The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams: Early Greek Hermeneutics and Its Sources
The first book-length study of dream interpretation in classical Greece
Long before Freud, dreams and how to make sense of them fascinated ancient thinkers. In The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams, Mirjam Kotwick traces a continuous intellectual practice of dream interpretation across a range of ancient Greek texts, including those from Homer, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Antiphon, the Hippocratic doctors, Plato, and Aristotle. In these works, dreams signify meaning in indirect, distorted, figurative, and metaphorical ways. The authors employ what Kotwick terms the “hermeneutics of similarity” to uncover the message of a dream by identifying (obvious or nonobvious) similarities between its literal expression and its hidden meaning. This method of interpretation remained consistent, whether authors understood dreams as messages from the gods or as results of physiological processes within the dreamer’s body.
Kotwick shows that ancient Greeks used their study of dreams to reflect on larger questions of interpretation, figurative language, and metaphor—before the concept of metaphor existed. Philosophers and scientists connected their interest in dreams to their own theories in ethics, cosmology, medicine, biology, linguistics, and literary criticism. It is in the interpretation of dreams, Kotwick argues, that we can see early Greek hermeneutic thought develop. In uncovering the ancient discourse on dream interpretation, this study also outlines an early history of interpretation.
1148323549
Long before Freud, dreams and how to make sense of them fascinated ancient thinkers. In The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams, Mirjam Kotwick traces a continuous intellectual practice of dream interpretation across a range of ancient Greek texts, including those from Homer, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Antiphon, the Hippocratic doctors, Plato, and Aristotle. In these works, dreams signify meaning in indirect, distorted, figurative, and metaphorical ways. The authors employ what Kotwick terms the “hermeneutics of similarity” to uncover the message of a dream by identifying (obvious or nonobvious) similarities between its literal expression and its hidden meaning. This method of interpretation remained consistent, whether authors understood dreams as messages from the gods or as results of physiological processes within the dreamer’s body.
Kotwick shows that ancient Greeks used their study of dreams to reflect on larger questions of interpretation, figurative language, and metaphor—before the concept of metaphor existed. Philosophers and scientists connected their interest in dreams to their own theories in ethics, cosmology, medicine, biology, linguistics, and literary criticism. It is in the interpretation of dreams, Kotwick argues, that we can see early Greek hermeneutic thought develop. In uncovering the ancient discourse on dream interpretation, this study also outlines an early history of interpretation.
The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams: Early Greek Hermeneutics and Its Sources
The first book-length study of dream interpretation in classical Greece
Long before Freud, dreams and how to make sense of them fascinated ancient thinkers. In The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams, Mirjam Kotwick traces a continuous intellectual practice of dream interpretation across a range of ancient Greek texts, including those from Homer, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Antiphon, the Hippocratic doctors, Plato, and Aristotle. In these works, dreams signify meaning in indirect, distorted, figurative, and metaphorical ways. The authors employ what Kotwick terms the “hermeneutics of similarity” to uncover the message of a dream by identifying (obvious or nonobvious) similarities between its literal expression and its hidden meaning. This method of interpretation remained consistent, whether authors understood dreams as messages from the gods or as results of physiological processes within the dreamer’s body.
Kotwick shows that ancient Greeks used their study of dreams to reflect on larger questions of interpretation, figurative language, and metaphor—before the concept of metaphor existed. Philosophers and scientists connected their interest in dreams to their own theories in ethics, cosmology, medicine, biology, linguistics, and literary criticism. It is in the interpretation of dreams, Kotwick argues, that we can see early Greek hermeneutic thought develop. In uncovering the ancient discourse on dream interpretation, this study also outlines an early history of interpretation.
Long before Freud, dreams and how to make sense of them fascinated ancient thinkers. In The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams, Mirjam Kotwick traces a continuous intellectual practice of dream interpretation across a range of ancient Greek texts, including those from Homer, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Antiphon, the Hippocratic doctors, Plato, and Aristotle. In these works, dreams signify meaning in indirect, distorted, figurative, and metaphorical ways. The authors employ what Kotwick terms the “hermeneutics of similarity” to uncover the message of a dream by identifying (obvious or nonobvious) similarities between its literal expression and its hidden meaning. This method of interpretation remained consistent, whether authors understood dreams as messages from the gods or as results of physiological processes within the dreamer’s body.
Kotwick shows that ancient Greeks used their study of dreams to reflect on larger questions of interpretation, figurative language, and metaphor—before the concept of metaphor existed. Philosophers and scientists connected their interest in dreams to their own theories in ethics, cosmology, medicine, biology, linguistics, and literary criticism. It is in the interpretation of dreams, Kotwick argues, that we can see early Greek hermeneutic thought develop. In uncovering the ancient discourse on dream interpretation, this study also outlines an early history of interpretation.
125.0
Pre Order
5
1

The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams: Early Greek Hermeneutics and Its Sources
336
The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams: Early Greek Hermeneutics and Its Sources
336
125.0
Pre Order
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780691263557 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
Publication date: | 05/12/2026 |
Pages: | 336 |
Product dimensions: | 6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d) |
About the Author
What People are Saying About This
From the B&N Reads Blog