MSS141 Summer 2003
Dreams of Antiquity
Reading Questions

Patricia Cox Miller.  Dreams in Late Antiquity, ch. 4. "Dreams and Therapy"
The Cult of Asclepius

1.  How does the literature on Hippocrates represent dreams?  How is this different from the Asclepian view? 


2.  Describe the process of dream therapy at an Asclepian healing center.  


3.  What meaning could the snake emblem have had in a healing context?


4.  What happened to the Cult of Asclepius as Christianity became the dominant religion?


5.  What different meanings did the word "magic" have in antiquity?  Why would one consult a magician for a dream? 


Christine Walde. "Dream Interpretation in a Prosperous Age? Artemidorus, the Greek Interpreter of Dreams." in Dream Cultures.

1.  What is divination?


2.  How did Artemidorus define his field of research? 


3.  How does the author connect Artemidorus and Freud?  How are their theories, methods and texts both different from and similar to one another?