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Dreams

...an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.
Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2

Was Christianity new? Was Christianity unique? Let's talk about dreams. For the ancients, dreams weren't what your brain did when you slept; dreams were physical events—visions sent by God. People didn't have dreams, they saw dreams. Dreams were real. In ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, dreams were visions sent by God.

Pagans had prophetic dreams. Christians had prophetic dreams. Pagans had prophetic dreams first; Christians had prophetic dreams second. So do you think Christianity borrowed the idea of prophetic dreams from Paganism? Or did Christianity come up with the idea of prophetic dreams all on its own? Are Christian ideas new and unique, or did Christianity borrow ideas from Paganism?

Here at Pagan Ideas > Dreams, the ancient evidence shows that:

1	Prophetic, God-sent dreams are part of New Testament Christian theology and history
2	Prophetic, God-sent dreams are part of ancient Pagan theology, and literature, and folklore, and history, from the earliest written records all the way through the Christian extermination of Pagan civilization
3	Prophetic, God-sent dreams were part of ancient Jewish theology, and literature, and folklore, and history. You'll read, from the Jewish scriptures, that Pagan Pharaohs and Pagan Kings had dreams they themselves understood as divine, God-sent visions. And in the Jewish scripture, the Jewish guy in the story, and the Jewish guy writing the story, always saw those dreams the same way as the Pagan guys saw them: as magic God-sent visions. Ancient Jewish scripture makes no distinction between the Pagan idea of magic prophetic dreams and the Jewish idea of magic prophetic dreams. Because, of course, there was no difference.
4	From their earliest days, our Christian ideas about Jesus' divine origins included the magic dream-prophecy of the Jewish fellow Daniel. Daniel, the early Christians thought, had a magic prophetic God-sent dream about Jesus. A word about Daniel. In the Jewish scripture Daniel interprets dreams, both Jewish and Pagan. This is another on of those times Judaism sees Pagan magic dreams exactly and explicitly the same way Pagans saw them. In other words, our Christian history is based on a dream-prophecy first written down by people, read by people, copied, saved, treasured, canonized by people who understood Daniel's magic dream exactly and explicitly the way they understood Pagan magic dreams. Which was exactly and explicitly the way the Pagans understood their magic dreams. Christian ideas about dreams are Jewish ideas about dreams are Pagan ideas about dreams. The bible says so.
5	Finally, you'll see how the first century Judean Jew Josephus wrote the history he himself lived through. He wrote in magic prophetic dreams. That's how people in the ancient world, including first century Judea and Galilee, wrote "history."

Reasons

We'll talk about what all these facts mean when we get to POCM's Reasons tab. For now, here are some quick thoughts for your cogitational pleasure.

The evidence is clear, the New Testament's idea of God-sent prophetic dreams is not unique or isolated. Pretty much everybody back then believed in prophetic God-sent dreams. POCM's question is, How can those facts be explained? The point is not for me to tell you what to think. The point is to work out the possible explanations, and then look at the reasonableness of each one.

We want an explanation that is comprehensive, that explains all the facts. Jews, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Thracians, Carthaginians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Macedonians all believed in magic dreams. Isis believers, Osiris believers, Attis believers, Dionysus believers, Apollo believers, Zeus believers, Adonis believers, Mithras believers, Kore believers, Samothrace believers, Serapis believers and Christ believers all believed in magic God-sent prophetic dreams. An "explanation" that plucks out one group, and pretends to understand it's magic dreams all by themselves, isn't really an explanation at all—it leaves most of the facts unexplained.

POCM's question is, How did Christianity and everybody else back then develop the idea of prophetic, God-sent dreams?

We want an explanation that is consistent, that explains similar facts similarly. It's no good using one set of criteria to decide our magic prophetic dreams are real God-sent visions, and a different set of criteria to decide their magic prophetic dreams are primitive superstitions. Our conclusions are only believable if we pick one set of rules, one set of criterions, and stick with it. Otherwise, we're just fooling ourselves.

The old Babylonian histories tell stories about Babylonian kings seeing prophetic dreams. The Jewish Old Testament histories tell stories about Babylonian kings seeing prophetic dreams.

Where did the Jews (Did I mention they were captives in Babylon at the time, with Jewish guys working for the king? They were.) get their idea that Babylonian kings had prophetic dreams? Did they come up with this idea all on their own? Or did they borrow it from the Babylonians?

And where did the Babylonians get their idea that Babylonian kings had prophetic dreams?

