Artemido ̄ros Capito (115 – 135 CE)
Greek physician, relative of D A (CMG 5.9.1, p. 113), together
frequently cited by G. Artemido ̄ros, following Dioskouride ̄s’ re-attribution of many
Hippokratic works, published an edition of the entire H C which
Hadrian valued highly (15.21–22 K., 18B.631 K.). Gale ̄n criticizes Artemido ̄ros and Diosk-
ouride ̄s for greatly emending text and modernizing language (17B.104 K., 19.83 K.), but
preserves Artemido ̄ros’ recipe for treating scars left by tumors (12.828–829 K.). Strato ̄n, in a
series of epigrams satirizing “types” of (mostly fictive) physicians, lampoons Artemido ̄ros’
eye-salve which destroyed the vision of keen-sighted Khruse ̄s (Anth. 11.117).
J. Ilberg, “Die Hippokratesausgaben des Artemidoros Kapiton und Dioskourides,” RhM 45 (1890)
111 – 137; RE 2.1 (1895) 1332 (#34), M. Wellmann; KP 1.618 (#5), F. Kudlien; Smith (1979)
234 – 240; Manetti and Roselli (1994) 1617–1625; BNP 2 (2003) 62 (#8), V. Nutton.
GLIM
Artemido ̄ros of Daldis (ca 150 CE)
Of Ephesos, but called himself “of Daldis” in deference to his mother’s birthplace, where
Apollo, god of divination, was the principle deity. His five-book Oneirokritikon, the sole extant
example of the popular ancient genre of dream interpretation, consists mostly of a copious
catalogue of dreams and the results they portend. The Souda, G, and pseudo-Lucian in
the Philopatris mention him as a famous dream interpreter.
His work shares characteristics with travel literature, encyclopedias, empirical medical
tracts, and the other cataloguing genres thriving during his period. The first three books
are addressed to “Cassius Maximus,” likely Maximus of Tyre (ca 125 – 185 CE). Books 1
and 2 organize dreams topically and chronologically according to the life of a Roman
male – from dreams of birth to dreams of death. The third book is presented as a
supplement, adding anything omitted from the first two. Books 4 and 5, addressed to his
son, also named Artemido ̄ros, appear more rudimentary and pedagogical. These two
books are full of fatherly advice to the practicing dream interpreter, much of it consonant
with the tips for aspiring itinerant doctors in the H C A, W,
P.
The Oneirokritikon opens with a discussion of theory, though the multiple schematic formu-
las introduced are an overlapping and sometimes redundant succession of taxonomies more
than a coherent synthesis. Though his interest in systematization is somewhat half-hearted,
the real engine of the work is Artemido ̄ros’ acute interest in his subjects’ personal details,
local customs, and peculiarities, resulting in a guide of unmatched usefulness to the personal
lives of ancient dreamers. His method is decidedly empirical, showing some influences from
skepticism and Epicureanism. He endorses broad travel and wide reading of details.
Aspects of Stoicism are also recognizable, since most of his past authorities are influenced
by that school, and his notions of the soul and of how dreams are produced resonates with
Stoicism as well.
Ed.: R.A. Pack, Artemidori Daldiani Onirocriticon (1963); trans. R.J. White, The Interpretation of Dreams. The
Oneirocritica of Artemidorus (1975).
C. Blum, Studies in the Dream-Book of Artemidorus (Diss. Uppsala, 1936); S.R.F. Price, “The Future of
Dreams: From Freud to Artemidorus,” P&P 113 (1986) 3–37; J. Winkler, The Constraints of Desire
(1990) 17–44.
Peter Struck
ARTEMIDO ̄ROS CAPITO