Dreams
<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=82 BGCOLOR="#999980" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Verdana" ><B>High Culture</B></FONT><B> </B><B>|</B><B> </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="High Culture"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="gnosis.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gnosis"><U>Gnosis</U></A> | <B>Dreams</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=398 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="07702b03.gif"> <div> <I>Dreams</I></div> <div> <IMG SRC="05358580.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>The Dream Book</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" > (aka Chester Beaty Papyrus)</FONT></div> <div> From Deir el-Medina, Egypt</div> <div> 19th Dynasty, around 1275 BC </div> <div> Height: 34.5 cm </div> <div> <B>Papyrus giving a list of dreams and their interpretations</B> </div> <div> Gift of A Chester Beatty (P. Chester Beatty III) to <A HREF="http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=compass&_IXSR_=rg7&_IXSS_=_IXFPFX_%3d%252e%252e%252fcompass%252fgraphical%252ffull%252f%26_IXsearchterm%3dPapyrus%252520%26%257bUPPER%257d%253av2_free_text_tindex%3dPapyrus%2b%26_IXDB_%3dcompass%26_IXNOMATCHES_%3d%252e%252e%252fcompass%252fgraphical%252fno_matches%252ehtml%26%2524%2b%2528with%2bv2_searchable_index%2529%2bsort%3d%252e&_IXFIRST_=34&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=graphical/full/&_IXsearchterm=Papyrus%2520&submit-button=summary" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compas"><U>British Musuem</U></A></div> <bR> <div> The meaning of dreams is a subject that fascinated the ancient Egyptians. This <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><U>hieratic</U></FONT> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Verdana" ><U>papyrus</U></FONT>, probably dates to the early reign of Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC). On each page of the papyrus a vertical column of hieratic signs begins: 'if a man sees himself in a dream'; each horizontal line describes a dream, followed by the diagnosis 'good' or 'bad', and then the interpretation. For example, 'if a man sees himself in a dream looking out of a window, good; it means the hearing of his cry'. Or, 'if a man sees himself in a dream with his bed catching fire, bad; it means driving away his wife'. The text first lists good dreams, and then bad ones; the word 'bad' is written in red, 'the colour of ill omen'. </div> <bR> <div> The papyrus had several owners before it was, presumably, deposited in the cemetery at Deir el-Medina. It is uncertain who the original owner was, but it passed into the hands of the scribe Qeniherkhepshef; on the other side of the papyrus, the scribe copied a poem about the Battle of Kadesh, which took place in the reign of Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC). The Dream Book passed to Khaemamen, Qeniherkhepshef's wife's second husband, and then to his son Amennakht (both added their name to the papyrus). The Dream Book was part of an archive, including a wide variety of literary, magical and documentary material, which passed down through the family for more than a century. </div> <bR> <div> ---------------------------------------------</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="502" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 243 WIDTH="496"><div> R.B. Parkinson and S. Quirke, <I>Papyrus</I>, (Egyptian Bookshelf) (London, The British Museum Press, 1995), pp. 62-63 </div> <bR> <div> A.H. Gardiner, <I>Hieratic papyri in the British Museum, third series: Chester Beatty gift</I> (London, British Museum, 1935), pp. 7-27 </div> <bR> <div> P.W. Pestman, 'Who were the owners, in the 'community of workmen' of the Chester Beatty Papyri?' in R.J. Demarée and J.J. Janssen (eds.), <I>Gleanings from Deir el-Medina</I> (Leiden, 1982), pp. 155-72 </div> <bR> <div> R. Parkinson, <I>Cracking codes: the Rosetta Stone and decipherment</I> (London, The British Museum Press, 1999), p. 155 </div> <bR> <div> A.G. McDowell, <I>Village life in ancient Egypt: laundry lists and love songs</I> (Oxford University Press, 1999)</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> -------------------------------------------------------</div> <div> -- The dream interpretation still goes on in modern</div> <div> Egypt. Matter of fact both the Christians and Muslims</div> <div> here have a concept called the temple sleep. This was</div> <div> where a person would receive visions or healing in</div> <div> dreams from sleeping in sacred spaces. The dead</div> <div> ancestors also contacted people through dreams.</div> <bR> <div> ------------------------------------------------------------</div> <div> The Egyptians were the first to practice a Jungian psychology of archetypes and</div> <div> to recognize the fundamental restorative power of the unconscious. They realized</div> <div> that in sleep and dreams, one experiences these depths as a psychic reality in</div> <div> which one may encounter gods and the deceased alike."</div> <div> <I>-Hornung, E. Idea into Image,Timken - Princeton, 1992.</I></div> <div> <I>-----------------------------------------------------------</I></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>