Please don't say, "From the Jews," because the evidence that Babylonians believed in magic dreams is way older than the evidence they'd even heard of the Jews.

And please don't say, "Because it really happened. This proves the bible is true!" Babylonian Gods were appearing in Bablyonian dreams centruies before the time of the bible stories. And I know you don't believe for a minute the other Bablylonian magic dream stories really happened.

The only way to get the answer "it really happened" is to carefully pick a set of criteria designed to give the answer you want, and to apply those criteria only to the set of facts you want to get that anwer with. That's just fooling yourself.

POCM's question is, By what criteria can we decide when a group invented the idea of magic, prophetic, God-sent dreams all on their own, and when a group just borrowed the idea from the culture around them? Where do those criteria come from? What answers do we get when we apply those criterions to the Jews, to the Babylonians, and to all the other ancient peoples who believed in magic dreams>

If you know any criteria that lead to the conclusion that the Christian idea of magic dreams developed all on it's own, we'd all love to hear it.

Dreams in the New Testament
Let's start by reviewing dreams in the New Testament. You'll read the gospel's dream stories, and I'll point out features you maybe haven't noticed before. Features that tie the magic divine dreams of early Christianity with the magic divine dreams of ancient Paganism.

1	Dreams are sent by a God. The God may appear Himself, or He may send a messenger.
2	The God / messenger often stands over the dreamer.
3	The God or His messenger speak words the writer is able to quote verbatim.
4	Important world events are accompantied by divine dreams. This works the other way: because they are sent by a God, dreams can show that an event is important.
5	Dreams are often used as plot devices that lead to otherwise unmotivated actions.

"Matthew" is the one gospeler who writes about divine dreams. Here's Jesus' father, Joseph, getting the news about Jesus' soon to be birth. >>

God sends the dream in the form of an angel (the Greek word means "messenger").

The angel appears to Joseph and speaks in concise detail "Matthew" is somehow able to quote word for word.

Joseph wakes up, follows the instructions the God gave in the dream, and things turn out swell—an otherwise unmotivated plot line (why the groom didn't dump the pregnant fiancee) has been smoothed out, and "Matthew" has given you, gentle reader, a quick plot summary. Everybody's happy.

Matthew 1: 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; 19 and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; 21 she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 1

In the next chapter "Matthew" shows details proving how important Jesus is....
— A star heralds His birth
— Mysterious men travel to worship Him.
— The local king, Herod, knows about His birth. And is worried. And wants to kill HIm.

But the wise men have met Herod, and (showing how important Jesus is) Herod has asked them to have their people set up a meeting with his people —and Jesus. If the meeting happens, Jesus will be killed. How can the story dig its way out of this hole? Re-enter the ancient tradition of Dream as Plot Device: A dream warns the wise men not to return to Herod. Problem solved.

Matthew 2: .... 7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; 8 and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him."

9 When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; 11 and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Right away another unmotivated plot detail is worked out with a divine dream.

God sends a dream in the form of an angel (the Greek word means "messenger"). The angel appears to Joseph and speaks in concise detail "Matthew" is somehow able to quote word for word. Joseph wakes up, follows the instructions the God gave in the dream.

Things turn out swell. Not only does baby Jesus get away from Herod, but a prophecy is fulfilled. Everybody's happy.

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son."
Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2

And when the story gets to the part where Jesus is on trial, with this Roman guy Pilate as the judge, "Matthew" puts in a bit about how Pilate's wife dreamed about Jesus. Jesus, said her dream was righteous, but Pilate ought 'a have nothing to do with him.

The dream confirms Jesus righteous-uosity. It also follows, as we'll see, the ancient tradition of important events being touched, through dreams, by the divine.

Matthew 27: ....11 Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You have said so." 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he made no answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?" 14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge; so that the governor wondered greatly. 15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 And they had then a notorious prisoner, called Barab'bas. 17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release for you, Barab'bas or Jesus who is called Christ?" 18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today in a dream."
Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27

The early Christian missionary Paul never met Jesus. So where did Paul get his stuff? Often in visions beamed directly into his head by God, or Jesus. Or, in this case from the New Testament book Acts, from a night time vision of a man standing over him, speaking in concise plot-relevant detail "Luke" is able to quote word for word.

Paul does what the dream tells him to. And things turn out swell.

Acts 16: And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedo'nia was standing beseeching him and saying, "Come over to Macedo'nia and help us." 10 And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedo'nia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Acts, Chapter 16

The evidence is clear. Early Christians believed in divine dreams in which:

	God gave advice.
	Through a divine messenger or a story-related person standing over the dreamer
	Speaking concise sentences the gospeler was somehow able to get down word for word, and
	Advancing the plot or motivating otherwise unmotivated actions and
	Proving the world historical importance of the event.

Now let's compare early Christian divine dreams with Pagan divine dreams.

Dreams in the other ancient religions
Like slavery and miracles and prophecies made and fulfilled, dreams are such a common part of ancient writing that what we've got room for here at POCM is just a smattering of the available ancient evidence—a few dream stories out of the thousands that survive. As your read, notice these features of ancient Pagan dreams:

1	Dreams are sent by a God. The God may appear Himself, or He may send a messenger. Sometimes a story-related character delivers the dream.
2	The God / messenger/ story-character often stands over the dreamer.
3	The God or His messenger speak words the writer is able to quote verbatim.
4	Important world events are accompanied by divine dreams. This works the other way: because they are sent by a God, dreams can show that an event is important.
5	Dreams are often plot devices that explain otherwise unmotivated actions.

Esarhaddon was the king of Assyria in the early 7th century BC.

A famous treaty of Esarhaddon, the Vassal treaties, survives. Here's a snippet from the treaty.>>

Esarhaddon was worried about sedition, about people plotting against him and his family. If people involved in the treaty heard any seditious talk, they were to report it.

	By the way
	Esarhaddon is mentioned in the Bible. Here's Ezra 4:2 Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither.

What kind of people might say reportable things? The treaty gives a list. The list included prophets and dream-interpreters.

Pagan magic dreams were so common, you could get a job as a dream interpreter.

.... 1.(1) (This is) the treaty of Esarhaddon, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Sennacherib, likewise king of the world, king of Assyria, with Ramataya, city-ruler of Urakazabanu, with his sons, grandsons, with all the people of Urakazabanu, ....

10. (108) If any (of you) hears some wrong, evil, unseemly plan which is improper or detrimental to the crown prince designate Ashurbanipal, son of your lord Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, whether they be spoken by his enemy or his ally, by his brothers, by his sons, by his daughters, by his brothers, his father's brothers, his cousins, or any other member of his father's lineage, or by your own brothers, sons, or daughters, or by a - prophet, an ecstatic, a dream-interpreter, or by any human being whatsoever, and conceals it, does not come and report it to the crown prince designate Ashurbanipal, son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria ....

ANET, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 534- 41, which you can find in: Pritchard, James. The Ancient Near East Volume II A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures (1975), pg. 54,

Prophetic dreams in the middle east, 650 BC
Prophetic god-sent dreams go way back. Here's a dream about Nabonidus, a Babylonian king in the mid 6th century BC. Nabonidus' mommy drempt she had a meeting with the God named Sin.

The God appears to the queen, standing close enough to put his hands on her, and speaks in concise detail the queen is able to quote word for word.

Sin, the king of all the gods, looked with favor upon me and called Nabonidus, my only son, whom I bore, to kingship and entrusted him with the kingship of Sumer and Akkad, (also of) all the countries from the border of Egypt, on the Upper Sea, to the Lower Sea. Then I lifted my hands to Sin, the king of all the gods, [I asked] reverently and in a pious mood: (ii) "Since you have called to kingship [Nabonidus, my son, whom I bore, the beloved of his mother,] and have elevated his status, let all the other gods—upon your great divine command— help him (and) make him defeat his enemies, do (also) bring to completion the (re)building of the temple Ehulhul and the performance of its ritual!" In a dream Sin, the king of all the gods, put his hands on me saying: "The gods will return on account of you! I will entrust your son, Nabonidus, with the divine residence of Harran; he will (re)build the temple Ehulhul and complete this task. He will restore and make Harran more (beautiful) than it was before! He will lead Sin, Ningal, Nusku and Sadarnunna in solemn procession into the temple Ehulhul!"

And, get this, the prophecy the God gave in the dream came true!

I heeded the words which Sin, the king of all the gods, had spoken to me and I saw (them come true). Nabonidus, the only son whom I bore, performed indeed all the forgotten rites of Sin, Ningal, Nusku and Sadarnunna, he completed the rebuilding of the temple Ehulhul, led Sin, Ningal, Nusku and Sadarnunna in procession from Babylon (Shuanna), his royal city, installed (them again) in gladness and happiness into Harran, the seat which pleases them.

