{"id":243918,"date":"2026-09-20T19:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T19:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=243918"},"modified":"2026-09-20T19:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T19:01:11","slug":"how-the-ancient-greeks-interpreted-their-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/how-the-ancient-greeks-interpreted-their-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"How the ancient Greeks interpreted their dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Certain concepts such as metaphor may derive from early dream interpretation<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Homer\u2019s The Odyssey<\/em>, Penelope \u2013 Odysseus\u2019 loyal wife \u2013 has several dreams. In one of these dreams, she watches 20 pet geese eating wheat far from the water. Suddenly, a massive mountain eagle swoops down from a mountain and breaks all of their necks, killing them. The dead geese lay scattered around the palace, and Penelope weeps in distress, but the eagle returns and speaks to her in a human voice: the geese represent her suitors, and the eagle stands in for Odysseus himself, who will kill all the suitors on his return, the bird tells her.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This dream interpretation is one of the earliest recorded in human history, and it bears certain striking features that are not only common across dream interpretation in ancient Greece \u2013 but that have shaped the study of meaning in language and text ever since. This is the argument that classicist Mirjam Kotwick makes in her new book The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams<\/em>: a long line of Greek thinkers, including Homer, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Plato, and Aristotle, she writes, engaged in an intellectual practice of dream interpretation using a shared method \u2013 essentially reading by resemblance, or the logic of likeness \u2013 and this method continues to shape how we interpret figurative language today.<\/p>\n

I spoke with Kotwick about Penelope\u2019s dream, the relationship between dream interpretation and magic, what Hippocrates thought the body could communicate through dreams, and what common modern concepts such as metaphor might have arisen from the ancient practice of dream interpretation.<\/p>\n

Kristen French<\/strong>: You write that Penelope\u2019s dream in <\/em>The Odyssey is the earliest example of ancient Greek dream interpretation. How did that first example shape later traditions of dream interpretation?<\/em><\/p>\n

Mirjam Kotwick<\/strong>: I think of dream interpretation as a discourse that\u2019s connected across time. Later scholars are aware of prominent examples in literature among which Penelope\u2019s dream would certainly fall. And they can take up certain aspects or play with it. But I want to immediately add to that that I see Penelope\u2019s dream not as a starting point per se<\/em> for dream interpretation, but a starting point for us today. It\u2019s the earliest case we can see, but the setup and the interpretation developed in that example suggests strongly that there\u2019s a longer tradition already in place that Homer takes up and works with and responds to.<\/p>\n

For us, it\u2019s a starting point, but it\u2019s not an absolute starting point. If we look at cultures and civilizations preceding Homer, in the broader context \u2013 Egyptian cases or evidence we find in the Hebrew bible, and of course Mesopotamian examples of dream interpretation \u2013 it appears that these patterns were in place long before Homer.<\/p>\n

K. F.: <\/strong>What symbols or strategies from Penelope\u2019s dream interpretation carry over across time?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.:<\/strong> I analyse the interpretation that\u2019s given for Penelope\u2019s dream as consisting of four steps, which together make up what I call the \u201chermeneutics of similarity<\/em>.\u201d The first step is the assumption that the surface meaning of the dream isn\u2019t what the dream actually wants to say, so there\u2019s another meaning behind it. The second step is that to get to the actual underlying meaning, you\u2019d identify either specific words in the text or specific characters. Third, you\u2019d identify thematic similarities and formal similarities between the characters and words that are on the surface meaning with the supposed actual meaning. Fourth, you\u2019d add the claim that the one thing actually means or signifies the other.<\/p>\n

You have these four steps in Penelope\u2019s dream. The eagle in the dream interprets the very dream she\u2019s having as eagle-kills-geese means Odysseus will come home and kill the suitors. To get from the surface meaning to this other meaning, you have these four steps. And then you get a response by Penelope: She\u2019s critical about the interpretation, and she\u2019s critical in a very interesting way, which takes up some significant aspects of this hermeneutics of similarity: She relies on puns \u2013 similarities between Greek words \u2013 to determine that her dream will not be fulfilled.<\/p>\n

