Idolum and Imago Roman Dreams and Dream Theories
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23620241 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hubert Cancik (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Pages | 169-188 |
| Publication date | 1999-07-08 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Dream cultures (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University PressNew York, NY (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/oso/9780195123364.003.0009 |
| OpenAlex | W4388385640 |
| ISBN | 9780195123364 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Dreams and dream interpretation do not have a specific place in Roman public religion. However, the Romans did much to develop divination. There was a college that specialized in augury; it interpreted species, numbers, and direction of flight as well as the cries of birds. The haruspices analyzed the entrails of sacrificial animals, read the signs on the livers, and interpreted lightning flashes and monstrosities of all kinds. In addition, the Romans cultivated ecstatic inspirational prophesying: the Sibylline sayings, preserved in oracular books, which were elucidated by the quindecemvirs. None of these, however, specialized in dreams. Dreams were not an element of Roman state religion in their own right. In the rare event that the gods indicated their will through a dream, the dream was dealt with through the official channels generally prescribed for omens affecting the state.1 An example2: the great games of Jupiter were once interrupted by an evil sign without it being noticed. Therefore, Jupiter appeared three times in the dreams of a disbelieving peasant, demanding the “renewal” (instauratio) of the games. Finally, affiicted with a terrible disease, the peasant reported his dream to the senate, that is, the consuls. The peasant immediately recovered from his illness, and the senate “examined” the dream and ordered the games to be repeated. In this manner the dream was integrated into the Roman system of prodigies (prodigia).
Archaeology · Art · Divination · Dream · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Literature · Peasant · Sign (mathematics) · State (computer science) · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.09 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2003 - 2003 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |