A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 2 (of 2): During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our EraThorndike, Lynn
History
A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 2 (of 2): During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our Era
Thorndike, Lynn
Magic -- History; Science -- History
Still another work on the interpretation of dreams contained in the
edition of 1603[916] is ascribed to “Achmet, the son of Sereim” or
Ahmed ben Sirin.[917] The Greek text states that he was interpreter of
dreams to Mamoun, the first minister of the Caliph, which fixes his
date as about 820 A. D.[918] Perhaps he is the same Achmet who wrote an
astrological treatise extant in Greek which he says he compiled from
books from Adam’s time to the present day.[919] Of the work on dreams
there is a Latin version in the medieval manuscripts translated from
the Greek by Leo Tuscus,[920] who died in 1182 and was interpreter
of imperial letters in the time of the Byzantine emperor, Manuel
Comnenus. Leo prefixes to his translation a prologue addressed[921]
to his brother Hugo Eterianus or Eteriarius (Ecerialius). This work
of Achmet is of about the same length as that of Artemidorus and
contains over three hundred chapters. It is or pretends to be drawn
mainly from Indian, Persian, and Egyptian sources and often cites
in turn the doctrine or interpretation of those three peoples, or
mentions by name interpreters of dreams of the kings and pharaohs of
those countries.[922] The preface states that the same dream must be
interpreted differently in the case of king and commoner, of rich and
poor, and according to sex. The time of the dream must also be taken
into account. For example, to see a tree blossom is a good sign in
spring but a bad omen in autumn. The hour of the night when the dream
occurs and the phases of the moon are other time factors which must be
reckoned with. The remainder of the treatise is devoted to specific
interpretation of dreams.
[Sidenote: Byzantine and oriental divinations by Daniel.]
To Joseph and Daniel, as the chief Biblical interpreters of dreams,
books on the subject were assigned in the middle ages, as John of
Salisbury has informed us. Daniel, however, seems to have been the
greater favorite. Liutprand the Lombard, who died in 972, says in the
account of his embassy to Constantinople, “The Greeks and Saracens
have books which they call the _horaseis_, or Visions, of Daniel, but
I should call them Sibylline. In them is found written how many years
each emperor will live, and what will be the character of his reign,
whether peace or strife, whether favorable or hostile relations with
the Saracens.”[923] A brief set of Greek verses in alphabetical order
ascribed to the emperor Leo, which occur in a late manuscript with
various works of the fathers, seem to resemble the Latin alphabetical
dream-books of which we shall presently treat.[924] Works of divination
were also attributed to Daniel in Syriac and Arabic, such as
predictions of rain, hail, and the like for each day of the year, and
of eclipses and earthquakes,[925] or astrological forecasts for each
month of the year.[926] There is even a geomancy in Turkish ascribed to
the prophet Daniel.[927]
[Sidenote: Latin _Dream-Books of Daniel_.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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