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. They employed their own intuition, neighborhood expertise, and dream manuals to uncover the secrets of their slumbers and gain slightly more insight into the mysteries of the world.
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.
Understanding the Unknown
Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The famous story of Gilgamesh, which dates back to the old Babylonian period, 2003–1595 BC, contains many examples of dream interpretation and the prophetic power of dreams. Many ancient societies, especially in Mesopotamia, held dreams to be incredibly important as they were used for divination. Wikimedia Commons.
To better understand the universe and the future, different peoples, including the Byzantines, sought to draw meaning from symbols and acts in our dreams. For example, ancient societies as far back as the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians were fascinated by dreams and produced dream-key manuals to decipher their meanings. In the Arab Caliphate to the east of Byzantium, too, divining the meaning of dreams was a popular pastime. Dream interpretation was an important part of Byzantine life, and belief in the power of dreams was widespread.
Byzantine curiosity about dreams drew on these other traditions. Some of the symbols and their assigned meanings in Byzantine dream-key manuals, or oneirokritika, copied those of the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians. For example, in dream-key manuals from all three societies, teeth represent children and apples represent erotic love. But there were also important differences that reflected changed social mores. While the Egyptian and Assyrian dream-key manuals (and the later Arabic ones too) included frank examples of sex, such images (especially homoerotic sex) are largely absent from Byzantine oneirokritika. In addition, other common Byzantine understandings of dreams reflected those in the Bible and the Greco-Roman tradition.
Ultimately, the Byzantines, like their predecessors and contemporaries, tried to use dreams to better understand their world. Individuals at all levels of society had a fascination with understanding the meaning of their dreams. Dreams appear in the works of contemporary Byzantine historians, including Prokopios, Leo the Deacon, Anna Komnene, and Niketas Choniates, both as reasons for historical phenomena and as historical events in their own right.
But despite the famous dreams that made their way into history, most dream interpretation would have largely been at the personal or household level. Many dreams would have had fairly obvious meanings to a Byzantine, such as a fat cow symbolizing wealth, since Pharaoh had the same dream in Genesis. Other symbols foretold straightforward loss, such as being placed in chains. But dreams were likely also discussed with friends and neighbors who might offer their own insights. For more complicated dreams, an individual could go to a wise woman or a learned figure to have them divine the dream’s meaning. Going to a trusted elderly relative or neighbor would likely provide more personal insights into what a dream meant than the generic advice in an oneirokritikon.
Byzantine society’s elite could also consult oneirokritika to divine their dreams’ significance. Oneirokritika were compendia of symbols appearing in dreams, listed in alphabetical order or in paragraph format, that recited what each symbol meant. Oneirokritika varied in length from just a few pages to hundreds.
The Byzantines were hardly the first to write such dream-key manuals. Not only the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, but also the ancient Greeks and Romans wrote their own versions of oneirokritika, all of which were examples for the Byzantines. The longest Byzantine oneirokritikon known today is attributed to Achmet ibn Seirim, and it was composed during the height of the medieval Byzantine Empire (c. 867–1056). But the authors and dates of publication of most Byzantine oneirokritika are unknown, and only a handful have survived.
An oneirokritikon, like any reference book, was meant to be easily accessible, with an “x means y” formula. For example, “Blood flowing from your mouth signifies loss.” But despite this straightforward formula, oneirokritika had their shortcomings. Each oneirokritikon failed to encompass every potential symbol in a dream. Specific dream interpretations could also be inapplicable to some people. For example, a dream symbol that predicted the death of a wife would be a confusing outcome for a man who was single or widowed. To try to accommodate for this, some oneirokritika would have divergent meanings for symbols depending on your station in life. For example, one oneirokritikon predicted that the symbol of shackled feet was a positive symbol for slaves and the poor, but foretold misfortune for the rich.
The oneirokritika also appear to have attempted to connect symbols to the fears of the day. Many symbols foretold plots, treachery, and loss. For an often intrigue-laden Byzantine court, these meanings spoke directly to the fears those at court were already feeling. A significant number of symbols also predicted an outbreak of disease, no doubt an ever-present concern in a crowded city such as Constantinople that had endured the plague numerous times, from the reign of Justinian (r. 527–565) to John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347-1354).
Of course, most Byzantines were illiterate. Therefore, the oneirokritika were primarily for the aristocracy. At least two were specifically written for the imperial court, itself. This shows that dream divination was not only an interest among commoners, but a part of upper-class culture. The oneirokritika also tended to reinforce the status quo – especially male power. For example, male genitalia represented strength and power, whereas female genitalia, which are only mentioned once in the surviving oneirokritika, represent an omen of death. Therefore, oneirokritika, despite providing critical insights into Byzantine culture around dreams and dream interpretation, were largely written for male aristocrats.
Persecution and Revival
Dream Stela of Thutmosis IV. Photo by Archaeology Archive Project / Flickr
Despite this widespread interest, the survival of dream interpretation in the Byzantine Empire was far from certain. The early church strongly rejected many practices that were viewed as pagan. Therefore, the church officially prohibited dream divination, which had been popular within the pagan Roman Empire. Later, oneirokritika likely decreased in popularity or were even destroyed during the Byzantine Iconoclasm period (726–787 and 814–842).
The Iconoclast movement rejected the use of symbols and icons in Christianity, leading to the destruction of icons and the persecution of those who used them. Given the emphasis on symbols, dream interpretation and oneirokritika undoubtedly went underground during that period.
Byzantine dream interpretation experienced a recovery during the ninth and tenth centuries, after the end of the Iconoclasm period, with the restoration of icons. This period is known as the Macedonian Renaissance, which also included revitalizations of learning, art, and culture in the Byzantine Empire. The cultural exchange with the Arabs on the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire included an interest in dreams and their interpretation. For example, Achmet ibn Sereim’s lengthy oneirokritikon was likely based on several medieval Arabic dream texts, including an Arabic translation of an earlier oneirokritikon written by Artemidoros in Greek during the heyday of the Roman Empire.
In addition, dreams were discussed in new hagiographies and historical texts, including by the most prominent Byzantine historians of the period. One of the oneirokritika was even attributed to Nikephoros I, the patriarch of Constantinople, and Emperor Leo VI (r. 886–912) possibly commissioned Achmet ibn Sereim’s oneirokritikon. These examples show how much ecclesiastical and imperial opposition to dream interpretation had diminished by the tenth century.
New Byzantine oneirokritika were written through the fifteenth century. These included an oneirokritikon attributed to Manuel II Palaiologos (r.1391–1425), who had a strong interest in dreams and dream interpretation, possibly the most of any emperor. Manuel’s oneirokritikon was intended for the aristocracy and imperial court, demonstrating that interests in dream interpretation spread to even the imperial palace.
Manuel II Palaiologos. Manuel II (r. 1391–1425), was extremely interested in dreams and dream interpretation to the point where he applied it to his everyday life. This image of Manuel II on horseback (bottom right, on the white horse) depicts him as one of the three Magi, Melchior. The Meeting of the Magi, folio 51v of Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry – Wikimedia Commons.
Particularly interesting (and unique) in this oneirokritikon is Manuel’s attempt to apply dream analysis to actual events of the day. He explained that eating coarse bread signifies danger or humiliation in battle. Two aristocrats who experienced this dream were, respectively, taken prisoner for a significant period and died in battle. Riding a short, sluggish, and maimed horse foretold the loss of good fortune. After having this dream, the Grand Duke’s imperial brother-in-law was drowned. Contemporaries would have known these figures and understood these incidents through these posthumous revelations of their dreams.
Reversing Fate?
Despite the Byzantines’ fascination with divining the meaning of dreams, learning one’s fate could be depressing. The future the dreams foretold was absolute. The oneirokritika do not suggest that fate can be changed or that prayers to God and the saints would save the dreamer.
At the same time, Byzantines had a deeply rooted faith in the power of Christianity. Sleeping in a church or a visit from the Virgin Mary or a saint could heal a person from sickness or improve their lot in life. In this way, the spirituality of Orthodox Christianity and the spirituality of dream divination were potentially at loggerheads.
Ultimately, it was up to the individual to do what he could while awake with the knowledge gained during sleep, leaning into fate or invoking the saints or his own craft to resist it.
Michael Goodyear is a lawyer in New York. He has a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and an A.B. in History and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in Byzantine history. He has been published and has works forthcoming in a variety of academic and general-interest publications on history and law, including ANTIQVVS and World History Encyclopedia, as well as law journals at Harvard, Stanford, and Vanderbilt.
By Michael Goodyear
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. They employed their own intuition, neighborhood expertise, and dream manuals to uncover the secrets of their slumbers and gain slightly more insight into the mysteries of the world.
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.
Understanding the Unknown
To better understand the universe and the future, different peoples, including the Byzantines, sought to draw meaning from symbols and acts in our dreams. For example, ancient societies as far back as the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians were fascinated by dreams and produced dream-key manuals to decipher their meanings. In the Arab Caliphate to the east of Byzantium, too, divining the meaning of dreams was a popular pastime. Dream interpretation was an important part of Byzantine life, and belief in the power of dreams was widespread.
Byzantine curiosity about dreams drew on these other traditions. Some of the symbols and their assigned meanings in Byzantine dream-key manuals, or oneirokritika, copied those of the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians. For example, in dream-key manuals from all three societies, teeth represent children and apples represent erotic love. But there were also important differences that reflected changed social mores. While the Egyptian and Assyrian dream-key manuals (and the later Arabic ones too) included frank examples of sex, such images (especially homoerotic sex) are largely absent from Byzantine oneirokritika. In addition, other common Byzantine understandings of dreams reflected those in the Bible and the Greco-Roman tradition.
Ultimately, the Byzantines, like their predecessors and contemporaries, tried to use dreams to better understand their world. Individuals at all levels of society had a fascination with understanding the meaning of their dreams. Dreams appear in the works of contemporary Byzantine historians, including Prokopios, Leo the Deacon, Anna Komnene, and Niketas Choniates, both as reasons for historical phenomena and as historical events in their own right.
But despite the famous dreams that made their way into history, most dream interpretation would have largely been at the personal or household level. Many dreams would have had fairly obvious meanings to a Byzantine, such as a fat cow symbolizing wealth, since Pharaoh had the same dream in Genesis. Other symbols foretold straightforward loss, such as being placed in chains. But dreams were likely also discussed with friends and neighbors who might offer their own insights. For more complicated dreams, an individual could go to a wise woman or a learned figure to have them divine the dream’s meaning. Going to a trusted elderly relative or neighbor would likely provide more personal insights into what a dream meant than the generic advice in an oneirokritikon.
The Oneirokritika
Byzantine society’s elite could also consult oneirokritika to divine their dreams’ significance. Oneirokritika were compendia of symbols appearing in dreams, listed in alphabetical order or in paragraph format, that recited what each symbol meant. Oneirokritika varied in length from just a few pages to hundreds.
The Byzantines were hardly the first to write such dream-key manuals. Not only the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, but also the ancient Greeks and Romans wrote their own versions of oneirokritika, all of which were examples for the Byzantines. The longest Byzantine oneirokritikon known today is attributed to Achmet ibn Seirim, and it was composed during the height of the medieval Byzantine Empire (c. 867–1056). But the authors and dates of publication of most Byzantine oneirokritika are unknown, and only a handful have survived.
An oneirokritikon, like any reference book, was meant to be easily accessible, with an “x means y” formula. For example, “Blood flowing from your mouth signifies loss.” But despite this straightforward formula, oneirokritika had their shortcomings. Each oneirokritikon failed to encompass every potential symbol in a dream. Specific dream interpretations could also be inapplicable to some people. For example, a dream symbol that predicted the death of a wife would be a confusing outcome for a man who was single or widowed. To try to accommodate for this, some oneirokritika would have divergent meanings for symbols depending on your station in life. For example, one oneirokritikon predicted that the symbol of shackled feet was a positive symbol for slaves and the poor, but foretold misfortune for the rich.
The oneirokritika also appear to have attempted to connect symbols to the fears of the day. Many symbols foretold plots, treachery, and loss. For an often intrigue-laden Byzantine court, these meanings spoke directly to the fears those at court were already feeling. A significant number of symbols also predicted an outbreak of disease, no doubt an ever-present concern in a crowded city such as Constantinople that had endured the plague numerous times, from the reign of Justinian (r. 527–565) to John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347-1354).
Of course, most Byzantines were illiterate. Therefore, the oneirokritika were primarily for the aristocracy. At least two were specifically written for the imperial court, itself. This shows that dream divination was not only an interest among commoners, but a part of upper-class culture. The oneirokritika also tended to reinforce the status quo – especially male power. For example, male genitalia represented strength and power, whereas female genitalia, which are only mentioned once in the surviving oneirokritika, represent an omen of death. Therefore, oneirokritika, despite providing critical insights into Byzantine culture around dreams and dream interpretation, were largely written for male aristocrats.
Persecution and Revival
Despite this widespread interest, the survival of dream interpretation in the Byzantine Empire was far from certain. The early church strongly rejected many practices that were viewed as pagan. Therefore, the church officially prohibited dream divination, which had been popular within the pagan Roman Empire. Later, oneirokritika likely decreased in popularity or were even destroyed during the Byzantine Iconoclasm period (726–787 and 814–842).
The Iconoclast movement rejected the use of symbols and icons in Christianity, leading to the destruction of icons and the persecution of those who used them. Given the emphasis on symbols, dream interpretation and oneirokritika undoubtedly went underground during that period.
Byzantine dream interpretation experienced a recovery during the ninth and tenth centuries, after the end of the Iconoclasm period, with the restoration of icons. This period is known as the Macedonian Renaissance, which also included revitalizations of learning, art, and culture in the Byzantine Empire. The cultural exchange with the Arabs on the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire included an interest in dreams and their interpretation. For example, Achmet ibn Sereim’s lengthy oneirokritikon was likely based on several medieval Arabic dream texts, including an Arabic translation of an earlier oneirokritikon written by Artemidoros in Greek during the heyday of the Roman Empire.
In addition, dreams were discussed in new hagiographies and historical texts, including by the most prominent Byzantine historians of the period. One of the oneirokritika was even attributed to Nikephoros I, the patriarch of Constantinople, and Emperor Leo VI (r. 886–912) possibly commissioned Achmet ibn Sereim’s oneirokritikon. These examples show how much ecclesiastical and imperial opposition to dream interpretation had diminished by the tenth century.
New Byzantine oneirokritika were written through the fifteenth century. These included an oneirokritikon attributed to Manuel II Palaiologos (r.1391–1425), who had a strong interest in dreams and dream interpretation, possibly the most of any emperor. Manuel’s oneirokritikon was intended for the aristocracy and imperial court, demonstrating that interests in dream interpretation spread to even the imperial palace.
Particularly interesting (and unique) in this oneirokritikon is Manuel’s attempt to apply dream analysis to actual events of the day. He explained that eating coarse bread signifies danger or humiliation in battle. Two aristocrats who experienced this dream were, respectively, taken prisoner for a significant period and died in battle. Riding a short, sluggish, and maimed horse foretold the loss of good fortune. After having this dream, the Grand Duke’s imperial brother-in-law was drowned. Contemporaries would have known these figures and understood these incidents through these posthumous revelations of their dreams.
Reversing Fate?
Despite the Byzantines’ fascination with divining the meaning of dreams, learning one’s fate could be depressing. The future the dreams foretold was absolute. The oneirokritika do not suggest that fate can be changed or that prayers to God and the saints would save the dreamer.
At the same time, Byzantines had a deeply rooted faith in the power of Christianity. Sleeping in a church or a visit from the Virgin Mary or a saint could heal a person from sickness or improve their lot in life. In this way, the spirituality of Orthodox Christianity and the spirituality of dream divination were potentially at loggerheads.
Ultimately, it was up to the individual to do what he could while awake with the knowledge gained during sleep, leaning into fate or invoking the saints or his own craft to resist it.
Michael Goodyear is a lawyer in New York. He has a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and an A.B. in History and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in Byzantine history. He has been published and has works forthcoming in a variety of academic and general-interest publications on history and law, including ANTIQVVS and World History Encyclopedia, as well as law journals at Harvard, Stanford, and Vanderbilt.
Further Readings:
Angelidi, Christine, and George T. Calofonos, editors. Dreaming in Byzantium and Beyond. Routledge, 2014.
Mavroudi, Maria V. A Byzantine Book on Dream Interpretation: The Oneirocriticon of Achmet and its Arabic sources. Brill, 2002.
Neil, Bronwen, and Eva AnagnostouLaoutides, editors. Dreams, Memory and Imagination in Byzantium. Brill, 2018.
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