.:Noyes ress, 975).White'stranslations based pon hePack dition.

2. Charles . Behr, . AeliiAristidespera uaeExtantmniaLeiden: .J.Brill,1976-); ndCharlesA. Behr, rans., . Aelius ristides.heCompleteorks,ol.2,OrationsVII-LIII Leiden: .J. rill, 981).

3. C.A.Behr, elius ristidesndThe acred alesAmsterdam:dolfM.Hakkert,1968),p. 174; on dream lassificationn antiquity,ee pp. 173-180;ndA.H.M.Kessels, Ancient ystems f Dream-Classificationnemosyne,th ser., 22

(1969):389-424.4. Luther . Martin,Artemidorus:ream heorynLateAntiquity,he econdCentury,orthcoming.

HISTORICALEFLECTIONS/REFLEXIONSISTORIQUES,ol. 4,No.1,1987







66 HistoricalReflectionsReflexions istoriques

The recent concern with social historyhas resulted in a revival ofinterest in Artemidorus' dream book.5 From this perspective,Artemidorus' catalogue of dreams is understood as expressions bythe self of its participation in an external order of things. Theworkersand priests, nvalidsand athletes,huntersand soldiers,politi-cians and artists,slaves and masters,brides and prostitutes, ophistsand students, money-lenders and merchants who populateArtemidorus' dream book represent typical figures in situations

typical to the social world of late antiquity. They embody an objec-tive

systemof

relationshipshavingto do withthe self,others,

society,and the cosmos itself.6Aristides, on the other hand, records a

subjective systemof relationships having to do withself, ts constitu-tion in termsof illness and salvation,and a systemof deities focusedon the healing god, Asklepius.7

The publication of Freud's The InterpretationfDreams in 1900,which opens with reference to Artemidorus,8 first recalled themodern world to a scientific consideration of dreams. From a

psychological perspective,Aristides' oneiric relationshipto gods andillness proved more attractiveto the universal claims of psychoana-

lytic theory than did Artemidorus' antiquated science. In PeterBrown's well-founded udgement, Aristides has had to bear far too

heavy a weight of odium psychologicumrom modern scholars. 9Rather than confirming universallyhuman structure nd dynamicof the psyche, Aristidesmay better be understood as an exemplumof his religiousworld.10

Aristides' Sacred Tales recount the treatments rescribedto him indreams by the god, Asklepius. He had decided to submit trulytothe God as to a doctor and to do in silence whatever he wished

5. The interestn Artemidorus'neirocriticaor n understandingf the econdcenturyreco-Romanocialworldwas nticipatedyRoger ack, ArtemidorusndHisWakingWorld, ransactionsf he mericanhilologicalssociation6 (1955):283;andArthur. Osley's bservationhat the ocietyeflectednArtemidorus'ook smanifestlyheGreco-Romanivilizationf thefirstnd second enturies,n NotesonArtemidorus'neirocriticalassicalournal9 1963):66.

6. Martin,Artemidorus:ream heory.7. A second, bjective,ystemt relationshipsocused,orAristides,n thegod

Serapls. ee Howard larkKee,Miraclen the arly hristianorldNewHaven ndLondon: aleUniversityress, 983), p.90,94.

8. Vols.4-5,TheStandardditionj theCompletesychologicalorksj bigmuna

Freud,d.James trachey,nnaFreud,AlixStruchey,ndAlanTysonLondon:Hogarthress nd nstituteor sychoanalysis,958), :98andn. 1.9. Peter rown,heMakingf ateAntiquityCambridge:arvard niversityress,

1978), . 41.10. Ibid., p.41-45.







TheTechnologyfOracular Dreams 67

(Sacred Tales 1.4, 57), even when Asklepius gave advice contrarytoAristides' attending physicians Sacred Tales 1.62-63), or contrarytocommon sense (SacredTales II. 7). Although he never recovered fromhis maladies, he continued to confess the healing god, Asklepius*ashis saviour (SacredTales 1.2; IV. 4).

Aristides states his theoryof oracular dreams at the beginningofhis Sacred Tales:

each of our days, as well as our nights,has a storyif someone,who was present at them,wished either to record the events or tonarrate the providence of the god [pronoiatou theou' where herevealed [ nedeiknuntosome things openly in his own presence andothersby the sending of dreams [enhypnion'.uSacredTales 1.3)

As did the Greeks generally, Aristides distinguishedtwo differentkinds of seeing: hypar or actual seeing while awake, and onar or

seeing in sleep, dreaming.12E.R. Dodds has emphasized that each ofthese modes of vision has its own logic and its own limitations; nd

[there is] no obvious reason for thinkingone of them more signifi-

cant than the other.

13

It is his oneira, n whichAsklepius appears orwhich are inspired by the god, that Aristides records.14Dreams, forAristides,are the media of divine providence.15

Artemidorus, too, refersto predictive dreams as god-sent theo-pempta),not, however,with the significanceof divine activity, ut inthe same way thatwe customarily all all unforeseenthings god-sent*(Oneirocritica .6 [P 16, 7-9]; IV. 3 [P 247, 10-12]).

16 Artemidorusfollowed the Platonic-Stoic understanding of dreams as generallyreflectinga bestial element in human nature which could be over-come by moderate living and justness of the mind so that the soul

mightgrasp truth while asleep.17 In this tradition,Artemidorus ike-wise understood the predictiveactivity f dreaming to be predicated

11. Trans, ited, ehr, ristides,ompleteorks1981).12. See Sacred ales11.18whereAristidesefers lso to a third ategoryf

wakingision.13. E.R. Dodds,TheGreeksnd the rrational1951;reprintd.,Berkeley,os

Angeles,ondon: niversityfCaliforniaress, 971), . 102.14. UnlikeArtemidorus,ho s concernednhistaxonomyfdreams o distin-

guish etweenypesfdreamsoneirokrind),ristidesoesnotdistinguisherminologi-cally etweenhrematismoi,neira,nd nhypnia.

15. Behr, ristidesndThe acred ales . 191.16. AschaptersftheOneirocriticareoften everalagesong, eferenceill lsobe made opage nd ine fthe ditionyPack P].

17. Plato,RepublicX, 57 f., ndQuintus,icero'sntagonistn hisDe Divinatio1.2,115;23, 82; 53,121; nd57,129.








upon moral purity. You mustbear in mind, he advised his son,

that men who live an upright,moral life do not have meaninglessdreams....For their souls are not muddled by fears or by expecta-tions but, indeed, they control the desires of their bodies.

(OneirocriticaV, pro. [P 239, 14-19])

For Artemidorus, moral rather than ritual purification was theformalcondition forsignificant reaming.

The formalpractices

associated withAsklepian

incubation ritualare familiar. First, there are preliminaryrites of purification, acri-fice to the gods, and a determinationby divinationof the god's pres-ence. Second, the suppliantspends the night n the sleeping chamberof the temple where the god appears to him in dream to prescribeacure which temple officials record and, if necessary, interpret.18While the psychological interpretations f incubation practices havebeen explored,19Aristides' descriptionof the technologyof incuba-tion dreams, their mechanism of operation and their intended

strategy,has been neglected.

The sacred technology of oracular dreams turned, for Aristides,upon the recognition of a dreamt statue as the image of deity.Aristides recounts his recognitionof Asklepius in the firstdream herecorded:

I dreamed that I was at the prophylea of the Temple of

Asklepius, and a certain one of myfriendsmet me. ..And we wentin while we were still speaking.. .And at this time the Templehappened to have been closed. Still in such a way, so that

although closed, a kind of entrance remained and the interiorwas

visible. I went up to the doors and saw, instead of the old statue[igalma , another withdowncast eyes. As I marveled and inquiredwhere the old statuewas, someone broughtit to me, and I seemednot wholly to recognize [gnorizai] it, but still I worshipped it

eagerly. {SacredTales 1.10-13)

Although Aristides seemed not wholly to recognize the dream

statue, he recognized it sufficientlyo worship it eagerly. Agalmathe word Aristides uses in this passage for statue, specifically

18. WalterBurkert, reek eligion,rans.JohnRaffanCambridge: arvardUniversityress, 985), p.267-268.19. See e.g., the suggestiveungiannterpretationy C.A. Meier,Ancient

IncubationndModernsychotherapy,rans.MonicaCurtisEvanston: orthwesternUniversityress, 967).







The TechnologyfOracularDreams 69

designates the image of a god as an object of worship, 20 nd he isclear that such a cult statue contained the presence of the God*(SacredTales 11.31).

For Artemidorus, too, statues [ galmata of the gods have thesame meaning as the gods themselves (Oneirocritica 1.39 [P 176,11-12]). In the section of his Oneirocritica evoted to the significanceof dreams in which deities appear (11.35-39), he generalizes fromthecase of Artemisthat:

it makes no differencewhetherwe see the goddess herself as we

have imagined her to be or a statue [ galma of her. For whethergods appear in the flesh or as statues [agalmata] fashioned out ofsome material, theyhave the same meaning, (iOneirocritica1.35 [P159, 24 - 160, 3])

Aristides reports that he was able to recognize deities in hisdreams because of the way they are representedin statues at thecult sites (Sacred Tales IV. 50), for example, in the long portico ofthe Gymnasium (Sacred Tales 1.17). The recognition of the dream

statue as that of the deitywas based upon a prior wakingknowledgeof the cult statue of the deity. This is the importance of beingpresent at the cult site for oracular dreams and of the anthropo-morphic, and therefore recognizable, cult images for incubation

practice. Oneiric revelation,in other words,required the correlationof an oneiric recognition of the iconic presence of deity in dreamvision,the onar witha previouswakingconfession of the iconic pres-ence of deity n his cult dwelling,the hypar21

Contraryto the external social relationshipswhich are character-istic of Greek religious practice generally,22 n internal relationship

of selfto mind characterizes Aristides'oneiric revelation:

20. For discussionfGreekerminologyormages,ee S.R.F.Price, itualsndPower:heRomanmperialultnAsiaMinorCambridge:ambridgeniversityress,1984),pp. 176-180.As withdreamterminology,ristidesoes not maintaincustomaryerminologicalistinctions,utuses galmaandrias,nd edosnterchange-ably. eee.g., acred alesV. 2-63.

21. A. J. estugi£reoncludedfAristideshat it sbynomeans hedreamshat

led to hisfaithnthegod,butrather isfaithnthegodwhich eterminedis nter-pretationf the dreams. he faith omes irst. ersonaleligionmongheGreeks(1954;reprintd.,Berkeleynd LosAngeles: niversityfCaliforniaress, 960), .98.

22. Burkert,reekeligionpassim,eee.g.,pp.255,276.








He [Asklepius] said it was fitting hatmymind [nous]be changed[kinethenai] rom its present condition, and having been changed,associate with god, and by its association be superior to man'sestate, and that neither was remarkable,eitherby associatingwith

god, to be superior, or being superior, to associate with god.(SacredTales IV. 52)

Such oracular recognitions belonged to an inner and personal struc-ture of religious experience characteristic f late antiquity.23

The religious experience associated with therecognition

of thestatue or image of the deityin dream involved further n identifica-tion of the dreamer with the image of the deity. Aristidesrecountsthat:

I dreamed that. .I went at evening to the Temple of Asklepius...Iwas thinkingabout this temple as if it were a vestibule.... exam-ined, as it were, in this vestibule, a statue of me. At one time Isaw it as if it were of me, and again it seemed to be a great andfair statue of Asklepius. (SacredTales 1.17)

Again, Aristides was invitedby Asklepius in a dream to remain withhim after others had departed.

I was delighted by the honor and the extent to which I was

preferred to the other, and I shouted out, The One, meaningthe god. But he said, It is you. (SacredTales IV. 50)

This recognitionby the dreamer of the dream statue as the image of

deity,and of his identificationwith t,comprisesthe salvific eleology

of oracular dream technology.The strategywhich belongs to oracular dream technology has

been termed by Walter Burkert crisis management, 24 nd illnesswas the most oppressive of individual crises.25 Such crises wereviewed by the Greeks as the effects f misfortunetyche ortuna)?6

In the firstdream he recorded, Aristidesnotes the juxtapositionof the statues of Good Fortune [AgatheTyche and the Good God

[Asklepius] in the Asklepieum at Pergamum (Sacred Tales 1.11), an

23. On Aristides' eligiousxperience,ee Festugiere,ersonal eligion,p.

97-104,ndKee,Miraclen the hristianorldp.93-97. or nother iew f self sthe nternalelationetween indnous)ndgod, ee theCorpusermeticum.1-6.24. Burkert,reekeligionpp.264-268.25. Ibid., . 267.26. Ibid., . 264.







