dreaming and the ideology of mantics: homer and ancient...

Prof. Scott B. NoegelChair, Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and CivilizationUniversity of Washington

"Dreamingand the Ideology of Mantics:Homer and Ancient Near Eastern Oneiromancy."

First Published in:

Ideologies as Intercultural Phenomena:Proceedings of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellectual Heritage ProjectChicago, October 27-31, 2000(MELAMMU, 3; Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian text Corpus Project), 143-157.

~",."

~

MELAMMU SYMPOSIA III

IDEOLOGIES ASINTERCULTURAL PHENOMENA

"---"

Proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium

of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellectual Heritage Project

Held in Chicago, USA, October 27-31, 2000

Edited by ,A. PANAINO 'G. PETTINATO

With the collaboration ofG. P. BASELLO A. PIRAS

~

UNIVERSIT A DI BOLOGNA & IsIAOMILANO 2002

"~

SCOTT B. NOEGEL Washington

'---'

. r;JO \NOEGEL HOMER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ON~CY

Dreaming and the Ideology of Mantics:

Homer and Ancient Near Eastern Oneiromancy*

.\...J

Near Eastern influence on Greekliterature has been the subject ofincreasing scholarly interest inthe last few decades. The works of W.

Burkert! and of others2 have done a greatdeal to "re-orient" our understanding ofGreek literature by considering it in thelarger context of the ancient Mediterra-nean world. Martin West's famous re-

mark that "Greece is part of Asia; GreekLiterature is Near Eastern literature,"3encapsulates this approach. While a greatdeal of prior comparative work in thisarea has consisted primarily of the cata-loguing of examples of possible influ-ence and exchange, more recently schol-ars have begun to move toward a morecomplete understanding of what K. A.

' /

.Previous versions of this paper were delivered at theUniversity of Washington and at the Third AnnualMeeting of the Assyrian and Babylonian IntellectualHeritage Project (MELAMMU)in Chicago, on October28, 2000. I would like to thank especially Jim Clauss,Stephen Hinds, Sheila Colwell, Simo Parpola andChristopher Faraone for their helpful comments afterthese presentations. The abbreviations adopted hereinfollow those of the Journal o/Near Eastern Studies.1 See, e.g., Walter Burkert, "Homerstudien und Orient,"in Joachim Latacz (ed.), Zweihundert Jahre Homer-Forschung:' Ruckblick und Ausblick (ColloquiumRauricum, 2; Stuttgart and Leipzig), 155-181; TheOrientali;;ing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence onGreek Cultur,e in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge,1992). .2 See, e.g., M. C. Astour, Hellenosemitica: An Ethnicand Cultural Study in West Semitic Impact on Myce-naean Greece (Leiden, 1967), and more recently,"RDMN/RHADAMANTHYS and the Motif of Se-lective Immortality," in Manfred Dietrich and IngoKottsieper (eds.), "Und Mose schrieb dieses Liedauf": Studien =um Alten Testament und =um AltenOrient: Festchrift fur Oswald Loret= =ur VollendungA. Panaino & G. Pettinato (eds.)MELAMMUSYMPOSIA111(Milano 2002)ISBN 88-8483-107-5

Raaflaub refers to as "...the precondi-tions that made them possible and thelimits and exact modalities of transmis-sion and effect."4

In this essay, I shall adopt Raaflaub'sdirection, at least in part, by examiningthe use of divinatory wordplay in theexegesis of dreams in Mesopotamian andearly Greek literature. I shall restrict my-self to discussing the interpretation of vonly those dreams which we could call"symbolic," Le., those dreams of unclearmeaning that require interpretation. Theyare the opposite of the so-called "mes-sage," dreams in which a dream figuredelivers a missive that requires no inter-preter.

