Cultural Memory and Imagination: Dreams and Dreaming in the Roman Empire 31 Bc – Ad 200
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CULTURAL MEMORY AND IMAGINATION: DREAMS AND DREAMING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE 31 BC – AD 200 by JULIETTE GRACE HARRISSON A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham September 2009 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis takes Assmann’s theory of cultural memory and applies it to an exploration of conceptualisations of dreams and dreaming in the early Roman Empire (31 BC – AD 200). Background information on dreams in different cultures, especially those closest to Rome (the ancient Near East, Egypt and Greece) is provided, and dream reports in Greco-Roman historical and imaginative literature are analysed. The thesis concludes that dreams were considered to offer a possible connection with the divine within the cultural imagination in the early Empire, but that the people of the second century AD, which has sometimes been called an ‘age of anxiety’, were no more interested in dreams or dream revelation than Greeks and Romans of other periods. This thesis outlines, defines and applies the newly developed concept of cultural imagination, developed from cultural memory, to its examination of dreams and dream reports in Greco-Roman literature. Using the concept of cultural imagination in preference to discussing ‘belief’ is shown to have advantages for the study of ancient religion, as it allows the historian to discuss religious ideas that may or may not have been widely ‘believed’ but which were present within the imagination of the members of a particular society. DEDICATION For Mum, Dad and Ed: I couldn’t have done it without you ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost I want to thank my supervisor, Ken Dowden, for many hours of meetings, heated discussions, unfailing support and the odd glass of wine at the bar. Many other members of staff at the University of Birmingham have also helped me with this thesis. I want to thank Niall Livingstone for help with Latin and Greek, for general comments, and for much helpful advice. Thanks also to Alasdair Livingstone, Birgit Haskamp and Martin Bommas for advice, comments and corrections on ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian material. I would also like to thank Diana Spencer for all her help and support over the years, particularly at the start of the project. My thanks also to W. V. Harris, who very kindly sent me a copy of his book, Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity, which was published just last summer and which has been an invaluable resource and springboard for ideas. I would also like to thank Caroline Lawrence for sending me several of her works of children’s fiction set in ancient Rome, which use dreams in a very interesting way and which have enriched my wider conclusions. I must also thank everyone at the IAA Forum for the opportunity to practise papers, gain valuable feedback, for their comments, suggestions and notes, and for many hours de-stressing at the pub. Thanks as well to everyone in the Postgraduate Study Room, especially the two Lauras, for support, many cups of coffee and general solidarity in the face of endless hours at the computer. Thank you to the AHRC for funding this project and to Laura and Jack for putting a roof over my head in the final stages. Finally, thank you to Mum, Dad and Ed, without whose support, both emotional and more practical, I would never have even started. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Memory and Imagination: Aims of this Study 2 Literature of Record and Imaginative Literature 6 Cultural Memory and Cultural Imagination 9 What is a Dream? 17 How Universal are Dreams? 23 Dream Reports 28 The State of Scholarship on Dreams 33 PART ONE: CONTEXT CHAPTER ONE CLASSIFYING DREAMS 43 Conceptualising Dreams: Dreaming in Different Cultures 43 Dream Terminology 53 Dreams as Metaphor 61 Classifying Dreams 65 Ancient Classifications of Dreams 65 Modern Scholarly Classifications of Dreams 72 To Classify or not To Classify? 80 CHAPTER TWO HISTORICAL CONTEXT: DREAMS IN THE NEAR EAST, EGYPT AND GREECE 85 Divination in the Ancient World 85 The Ancient Near East 89 The Politics of Dreaming 90 Forebodings of Death: Gilgamesh and Dumuzi 98 Egypt 101 The Power of Dreams 105 Dreams in the Greek World 107 New Beginnings? Homer 107 The Tragedy of Dreams 114 A History of Dream Books 125 PART TWO: CULTURAL MEMORY AND IMAGINATION: DREAM REPORTS IN ROMAN PERIOD LITERATURE CHAPTER THREE WHY DID GRECO-ROMAN WRITERS RECORD DREAMS IN LITERATURE OF RECORD? 135 How Frequent are Dreams in Literature of Record? 137 Message Dreams 139 Interpreters and Interpretation 142 How are Dreams Used in Different Works of Record? 145 Dreams as Historical Explanation 145 Birth and Death Omens: Suetonius 148 Morals, Character and Dreams: Plutarch 153 The Religious Significance of Dreams 158 By What Process Does a Dream Report Become a Cultural Memory? 163 The Career Dreamer: Aristides 163 Dreams in the Cultural Memory 171 Dreams That are Worthy of Remembrance: Valerius Maximus 171 Frequently Reported Dreams: Titus Latinius and Calpurnia 176 CHAPTER FOUR THE NATURE OF IMAGINATIVE DREAMS AND THEIR PLACE IN THE CULTURAL IMAGINATION 185 The Nature of Imaginative Dreams 185 Dreams That Come from the Divine 188 Dreams That Come Directly from the Divine 188 Dreams That Come Indirectly from the Divine 192 Dreams from the Dead 196 Ghost Stories: The Dead in Imaginative Dreams 196 A Dream Ghost Story: Propertius 200 Dreams That Come from Within the Dreamer 210 Wish-fulfilment Dreams 210 Anxiety Dreams: Lucan 212 Confusing your Characters: Symbolic Dreams 217 Interpreters and Interpretation 217 The Audience as Dream Interpreters 219 On the Border: Ambiguous Dreams 226 Double Meanings: Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 227 PART THREE: THE PLACE OF DREAMS IN THE GRECO-ROMAN CULTURAL IMAGINATION: A POINT OF CONNECTION WITH THE DIVINE? CHAPTER FIVE THE PLACE OF DREAMS IN THE CULTURAL IMAGINATION IN THE SECOND CENTURY AD 235 ‘Belief’ and Cultural Imagination 236 Acting on Dreams: Message Dreams 243 Aetiological Explanations: Pausanias 243 Message Dreams for the Common Folk? Commands from the Gods 245 Connecting with the Gods: Incubation Beyond Aristides 253 Reacting to Dreams: Symbolic Dreams 268 Dreams and Medicine 269 Rituals and Responses to Dreams 274 Dealing with Everyday Dreams: Artemidorus 282 A Place Within the Cultural Imagination: Satire and Scepticism 289 Change and Continuity, Memory and Imagination: St Perpetua 293 CONCLUSIONS 303 Why did Greco-Roman Writers Record Dreams in their Histories and Fiction? 303 Did People Living in the Roman Empire Imagine that Dreams Allowed for Communication with the Divine? 309 Ancient and Modern Dreams 311 Cultural Memory and Imagination 313 APPENDIX ONE: TABLES AND FIGURES 315 APPENDIX TWO: CATALOGUE 340 BIBLIOGRAPHY 358 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Near Eastern sources 316 Table 2: Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greek sources 319 Table 3: Pre-Augustan Greek and Latin literature 322 Table 4: Imperial Latin Literature of Record 325 Table 5: Imperial Greek Literature of Record 328 Table 6: Aelius Aristides and Artemidorus 331 Table 7: Imperial Latin Imaginative Literature 334 Table 8: Imperial Greek Imaginative Literature 337 Figure 1: Near Eastern sources 317 Figure 1b: Near Eastern sources (simplified version) 318 Figure 2: Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greek sources 320 Figure 2b: Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greek sources (simplified version) 321 Figure 3: Pre-Augustan Greek and Latin literature 323 Figure 3b: Pre-Augustan Greek and Latin literature (simplified version) 324 Figure 4: Imperial Latin Literature of Record 326 Figure 4b: Imperial Latin Literature of Record (simplified version) 327 Figure 5: Imperial Greek Literature of Record 329 Figure 5b: Imperial Greek Literature of Record (simplified version) 330 Figure 6: Aelius Aristides and Artemidorus 332 Figure 6b: Aelius Aristides and Artemidorus (simplified version) 333 Figure 7: Imperial Latin Imaginative Literature 335 Figure 7b: Imperial Latin Imaginative Literature (simplified version) 336 Figure 8: Imperial Greek Imaginative Literature 338 Figure 8b: Imperial Greek Imaginative Literature (simplified version) 339 INTRODUCTION οὗτος γὰρ ἐν μὲν ταῖς τῶν πέλας κατηγορίαις πολλὴν ἐπιφαίνει δεινότητα καὶ τόλμαν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀποφάσεσιν ἐνυπνίων καὶ τεράτων καὶ μύθων ἀπιθάνων καὶ συλλήβδην δεισιδαιμονίας ἀγεννοῦς καὶ τερατείας γυναικώδους ἐστὶ πλήρης. ‘In attacking others he shows cleverness and courage; when it comes to his own writing, he is full of dreams and wonders and improbable myths; in short, full of superstition and old wives' tales.’ Polybius on Timaeus, 12.24.5. These few lines of Polybius encapsulate two radically different approaches to dreams from ancient writers. On the one hand, we have Timaeus, who supposedly filled his works with dreams and other ‘irrational’ elements, and on the other, we have Polybius, who claims to shun such things entirely. Why were writers like Timaeus interested in dreams and what did they think was worthy of remembrance in dream reports? How much of the attitude of Greeks and Romans to dreams was unique to their own cultural heritage and how far were they influenced by others around them? This study explores the place of dream reports, and indeed dreams themselves, within the cultural memory and imagination of the Roman Empire. There have been a number of studies on ancient dreams in recent years, most notably W.