chapter 6
Theoretical and empirical elements in Aristotle’s
treatment of sleep, dreams and divination in sleep
1 pre-aristotelian views on sleep and dreams
‘Anyone who has a correct understanding of the signs that occur in sleep,
will discover that they have great significance for everything.’^1 This is the
opening sentence of the fourth book of the Hippocratic workOn Regimen,
a treatise dating probably from the first half of the fourth centurybceand
dealing with the interpretation of dreams from a medical point of view,
that is, as signs pointing to the (future) state of the body of the dreamer.^2
The passage reflects the general opinion in ancient Greece that dreams are
of great importance as ‘signs’ (s ̄emeia) or ‘indications’ (tekm ̄eria), not only
of the physical constitution of the dreamer and of imminent diseases or
mental disturbances befalling him/her, but also of divine intentions, of
things that may happen in the future, things hidden to normal human
understanding.^3 Dreams played an important part in Greek divination
and religion, especially in the healing cult of Asclepius, because they were
believed to contain important therapeutic indications or even to bring
about healing themselves.^4 The belief in the divine origin of dreams and
in their prophetic power was widespread, even among intellectuals. As
a result, dreams were mostly approached with caution because of their
ambiguous nature. The Greeks realised that dreams, while often presenting
many similarities with daytime experiences, may at the same time be bizarre
or monstrous. This ambiguity gave rise to questions such as: is what appears
to us in the dream real or not, and, if it is real, in what sense? What kind
(^1) . #)
2
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3 I,On Regimen 4. 86 ( 6. 640 L.).
(^2) For a full bibliography of discussions of this work see van der Eijk ( 2004 a).
(^3) For a bibliography on Greek views on dreams see van der Eijk ( 1994 ) 106 – 32 , to which should be added
Byl ( 1998 ); Hubert ( 1999 ); Holowchak ( 1996 ) and ( 2001 ); Jori ( 1994 ); Liatsi ( 2002 ); Oberhelman
( 1993 ); Pigeaud ( 1995 ); Repici ( 2003 ); Sharples ( 2001 ). For general surveys of Greek thought on
dreams see van Lieshout ( 1980 ) and Guidorizzi ( 1988 ); for discussions of early and classical Greek
thought on sleep see Calabi ( 1984 ), Marelli ( 1979 – 80 ) and ( 1983 ), W ̈ohrle ( 1995 ) and Byl ( 1998 ).
(^4) See Edelstein and Edelstein ( 1945 , reissued in 1998 ).
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