The TechnologyfOracular Dreams 71

association documented also at the central Asklepius sanctuary atEpidaurus.27 This association of Good Fortune with the god ofmedicine suggestsa view of healing as the overcomingof misfortune

(tyche ortuna)by Good Fortune (AgatheTyche).2S s tyche ortunawasa personificationof cosmic disorder, the effectsof her rule can beseen as more than physical malady, but as the general malaise ofexistence.29 In contrast to the scientificmedicine of Hippocrates,the divine medicine of Asklepius sought to remedy this humanmalaise and, consequently, was not limited simply to physical or

psychosomaticllness. Not

onlywere Aristides'

professionalskills as a

rhetoriciannotably enhanced as a result of Asklepius' command notto abandon oratory, (Sacred Tales IV. 14),

30 but Asklepius' remark

[of identity]... as greater than life itself,and every disease was lessthan this, every grace was less than this. This made me able and

willingto live. {SacredTales IV. 50)As Mary Hamilton has shown, the healing and salvific trategy f

incubation continued in Christian practice, only substituting localsaint or the Virgin for the healing deity, until the modern day.31Emerging frompopular Greek practice rather than fromtheological

ideals, the technology of oracular dreams provided GreekChristianitywith a technology of iconography. As with incubationdreams, a divine personage is understood to reside, i.e. is recognizedas present, in his icon. As such, he could speak throughit and workmiraclesby its agency. 32

The ecclesiastical historyof Christian iconography is based uponthe Pauline view that the god of thisworld has blinded the minds

(noemata) f unbelievers

27. Emma .andLudwig delstein,sklepius:Collectionnd nterpretationf heTestimonies2 vols. 1945;reprintd.,NewYork:Arno ress, 975), estimony23,1:221, 29.

28. AristidesefersoAsklepiuss the arbiterffatemoironomos, Sacred ales11.31.

29. On the pervasivenessf tycheortunan Greco-Romanhought,ee IiroKajanto,Fortuna, ufstiegndNiederganger omischenelt. 2, bd. 17,teilbd. 1(Berlin: e Gruyter,981), p.502-558,who lsodistinguishesetweencapriciousfortunetycheortuna)nd good ortune,bid., p.525-532.

30. Kee,Miraclen the hristianorldpp.98,99-102.31. MaryHamilton,ncubationrthe ure fDiseasenPaganTemplesndChristianChurchesSt.Andrews: .C.Henderson,906).

32. CyrilMango, yzantium:he mpirefNew omeNewYork: harles cribner'sSons, 980), . 98.








to keep them fromseeing the light of the gospel of the gloryofChrist,who is the image [eikon] f God. (2 Cor. 4:4)

The faithful, n the other hand,

with unveiled faces, beholding [katoptrizomenoi]he glory of theLord, are being changed [metamorphoumethainto his image [eikon'.(2 Cor. 3: 18)33

Thetechnology

expressedby

this canonicalauthority

is

strikinglysimilarto that of Aristides'oracular dream technology.For both, thesubject is changed (for Aristides kinethenai, or Paul metamorphous-thai); for both, the locus of this change is the mind (for Aristidesnous for Paul noeta);and forboth, the change is into an image (eikon)of deity which must be recognized (for Aristidesgnorizo,for Paul

katoptrizo).Paul proposes, of course, a restoration of the image of God

bestowed upon man at creation but impaired now by sin (Genesisl:26f.).54 This view of image, as did the notion of sin, took on a

specifically thical content in Christianthought.35The body was thefocus for Christian ethical practice, the strategyof which was toinitiateor to maintain the Platonic-Stoicideal of separation betweena bestial body and the divine mind, the locus forrecognitionof deityand therefore of transformation.This idea of the reformationofman to the image and likeness of God became, according to the

convincing thesis of Gerhard Ladner, the inspirationof all reformmovements n early and mediaeval Christianity. 36

33. Thispassage n 2 Corinthianss to be contrastedith he eschatologicalreservationxpressedn a similar etaphoryPaul n 1Corinthians3:12.

34. See HansConzelmann,Excursis:ikon,image', Commentaryn the irstEpistleothe orinthianstrans. amesW. LeitchPhiladelphia:ortressress, 975),pp.187-188.

35. Gerhard ittel,d.,Theologicalictionaryf heNewTestament,rans,nd ed.Geoffrey . BromileyGrandRapids:Wm.B. Eerdmans,964), :397;Gerhard .Ladner, he deaofReform:ts mpactnChristianhoughtndActionn the ge f heFathersCambridge:arvard niversityress, 959), . 51.

36. Ladner,deaofReform,.62.

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