Page "Artemidorus" Paragraph 3

According to Artemidorus, the material for his work was gathered during lengthy travels through Greece, Italy and Asia, from diviners of high and low station.

Another major source were the writings of Artemidorus ' predecessors, sixteen of whom he cites by name.

It is clear he built on a rich written tradition, now otherwise lost.

Artemidorus ' method is, at root, analogical.

He writes that dream interpretation is " nothing other than the juxtaposition of similarities " ( 2. 25 ).

But like other types of Greek divination, including astrology, celestial divination and pallomancy, Greek dream divination ( Oneiromancy ) became exceedingly complex, a given dream subject to a number of interpretations depending on secondary considerations, such as the age, sex and status of the dreamer.

At other times, subtle distinctions within the dream itself are significant.

In a particularly memorable passage, Artemidorus expounds upon the meaning of dreams involving sex with one's mother: