Since antiquity dreams have fascinated people of all cultural backgrounds and have not only been proven relevant for the future of empires and religions, but also served as central motifs in the development of the world's literary masterpieces. In the classical period, the category of predictive dreams was divided into prophetic visions (Greek
horamata), advice from a god (
chrematismata) and symbolic dreams (
oneiroi). With some fluctuation between these distinctions, as a general rule this classification still holds in medieval times (see for example John of Salisbury's distinctions between
visio, oraculum, somnium, 12th century).
Prophetic visions play a significant role in the history of national self-identification and salvation. Among the many examples from the Old Testament stands out
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Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Dreams in European Literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 March 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5776, accessed 21 November 2024.]