K. F.: <\/strong>Unlike other scholars, you argue that Aristotle was receptive to traditional dream analysis in his own theories of dreams. How so, and why is this significant to the argument you\u2019re making?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.:<\/strong> Aristotle has a short paragraph on dream interpretation in his treatise On Divination in Sleep<\/em>. And that treatise follows his treatise On Dreams<\/em>, so these go together. Typically, scholars have read that paragraph in On Divination in Sleep <\/em>as indicating that Aristotle wants nothing to do with symbolic dream interpretation, has no interest in it, and gives a purely sort of physiological account of dreams in which there\u2019s no space for that. I aim to show that that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aristotle was certainly aware of the earlier discussions of how dreams work, signifying something other than what\u2019s on the surface. These are the same questions that we saw with Penelope, that are still in the background for Aristotle, even across all the centuries in between. Aristotle uses a phrase that\u2019s very telling here. He said something like, the best dream interpreter is the one who can identify similarities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about symbols and thematic similarity. It\u2019s a lot like how we think of metaphor: you say one aspect by means of another. If I call my friend a rock, I don\u2019t mean he\u2019s a stone. I mean he\u2019s a reliable person. That basic aspect of human language is what ancient scholars start to think about in the context of dreams. Aristotle uses that phrasing, and he then explains what he means by saying, \u201cThis is like when you have a mirror image on a body of water<\/em>.\u201d And if you look into water that functions here like a mirror, you need to be able to quickly spot similarities between the image and what it reflects to understand what it is. Is it a human, or is it a horse?<\/p>\n

There are other questions about how dreams might relate to prediction of a future event, and that\u2019s much more difficult for Aristotle to explain.<\/p>\n

K. F.: <\/strong>You also find some commonalities between dream interpretation and certain spiritual beliefs and practices. What are these commonalities?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.:<\/strong> Yes, why does the idea of similarities between different aspects fascinate humans so much? One aspect representing another based on certain similarities is found in many forms of ritualistic action, actually. Dream interpretation can also be seen as part of a larger context of divination. Oracles would be relevant here as well. That\u2019s where you have the idea that you\u2019re dealing with riddles or metaphors that disguise the true meaning.<\/p>\n

K. F.:<\/strong> Aside from metaphor, what key concepts that we take for granted in the study of text today might come from interpretation of dreams?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.:<\/strong> I could go so far as saying that even the way we think about \u201cpoetic language<\/em>,\u201d for instance, is coloured by this early engagement with dream interpretation. The allegorical interpretation that developed in the ancient world was very successful throughout late antiquity as a way of reading texts that are expected to hide their true meaning underneath a surface. And that\u2019s still an attitude that we often carry around with us when we engage with poetic texts.<\/p>\n

Dream interpretation and allegorical reading emerged together and shaped each other, rather than one producing the other. In the fifth century B.C., we can see allegorical interpretation for the first time applied to a poetic text in the Derveni papyrus, and we see the technique that\u2019s used to interpret a mythical story as a cosmological account of the universe. This method of interpretation has significant overlap with the hermeneutics of similarity as I describe it. There\u2019s a clear connection that can be seen from then onward to modern and later understandings of how interpretation works.<\/p>\n

K. F.:<\/strong> Do you think there\u2019s any relationship between early forms of dream interpretation and the pleasure that many humans take more generally in hidden meanings and poetic language?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.:<\/strong> Yes, it comes with a certain pleasure, but I cannot explain the pleasure. That might just be a human characteristic. But pleasure could be one of the forces driving interest in aiming to understand your dreams. They present in such a way as to push you to ask, \u201cIs there something else behind it?<\/em>\u201d Some bits seem to be like remnants of previous sense impressions, but often there seems to be more going on.<\/p>\n

