Dream History

Ancient Egyptian Theories

          It is uncertain whether or not the first dream interpreters were legend or reality.  Pliny the Elder suggests that the earliest interpreter was a man named Amphictyon, son of Deucalion.  It was Deucalion, who in Greek mythology, was the son of Prometheus.  Yet, Herodotus, an early historian claimed that the people of Telmessus, which was located in southwest Asia Minor, specialized in dream interpretation.  In fact, it was even heard that King Croesus, the last king of Lydia, consulted them for an interpretation of an important dream.

          The first steps into modern dream interpretation were taken in the 5th century BC when the Greek philosopher Heraclitus suggested that a person's dream world was something created in their own mind.  This went against the other philosophers who believed dreams were the result of outside forces, such as the gods.  Most Greek philosophers, in that time period, pondered dreams and what they might mean.  Plato was one of these philosophers, and realized how much dreaming could affect a personality or someone's life.  In the Phaedo, he tells how Socrates studied music and the arts because he was instructed to do so in a dream.

          Aristotle finally put an end to Heraditus' idea that dreams were messages from the gods. He began to study dreams and the dreaming process in a rational way.  In his De divinatione per somnum, he states, "most so-called prophetic dreams are to be classed as mere coincidences, especially all such as are extravagant," and later includes that "the most skillful interpreter of dreams is he who has the faculty of absorbing resemblances.  I mean that dream presentations are analogous to the forms reflected in water."  Aristotle's Parva naturalia suggests that dreams are in fact believed to be a recollection of the days events.

          Aristotle also helped advance the theory that dreams reflected a person's bodily health. It suggested that a doctor could diagnose a person illness by hearing a dream that they had.  Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicine supported this theory, and is still practiced by some doctors of today.  Galen of Pergamum, a Greco-Roman physician, picked up where Aristotle had left off.  A patient of his dreamed that his left thigh was turned into marble and later lost the use of that leg due to palsy.  A wrestler, he had treated, dreamed that he was standing in a pool of blood that had risen over his head.  From this dream Galen concluded that this man needed a bloodletting for the pleurisy which he labored.  By this means of treatment the man was cured.

          Many men of Christianity began preaching that God revealed himself through dreams.  Among these men was St. John Chrysostom who said that we are not responsible for our dreams, and should be ashamed of what we dream or any images that appear therein.  Two other men of the church, St. Augustine and St. Jerome, claimed that the direction of their lives was dramatically affected by dreams that they had.  Even other religions believed in the significance dreams had to offer our lives.  Mohammed "received" much of the text of the Koran from a dream he had, as well as interpreting dreams of his disciples'.

          It wasn't long until others came along and went against the ideas that were presented in the past.  Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, was a believer in the idea that dreams were the work of the Devil.  Luther said that sin was, "the confederate and father of foul dreams."  Since the church interpreted God's word, revelations made to individuals in dreams could only have been diabolic.

          Gabdorrhachamn was the earliest and most well-known of the Arabic dream interpreters.  He was a strong believer in that dreams were prophetic and could only be interpreted by a person with "a clean spirit, chaste morals, and the Word of Truth."  But his dreaming aphorisms are thought to have been based on his own feelings rather than a true understanding of dream symbols.  For example, "He who dreams that his tongue has been shortened immoderately will utter much folly and ribaldry."

          However, this idea later was proved to be relatively unimportant, and it was this theory of the unconscious that developed into the modern attitude toward dream interpretation.  Maury wasn't too far off with his prediction however.  Later, it was discovered that these external stimuli only triggered an earlier dream from the night.  Since this would be the last thing remembered from that nights sleep, you believe that the dream you were having when you woke up.

          Carl Jung, a student of Freud for some time, disagreed on the theory that erotic content was the basis behind most of our dreams.  Jung believed that dreams reminded us of our wishes, which enables us to realize the things we unconsciously yearn for, and helps us to fulfill our own wishes.  Contradictory to how Freud believed dreams were a product of our desires that were too outrageous for our own belief, and were in our unconscious to help conceal these desires.  These dreams were messages, Jung believed, from ourselves to ourselves and that we should pay attention to them for our own benefit.

          Today, most psychologists agree with Jung's theory, and it is this theory that makes dream interpretation something that we can use in our everyday lives.  If Freud were alive today he would disagree with every theory that says you are able to interpret your own dreams.  Jung believed that, although it was difficult, dreams were meant to be understood.