ANET, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 560-62, which you can find in: Pritchard, James. The Ancient Near East Volume II A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures (1975), pg. 104,106.

An Oracular Dream Concerning Ashurbanipal: ANET 606 Ashurbanipal was another 7th century BC Assyrian king. Back then Ishtar was an important Goddess. Here's a report of a dream, seen by one of the king's priests, in which the Goddess tells Ashurbanipal She'll help him win a battle. The priest lay down to dream. The Goddess caused him to have a vision in the night >>	The goddess Ishtar heard my anxious sighs and said "Fear not!" and gave me confidence, (saying) [page 171] "Since you have lifted your hands in prayer and your eyes have filled with tears, I have had mercy." During the night in which I appeared before her, (50) a sabru-priest lay down and had a dream. He awoke with a start and then Ishtar caused him to see a nocturnal vision.
The Goddess stood near enough for the priest to give a good description of her >>	He reported to me as follows: "The goddess Ishtar who dwells in Arbela came in. Right and left quivers were suspended from her. She was holding a bow in her hand, (55) and a sharp sword was drawn to do battle. You were standing in front of her and she spoke to you like a real mother.
The Goddess spoke in concise detail the account reports word for word. >> The Goddess made a prophesy that came true.>>	Ishtar called to you, she who is most exalted among the gods, giving you the following instructions: 'Wait with the attack; (for) wherever you intend to go, I am also ready to go.' You said to her, '*Wherever you go, I will go with you, O goddess of goddesses!*' She repeated her command to you as follows: 'You shall stay here where you should be. (65) Eat, drink wine, make merry, praise my divinity, while I go and accomplish that work to help you attain your heart's desire. Your face will not be pale, nor your feet shaky, and you need not wipe off your (cold) sweat in the height,of battle.' She wrapped you in her lovely babysling, protecting your entire body. Her face shone like fire. Then [she went out in a frightening way] to defeat your enemies, (75) against Teumman, king of Elam, with whom she was angry."
	[ANET, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 534- 41, which you can find in: Pritchard, James. The Ancient Near East Volume II A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures (1975), pg. 170-1,]

By the way: ANET

If you've read the Old Testament much, you probably noticed that Ashurbanipal and Esarhaddon, et all sound familiar. They should. They're in the Bible.

The passages above are taken from a famous scholarly collection called the Ancient Near East Texts Relating to the Old Testament. ANET has hundreds of Pagan texts, with margin notes pointing to parallel verses in your Old Testament. See Good Books for details.

Are you with me so far? The ancients believed in prophetic dreams.

Prophetic Dreams in the earliest Greek writing
I like you, I really do. Please understand what I'm about to do, I'm doing for your own good. I'm going to have you read some old Greek poetry by Homer. This crap is important, prophetic magic dream wise, for a couple reasons. First, when you hold a book of Homer, you have in your hand the uttermost boundary of western history. Homer believed in magic dreams; magic dreams have been a part of western culture as far back as anyone can go.

Second, Homer was as close to a bible as ancient culture got. Everyone who could read read it, quoted it and believed it—or didn't. People who could read and write got that way by reading and writing Homer. From hundreds of years BC down to the Christian extermination of ancient culture, everybody who could read read from the book you're about to.

Ready? Here we go. From the Iliad...

Like the Babylonians, the Greeks believed prophetic dreams were so important, you could get a job as a dream interpreter.

Dreams came from God.

Now when they were all assembled in one place together,
Achilleus of the swift feet stood up among them and spoke forth:
'Son of Atreus, I believe now that straggling backwards
we must make our way home if we can even escape death, 60
if fighting now must crush the Achaians and the plague likewise.
No, come, let us ask some holy man, some prophet,
even an interpreter of dreams, since a dream also
comes from Zeus, who can tell why Phoibos Apollo is so angry,
if for the sake of some vow, some hecatomb he blames us, 65
if given the fragrant smoke of lambs, of he goats, somehow
he can be made willing to beat the bane aside from us.'
[Homer, Iliad 1.57- 67, 8th century BC]

Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon.Dreams, the ancients believed, are sent by God.	Now the rest of the gods, and men who were lords of chariots, slept night long, but the ease of sleep came not upon Zeus who was pondering in his heart how he might bring honour to Achilleus, and destroy many beside the ships of the Achaians. Now to his mind this thing appeared to be the best counsel, 5 to send evil Dream to Atreus' son Agamemnon.
Zeus sends the dream.	He cried out to the dream and addressed him in winged words: "Go forth, evil Dream, beside the swift ships of the Achaians. Make your way to the shelter of Atreus' son Agamemnon; speak to him in words exactly as I command you. 10
	Bid him arm the flowing-haired Achaians for battle in all haste; since now he might take the wide-wayed city of the Trojans. For no longer are the gods who live on Olympos arguing the matter, since Hera forced them all over by her supplication, and evils are in store for the Trojans." 15
The dream came down from heaven. And stood at Agamemnon's (the dreamer's) head.	So he spoke, and Dream listened to his word and descended. Lightly he came down beside the swift ships of the Achaians and came to Agamemnon the son of Atreus. He found him sleeping within his shelter in a cloud of immortal slumber. Dream stood then beside his head in the likeness of Nestor, 20
And spoke in dactylic hexameter Homer was able to quote word for word.	Neleus' son, whom Agamemnon honoured beyond all elders beside. In Nestor"s likeness the divine Dream spoke to him: "Son of wise Atreus breaker of horses, are you sleeping? He should not sleep night long who is a man burdened with counsels and responsibility for a people and cares so numerous. 25 Listen quickly to what I say, since I am a messenger of Zeus, who far away cares much for you and is pitiful. Zeus bids you arm the flowing-haired Achaians for battle in all haste; since now you might take the wide-wayed city of the Trojans. For no longer are the gods who live on Olympos 30 arguing the matter, since Hera forced them all over by her supplication, and evils are in store for the Trojans from Zeus. Keep this thought in your heart then, let not forgetfulness take you, after you are released from the kindly sweet slumber." So he spoke and went away, and left Agamemnon 35 there, believing things in his heart that were not to be accomplished. For he thought that on that very day he would take Priam"s city; fool, who knew nothing of all the things Zeus planned to accomplish, Zeus, who yet was minded to visit tears and sufferings on Trojans and Danaalis alike in the strong encounters. 40 [Homer, Iliad, Book 2 (8th century BC)]

There are plenty more God-sent, vision-standing-over-the-dreamer, concise-converstation-quoted-word-for-word, prophecy-comes-true magic dreams in Homer. I expect you'll excuse me if I don't repeat them all.
Are you with me so far? The ancients believed in prophetic dreams.

Dreams mark a world event. Herodotus, 5th century BC.
For Herodotus, who grew up among veterans of Marathon and Salamis, the Greco-Persian wars of the early 5th century were a World Event. Just the sort of thing the Gods would be interested in. No surprise then, when Herodotus wrote his history of the Persian invasion of Greece, he included stories like this long bit showing how dreams, sent by God to Xerxes the Persian king, were the divine agent that settled Xerxes' mind on invasion.

This is a long passage, but since it comes from one of the coolest books ever written, I know you'll have fun. Or just skip it. No hard feelings. Here we go, from Herodotus...

