Wow! eBook
Dreams and Dreaming in the Roman Empire: Cultural Memory and Imagination New Edition
Author(s): Juliette Harrisson (Author)
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Publication Date: 4 July 2013
- Edition: New
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: 1441176330
- ISBN-13: 9781441176332
Book Description
The history and literature of the Roman Empire is full of reports of dream prophecies, dream ghosts and dream gods. This volume offers a fresh approach to the study of ancient dreams by asking not what the ancients dreamed or how they experienced dreaming, but why the Romans considered dreams to be important and worthy of recording. Dream reports from historical and imaginative literature from the high point of the Roman Empire (the first two centuries Ad) are analysed as objects of cultural memory, records of events of cultural significance that contribute to the formation of a group’s cultural identity. The book also introduces the term ‘cultural imagination’, as a tool for thinking about ancient myth and religion, and avoiding the question of ‘belief’, which arises mainly from creed-based religions. The book’s conclusion compares dream reports in the Classical world with modern attitudes towards dreams and dreaming, identifying distinctive features of both the world of the Romans and our own culture.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This is an engaging, enjoyable and well-researched book, which sheds new light on a complex and fascinating subject. It will undoubtedly be an asset for all those who study dreams and dreaming in the ancient world and beyond. — Dr. Jack Lennon, University College London, UK An unusually rich and wide-ranging study, built on an enviable command of both ancient sources and modern methodologies. Harrisson has found a fresh, engaging and authoritative route into this complex topic. –Tim Whitmarsh, Professor of Ancient Literatures, University of Oxford, UK
About the Author
Juliette Harrisson is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Birmingham Newman University, UK.
