"Byzantines rich and poor were interested in divining the meaning of dreams. While Byzantium was a society that was deeply religious, it was also profoundly spiritual. Like peoples before and after their time - from peasant to emperor - Byzantines wanted to know what their dreams, whether mundane or bizarre, meant. The visions they had while sleeping could hold secrets of the world and their own futures."
"People from primordial to modern times have been fascinated by dreams. Humans spend roughly a third of their lives sleeping, and what we dream during this time could hold secrets about the universe, ourselves, or perhaps nothing at all. Are dreams created by a heavenly being or stories foretelling our fates? Even today, the meaning of dreams is largely unknown."
Dream interpretation was widespread in Byzantine society across social classes, combining religious belief with spiritual curiosity. Byzantines used personal intuition, neighborhood expertise, and written dream-key manuals called oneirokritika to interpret visions. These manuals borrowed symbols and meanings from earlier traditions such as ancient Egyptian and Assyrian models while adapting certain associations to reflect changing social mores. Shared symbols included teeth as children and apples as erotic love. Dream interpretation formed part of a broader, cross-cultural effort to find meaning in sleep visions and to seek insight into the future and the nature of the universe.
Read at Medievalists.net
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