Xerxes had been thinking about invading Greece, and getting advice from his advisors. As Xerxes slept, a beautiful man stood over him, and spoke in concise prose Herodotus was able to quote word for word.	7.12. Thus far did the speaking proceed. Afterwards evening fell, and Xerxes began to find the advice of Artabanus greatly disquiet him. So he thought upon it during the night, and concluded at last that it was not for his advantage to lead an army into Greece. When he had thus made up his mind anew, he fell asleep. And now he saw in the night, as the Persians declare, a vision of this nature-he thought a tall and beautiful man stood over him and said, "Have you then changed your mind, Persian, and will you not lead forth your host against the Greeks, after commanding the Persians to gather together their levies? Be sure you do not well to change; nor is there a man here who will approve your conduct. The course that you determined on during the day, let that be followed." After thus speaking the man seemed to Xerxes to fly away.
The next day Xerxes kept the dream on the QT.	13. Day dawned, and the king made no account of this dream, but called together the same Persians as before, and spoke to them as follows: "Men of Persia, forgive me if I alter the resolve to which I came so lately. Consider that I have not yet reached the full growth of my wisdom, and that they who urge me to engage in this war leave me not to myself for a moment. When I heard the advice of Artabanus, my young blood suddenly boiled, and I spoke words against him little befitting his years; now however I confess my fault, and am resolved to [page 397] [page 397] follow his counsel. Understand then that I have changed my intent with respect to carrying war into Greece, and cease to trouble your selves." When they heard these words, the Persians were full of joy, and falling down at the feet of Xerxes, made obeisance to him.
And the same dream/ vision came back, and stood over Xerxes as he slept, and spoke concise prose Herodotus was able to quote word for word.	14. But when night came, again the same vision stood over Xerxes as he slept, and said, "Son of Darius, it seems you have openly before all the Persians renounced the expedition, making light of my words, as though you had not heard them spoken. Know therefore and be well assured, that unless you go forth to the war, this thing shall happen to you-as you are grown mighty and puissant in a short space, so likewise shall you within a little time be brought low indeed."
This time Xerxes tells his advisor about the dream, and they chat about what it means. God sends dreams.	15. Then Xerxes, greatly frightened at the vision which he had seen, sprang from his couch, and sent a messenger to call Artabanus, who came at the summons, when Xerxes spoke to him in these words: "Artabanus, at the moment I acted foolishly, when I gave you ill words in return for your good advice. However I soon repented, and was convinced that your counsel was such as I ought to follow. But I may not now act in this way, greatly as I desire to do so. For ever since I repented and changed my mind a dream has haunted me, which disapproves my intentions, and has now just gone from me with threats. Now if this dream is sent to me from god, and if it is indeed his will that our troops should march against Greece, you too will have the same dream come to you and receive the same commands as myself. And this will be most sure to happen, I think, if you put on the dress which I wear, and then, after taking your seat upon my throne, lie down to sleep on my bed."
	16. Such were the words of Xerxes. Artabanus would not at first yield to the command of the king, for he considered himself unworthy to sit upon the royal throne. At the last however he was forced to give way, and did as Xerxes bade him; but first he spoke thus to the king:
Blah, blah, blah.	"To me, sire, it seems to matter little whether a man is wise himself or willing to hearken to such as give good advice. In you truly are found both tempers, but the counsels of evil men lead you astray; they are like the gales of wind which vex the sea---else the most useful thing for man in the whole world-and suffer it not to follow the bent of its own nature. For myself, it irked me not so much to be reproached by you, as to observe, that when two courses were placed before the Persian people, one of a nature to increase their pride, the other to humble it, by showing them how hurtful it is to allow one's heart always to covet more than one at present possesses, you chose that which was the worse both for yourself and for the Persians. Now you say, that from the time when you approved the better course, and gave up the thought of warring against Greece, a dream has haunted you, sent by some god or other, which will not suffer you to lay aside the expedition. But such things, my son, have of a truth nothing divine in them. The dreams, that wander to and fro among mankind, I will tell you their nature,-I who have seen so many more years than you. Whatever a man has been thinking of during the day, is likely to hover round him in the visions of his dreams at night. Now we during these many days past have had our hands full of this enterprise. If however the matter be not as I suppose, but god has indeed some part therein, you have in brief declared the whole that can be said concerning it-let it appear to me as it has to you, and lay on me the same injunctions. But it ought not to appear to me any the more if I put on your clothes than if I wear my own, nor if I go to sleep in your bed than if I do so in mine-supposing, I mean, that it is about to appear at all. For this thing, be it what it may, that visits you in your sleep, surely is not so far gone in folly as to see me, and because I am dressed in your clothes, straightway to mistake me for you. Now however our business is to see if it will regard me as of small account, and not vouchsafe to appear to me, whether I wear mine own clothes or yours, while it keeps on haunting you continually. If it does so, and appears often, I should myself say that it was from god. For the rest, if your mind is fixed, and it is not possible to turn you from your design, but I must go and sleep in your bed, well and good, let it be even so; and when I have done as you wish, then let the dream appear to me. Till such time, however, I shall keep to my former opinion."
So the advisor sleeps in the king's bed—and lo, the same dream appearethed to him. Stood over, concise prose, word for word, etc.	17. Thus Artabanus spoke; and, thinking to show Xerxes that his words were nought, he obeyed his orders. Having put on the garments which Xerxes was wont to wear, and, taken his seat upon the royal throne, he lay down to sleep upon the king's own bed. As he slept, there appeared to him the very same dream which had been seen by Xerxes; it came and stood over Artabanus, and said, "You are the man, then, who, as if concerned for Xerxes, seek to dissuade him from leading his armies against the Greeks! But you shall not escape, either now or in time to come, because you sought to prevent that which is fated to happen. As for Xerxes, it has been plainly told to himself what will befall him, if he refuses to perform my bidding."
Blah, blah, blah.	18. In such words, as Artabanus thought, the vision threatened him, and then endeavored to burn out his eyes with red-hot irons. At this he shrieked, and leaping from his couch, hurried to Xerxes, and, sitting down at his side, gave him a full account of the vision; after which he went on to speak in the following words: [page 399] "I, O King, am a man who have seen many mighty empires overthrown by weaker ones; and therefore it was that I sought to keep you from being carried away by your youth; since I knew how evil a thing it is to covet more than one possesses. I could remember the expedition of Cyrus against the Massagetae, and what was the issue of it; I could recollect the march of Cambyses against the Ethiops; I had taken part in the attack of Darius upon the Scyths; bearing therefore all these things in mind, I thought with myself that if you should remain at peace, all men would count you fortunate. But as this impulse has plainly come from above, and a heaven-sent destruction seems about to overtake the Greeks, behold, I change to another mind, and alter my thoughts upon the matter. Therefore make known to the Persians what the god has declared, and bid them follow the orders which were first given, and prepare their levies. Be careful to act so, that the bounty of the god may not be hindered by slackness on your part."
So now even this advisor was for the invasion.	Thus these two spoke together; and Xerxes, encouraged by the vision, when day broke, laid all before the Persians, while Artabanus, who had formerly been the only person openly to oppose the expedition, now showed as openly that he favored it.
And thus is was that Xerxes, the great king of the great empire, determined to begin his war against the Greeks.	19. After Xerxes had thus determined to go forth to the war, there appeared to him in his sleep yet a third vision. The Magi were consulted upon it, and said that its meaning reached to the whole earth, and that all mankind would become his servants. Now the vision which the king saw was this: he dreamed that he was crowned with a branch of an olive-tree, and that boughs spread out from the olive-branch and covered the whole earth; then suddenly the garland, as it lay upon his brow, vanished. So when the Magi had thus interpreted the vision, straightway all the Persians who were come together departed to their several governments, where each displayed the greatest zeal, on the faith of the king's offers. For all hoped to obtain for themselves the gifts which had been promised. And so Xerxes gathered together his host, ransacking every corner of the continent.
	Herodotus, The Persian Wars, 7.12 - 19 (c 440 BC), -- which you can find in: Googling, Francis. The Greek Historians (1942), pg. 396- 9

