Artemidorus’ Oneirocritica: Text, Translation, and Commentary DANIEL E. HARRIS-McCOYPreface Artemidorus’ Oneirocritca has much to offer I is our sole witness to a once thriving body of literature providing technical instruction in the art of dream-interpretation. As such, itis one of the most important sources of information that we possess on ancient dreams, their meanings, and the process whereby meaning was extracted from them for prophetic purposes. It provides insight into both the historical practice of di and religion, as well as the function of dreams and divination as themes in Greek and Latin literature. Asan eximple of ancient scholarship, the Oneiracritca is of interest for its eclectic yet unified synthesis of a wide range of intellectual traditions. Its serial publication and the dramatically shifting organization of its contents will have something to contribute to what might be called the emerging field of the history of information science. The dream-interpretations themselves, which relate toa vest array of activities, events, and objects, are a rich mine of information for scholars of all stripes and, in particular, the social historian, Finally, as an example of Greek imperial literature, the Oneirocritica reflects the complex position of Greek intellectuals writing against the political backdrop of the Roman Empire. ‘And yet the Onsirocrtica has only one modern English translation and there has not been a general study of the text in English since Claes Blum's 1936 monograph, Studies in the Dream Book of Artemidorus, which has become rare and o:t of date, This does not mean, however, that scholarship ‘on the Oneirocritics has languished, Formidable thinkers, classicists and non classicists alike, have tendered their thoughts on various aspects of the text. ur knowledge of divination, ancient scholarship, and the period in which Artemidorus was writing, commonly known as the Second Sophistic, has also improved dramatically in the past few decades, However, this information hhas not yet been synthesized to produce a better understanding of the Oneirocritica as a whole. There are, moreover, deficiencies in the scholarship ‘on the text, which reflect broader tendencies in how classcists typically read, and do not read, technical and compilatory literature. Specifically judicious studies of their liteary styl, intellectual positions, and, to an extent, their politics are still lacking with obvious notable exceptions. This new presentation of Artemidorus’ Oneirocritica therefore seeks to accomplish three goals: to tie together loose strands in the scholarship, to fill in gaps, and to encourage readers of the Oneirocritica to think about the text ‘more deeply, in innovative ways, and with a fresh enthusiasm. To these ends, it offers a translation that seeks to capture accurately the full flavour of Artemidorus’ Greek, rom the zesty verve of his prefaces to the formulaic andviii Proface highly condensed technical prose of the catalogue. A facing Greek text is provided to help facilitate close reading in the original language. The Greek text also includes several new readings based on an Arabic translation of the Oneirocritica published after Roger Pack’s 1963 Teubner edition. The intro- duction provides a holistic interpretation of the Oneirocitica that considers its language, organization, divinatory theory, and politics, and outlines a range of broader contexts for thinking about the text. The commentary ‘explains unusual interpretations and engages in source criticism—content that forms the bulk of previous commentaries—but also gives significant attention to Artemidorus’ rhetorical style, his intellectual position(s), selfpresentation, and politics. 1am indebted to the publisher Walter de Gruyter for permission to use the Greek text of Roger Pack’s 1963 Teubner edition of the Oneirocritica as the basis for my own, as well as Maria Pantelia and the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae for permission to copy the electronic Greek text housed on their website, I want to express my thanks to the several scholars and friends who have helped me along the way. First, to Peter Struck of the University of Pennsyl- vania, who introduced me to Artemidorus and encouraged me to work on him, To Jason Kénig and Greg Woolf for organizing the conference on “Encyclopaedism before the Enlightenment’ at St Andrews. To Tom Habinek, Greg Thalmann, and James Collins for supporting my research while I was at the University of Southern California. To John Bodel and the Classics Department at Brown for granting me access to the University’s substantial library resources while I was a visiting scholar there during the 2009-10 academic year. Special thanks go to my colleagues in the Department of Classical Studies at Boston College. Gail, Kendra, Ted, Dia, Maria, and Mrs R.—you have all been marvellous to work with. To Andrew Gilbert and my Undergraduate Research Fellows Alexandra Boudreaux, Christopher Canniff, and Erin Cummins, who contributed much to the project and, in particular, were of great help in editing the manuscript and writing some of the chapter summaries. To Tom Chandler and Sarah Newton for their careful copyediting, and proofreading. And, finally to Mary Crane and the Institute forthe Liberal Arts at Boston College, whose financial support made the ‘Symposium on the Meaning of Dreams in a Scientific Age’ possible. The conference speakers— J.Allan Hobson, William Ventimiglia, and David Konstan—taught me a great deal about the nature and meaning of our dreams. This book is dedicated to ‘my wife, Kim. lam so grateful forthe love, patience, and support you gave me while | wrote it, Now that it's done, I'l try not to ask if you've had any recent «dreams about Artemis, cats, or cheese-diviners ever agai DEM, Boston College September 2011 Contents Introduction Artemidorus, the Cneiroeritia, and its Purpose The Composition ef the Oneiracitca Interpretation: Finding Meaning in Dreams Organization: Arranging the Interpretations ‘The Political” Dimensions ofthe Oneirocritica ‘The Autobiography of Artemidorus Redux Cultural Contexts, Underpinnings, and Parallels Greek Text and Engish Translation Text and Translation Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book + Book 5 ‘Commentary Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book § Book 5 Differences from the 1963 Teubner Text Bibliography Index of Coments: Books | through 4 Index tthe Introduction and Commentary B 8 2 3 a “4 132 260 298 372