K. F.:<\/strong> You tell us there were two main ways that dreams were interpreted in ancient Greece: messages from God or messages from the body. Related to the latter, you describe <\/em>On Regimen, the Hippocratic text where dream interpretation was used for direct medical purposes. Can you talk a little bit about what physicians thought the body was trying to communicate through dreams?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.:<\/strong> Yes, there were two ways of thinking of dreams. Either they were Godly messages to a human being, or they originated purely from within the body. On Regimen<\/em> is an early example of a thinker who takes that second account fully on board. Actually, Hippocrates doesn\u2019t deny that there may be divinatory dreams, but he\u2019s not interested in that. He\u2019s aware that a large part of his audience may understand dreams as Godly, but he\u2019s interested in dreams for the sake of diagnosing diseases in the body before symptoms become visible. That\u2019s his point.<\/p>\n

He says, \u201cI will be able to diagnose a disease before anyone else because I can interpret it in dreams. And dreams speak in a distorted way about the internal state of your body<\/em>.\u201d He goes out of his way to set up an explanation of why that\u2019s so. He explains the entire cosmos as consisting of similarities between different domains. He thinks of this as the cosmic structure: how stars move mirrors the circulation of blood within our body, which in turn mimics certain human crafts, such as basket weaving or the motion of the potter\u2019s wheel. He turns the hermeneutics of similarity into a cosmic principle that then allows him to cash in on his practice of dream interpretation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hippocrates says the soul is really running the show in the body when we\u2019re asleep. The soul produces these images of the stars or of human interaction, but that\u2019s just the language the soul uses to express the processes that are ongoing in the body. Knowing physiology and knowing the human body very well, Hippocrates can understand then based on these images what they actually mean. If you dream about rivers having too much water, that means your veins have too much blood or something like that. Hippocrates shows himself to be aware of the semantic stretch of certain words.<\/p>\n

K. F.:<\/strong> Today scientists have a lot of different theories about dreams. Maybe they\u2019re for memory consolidation or threat simulation, or maybe they\u2019re just totally random. But are these explanations really in conflict with the idea that dreams may carry messages that could be interpreted? Is that still something dream researchers accept as a plausible idea?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.:<\/strong> If you look at modern dream research, from Freud onward, it\u2019s hard to find someone who would completely deny that dream images have any significance. We can probably agree that I dream about aspects that I experienced. I dream about aspects that matter to me, that I\u2019m worried about, for instance. And modern neurological dream research often says dreams are metaphorical or hyper-associative. Dreams are a form of cognition. That\u2019s pretty much accepted, and the idea that what we dream about has something to do with who we are is also generally accepted. This feature of dreams can be partially explained by the fact that certain neurotransmitters are suppressed during REM sleep, which makes our thoughts looser, looking for connections that we wouldn\u2019t look for in waking life.<\/p>\n

K. F.:<\/strong> You write that dream interpretation has been overlooked as a field of study, that it hasn\u2019t been taken seriously. Why do you think that is?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.: <\/strong>I think it has something to do with it being labelled as irrational or superstitious. We should relax and accept the fact that people like Aristotle really were interested and wanted to get an answer to that question \u2013 whether dreams can predict the future and how they work. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything irrational about it.<\/p>\n

K. F.:<\/strong> Do you aim to interpret your own dreams?<\/em><\/p>\n

M. K.: <\/strong>Yes, I do. The language of dreams is metaphorical, but that\u2019s nothing strange. It\u2019s just the way language works. And that\u2019s how we think in dreams: in metaphors, in associations. I\u2019m not sure I aim to interpret them in the sense of, \u201cOh, what does this dream tell me about myself?<\/em>\u201d But to a certain degree, I do aim at that even. Coming back to the pleasure of interpreting, but also just of dreaming, I often find how it works funny. I can sort of make out, \u201cOh, yes, this is an interesting version of that friend I\u2019ve dreamt of<\/em>,\u201d or something like that. I don\u2019t think that all dreams are suppressed wishes, but they can be worth engaging with.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nSeptember 20, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Certain concepts such as metaphor may derive from early dream interpretation In Homer\u2019s The Odyssey, Penelope \u2013 Odysseus\u2019 loyal wife \u2013 has several dreams. In one of these dreams, she watches 20 pet geese eating wheat far from the water. Suddenly, a massive mountain eagle swoops down from a mountain and breaks all of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1251],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews-1602-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243928,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243918\/revisions\/243928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}