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Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams(Oneirocritica) is the richest and most vivid pre-Freudian account of dream interpretation. The work is fascinating for what it reveals about ancient life, culture, and beliefs, and attitudes to the dominant power of Imperial Rome.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Note on the Text
- Select Bibliography
- Maps
- The Interpretation of Dreams
- Explanatory Notes
- Appendix
- Index
About the author
Martin Hammond was born in 1944 and educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford. He has taught at St Paul's School, Harrow School, and Eton College, where he was Head of Classics from 1974 to 1980, and Master in College from 1980 to 1984. He was Headmaster of the City of London School from 1984 to 1990, and of Tonbridge School from 1990 to his retirement in 2005. He has translated the Iliad (Penguin, 1987), the Odyssey (Duckworth, 2000; Bloomsbury, 2014), the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (Penguin, 2006), and for Oxford World's Classics Thucydides' Peloponnesian War (2009), Arrian's Anabasis and Indica (2013), Josephus: The Jewish War (forthcoming), and Procopius: The Secret History (in progress).
Peter Thonemann teaches Greek and Roman history at Wadham College, Oxford. As an undergraduate student at Lady Margaret Hall (Oxford), he was taught by Simon Price, author of the most important modern study of Artemidorus ('The future of dreams: from Freud to Artemidorus', Past & Present 113 (1986) 3-37). He is the co-author (with Simon Price) of the first volume of the Penguin History of Europe, The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Troy to Augustine (Allen Lane, 2010; translated into Dutch, Italian, and Chinese); his most recent book is a short introduction to the Hellenistic World for Oxford University Press, The Hellenistic Age (Oxford 2016). He writes regularly on all aspects of the ancient world for the Times Literary Supplement and the Wall Street Journal.
Summary
Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams(Oneirocritica) is the richest and most vivid pre-Freudian account of dream interpretation. The work is fascinating for what it reveals about ancient life, culture, and beliefs, and attitudes to the dominant power of Imperial Rome.
Additional text
Hammond's accessible and affordable translation is a joy to read.