Herodotus and his readers believed that great world events are marked by God-sent dreams. You got that? There are plenty more God-sent, vision-standing-over-the-dreamer, concise-converstation-quoted-word-for-word, prophecy-comes-true magic dreams in Herodotus. I expect you'll excuse me if I don't repeat them all.
Are you with me so far? The ancients believed in prophetic dreams.

Pliny T. Younger and Suetonius worry about their own dreams, Rome, first - second century AD

Pliny T. Younger and Suetonius were Roman guys. They were born so rich they didn't get up in the morning and have to go to work. Being rich gave them time to write books and stuff. Suetonius wrote a history of the Roman emperors. Pliny wrote, for example, letters to friends, which he kept in a box (the letters) for later. Eventually Pliny published his letters in a book, which you can buy and read.

Here's a letter from Pliny T. Younger to his pal Suetonius. They're discussing their dreams—by which I mean their actual night time dreams, not their someday-I-hope dreams.

Pliny is a little to sophisticated to think the Iliad's verse about dreams coming from Zeus is inerrant scripture, but he's still certain some dreams are magically prophetic. I'll let you enjoy the letter yourself. >>

1.18 To Suetonius Tranquillus
So you have had an alarming dream which makes you fear the case which is coming on may go against you; and you want me to apply for an adjournment to get you off for a few days, or one day least. It isn't easy but I will try, 'for a dream comes from Zeus'.[Iliad 1.63] But it makes a difference whether your dreams usually come true or not, for to judge by a dream of my own, the one which has frightened you might well foretell that you will be successful. I had undertaken to act on behalf of Junius Pastor when I dreamed that my mother-in-law came and begged me on her knees to give up the case. I was very young at the time and I was about to plead in the Centumviral Court against men of great political influence, some of them also friends of the Emperor; any one of these considerations could have shaken my resolve after such a depressing dream, but I carried on, believing that 'The best and only omen is to fight for your country - or in my case for my pledge to Pastor, if anything can come before one's country. I won my case, and it was that speech which drew attention to me and set me on the threshold of a successful career.

See then if you can follow my example, and give a happy interpretation to your dream; but if you still think there is more safety in the warning given by all cautious folk, 'when in doubt do nothing', you can write and tell me. I will find some way out and deal with the case so that you can take it up when you wish. I admit that your position is different from mine; adjournments are never granted in the Centumviral Court, but in your case it is possible though not easy.

[Pliny the Younger, Pliny the Younger, Letters, 1.18 (before 113 AD), -- which you can find in: Radice, Betty. The Letters of the Younger Pliny (1963 / 1969), pg. 50- 1]

Are you with me so far? The ancients believed in prophetic dreams.

On a marble plaque found near the Roman emperor Hadrian's villa, we find this record of a dream, sent by the God Mithras to one of the emperor's stewards. >>

To Sun unconquerable Mithras, just as he himself ordered in a dream his image (?) to be repaired, Victorinus a slave steward of our emperor undertook its repair for the ever present deity at his own expense and dedicated it. Hail < Namal> to all. The attendant was. . . Ilius Magnus.

[ILS 4237; [Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, ed H. Dessau, Berlin, 1892- 1916], or: CIMRM 214 [ Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithrate, ed M.J. Vermaseren (Leiden, 1956), or: Insc. Italiae iv.67
You can find it in Beard, Mary Religions of Rome, Volume 2, A Sourcebook, (1998 / 2003), pg. 308]

Are you with me so far? The ancients believed in prophetic dreams.

Dream interpretation as a profession
You've already read a couple ancient references to the profession of dream interpreter. Here are a few more.

Aristides grandson (late 5th century BC) made his living as dream interpreter. This is reported by Plutarch, in the 2d century AD.	And the Phalerean says, in his "Socrates," that he remembers a grandson of Aristides, Lysimachus, a very poor man, who made his own living by means of a sort of dream-interpreting tablet, his seat being near the so-called Iaccheium.
	Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives: Aristides 27 (1st or 2d century AD), -- which you can find in: Perrin, Bernadotte. Plutarch's Lives II (1914), pg. 297

Here's Herodotus again, this time describing the Athenian leader Hipparchus' dream that foretold his assassination in 514 BC.

55. When Aristagoras left Sparta he hastened to Athens, which had been freed of its tyrants in the way that I will now describe. After the death of Hipparchus (the son of Pisistratus, and brother of the tyrant Hippias), who, in spite of the clear warning he had received concerning his fate in a dream, was slain by Harmodius and Aristogeiton (men both of the race of the Gephyraeans), the oppression of the Athenians continued for the space of four years; and they gained nothing, but were worse used than before.

56. Now the dream of Hipparchus was the following: The night be- [page 314] fore the Panathenaic festival, he thought he saw in his sleep a tall and beautiful man, who stood over him, and read him the following riddle:
Bear thou unbearable woes with the all-bearing heart of a lion, Never, be sure, shall wrong-doer escape the reward of wrong-doing.

Worried by the dream, he consulted dream interpreters. But their help didn't do him any good.

5th century BC Greeks belief in dreams was so widespread, you could make a living interpreting them.

As soon as day dawned he sent and submitted his dream to the interpreters, after which he offered the averting sacrifices, and then went and led the procession in which he perished.
[Herodotus, The Persian Wars, 5.55- 6 (c 440 BC), -- which you can find in: Godolpin, Francis. The Greek Historians (1942), pg. 313- 4]

Here's the Old Testament book Jeremiah, quoting God (!), confirming that like the powerful people who conquered and ruled them, the Jews had magic prophets and diviners who dreamed magic dreams.

Jeremiah 29:8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream, 9 for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.
[Old Testament, Jeremiah 29]

Chaldea was part of Babylon, in Mesopotamia. Chaldean astrologers, soothsayers and dream interpreters were famous throughout the ancient world for the excellence of their prophetic art. Here's the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily describing the powers and abilities of Chaldean astrologers...

...which included the interpretation of dreams.

2.28.29. But to us it seems not inappropriate to speak briefly of the Chaldaeans of Babylon and of their antiquity, that we may omit nothing which is worthy of record. Now the Chaldaeans, belonging as they do to the most ancient inhabitants of Babylonia, have about the same position among the divisions of the state as that occupied by the priests of Egypt; for being assigned to the service of the gods they spend their entire life in study, their greatest renown being in the field of astrology. But they occupy themselves largely with soothsaying as well, making predictions about future events, and in some cases by purifications, in others by sacrifices, and in others by some other charms they attempt to effect the averting of evil things and the fulfilment of the good. They are [page 447] also skilled in soothsaying