Parallels between Near Eastern and

seines 70. (AOAT, 250; MUnster, 1998), 55-89;Robert Rollinger, "Altorientalische Motivik in derfrlihgriechischen Literatur am Beispeil derhomerischen Epen. / Elemente des Kampfes in derIlias und in der altorientalischen Literatur (nebstUberJegungen zur Priisenz altorientalischer Wander-priester im frtiharchaischen Griechenand)," inChristoph Ulf (ed.), Wege =ur Genese griechischerIdentitat: Die Bedeutung der fruharchaischen Zeit(Berlin, 1996), 156-311; Stephanie Dalley and A. T.Reyes, "Mesopotamian Contact and Influence in theGreek World: 1.. To the Persian Conquest," inStephanie Dalley (ed.), The Legacy of Mesopotamia(Oxford, 1998), 85-106.3M. L. West, Theogony (Oxford, 1966),31.4 K. A. Raaflaub, "Influence, Adaptation, and Inter-action: Near Eastern and Early Greek PoliticalThought," in Sanna Aro and R. M. Whiting (eds.),The Heirs of Assyria: Proceedings of the OpeningSymposium of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellec-tual Heritage Project Held in Tviirminne, Finland,October 8-11. 1998 (Melammu Symposia, I; Hel-sinki, 2000), 54.

167

//"

NOEGEL HOMER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ONEIROMANCY~.

'-J

Greek message dreams, have receivedsome scholarly attention5 and have beennumerous enough for West to assert: "Itis not easy to avoid the conclusion that atsome stage of its history the Greek epictradition has been strongly influenced bycontacts with the Eastern tradition."6

Therefore, a comparative study of Greekand Near Eastern symbolic dreams is alogical next step.7

My comparison will consist of twoparts: first, the punning interpretation ofsymbolic' dreams in Near Eastern andGreek omen texts; and second, the pun-ning interpretation of symbolic dreams asreflected in Near Eastern and early Greekliterature. Throughout the paper I shallcomment on the possible preconditions,limits, and modalities of transmission forthe punning hermeneutic.

1I

Ii

Part 1. The punning interpretation of symbolic dreamsin Near Eastern and Greek omen texts.

In a monograph on the exegesis ofdreams in the ancient Near East, I re-examine all extant Mesopotamian dreamoracles for evidence of what I will call

the punning hermeneutic.8 My researchhas turned up dozens of examples, but asmaller sampling will suffice to demon-strate.9

'--./If a man dreams that he is eating a raven(arbu); he will have income (irbu).

If a man dreams he is eating human flesh(seru): he will have great riches (Saru).IO

If (in a dream) a person goes to Laban(La-ba-an); he will build a house (DO-ufs] = ibanus).11

If a man dreams that he is travelling toIdran (JD-ra-an = A-ra-an); he will freehimself from Ii crime (aran).12

If one gives him bird "oil" (t + GISMUSEN); they will shout 'Watch out!Watch out!' (i-plr i-:jur KA-u).13

If (someone) has given him mibru-wood;he shall have no rival (mabiru).

[If] one gives him the head (SAG) of apick-axe; his head (SAG.DU) [will becut off]. .

[If] he pours his urine into a fish pond. (TUL): he will lose (IJA.A) his pro-perty.14

\.J

5 A. Leo Oppenheim, The Interpretation of Dreamsin the Ancient Near East: With a Translation of theAssyrian Dream Book (Transactions of the AmericanPhilosophical Society, Volume 46/3 [1956]; Phila-delphia, 1956),209.6 M. L. West, "Th.e Rise of the Greek Epic," JHS 108(1988), 169.7 The problems posed by the commonly acceptedtypology nothwithstanding. On such difficulties seeScott B. Noegel, "Dreams and Dream Interpreters inMesopotamia and in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testa-ment)," in Kelly Bulkeley (ed.), Dreams andDreaming: A Reader in Religion, Anthropology,History, and Psychology (Hampshire, 2001), 45-71;Nocturnal Ciphers: The Allusive Language ofDreams in the Ancient Near East (forthcoming).8 See Noegel, Nocturnal Ciphers.9 Oppenheim, The Interpretation of Dreams in the

168

Ancient Near East, 269, 272.10X: x+13 (K.6663 + 8300).11A play here on lab[mu "make bricks," was notedby Oppenheim, The Interpretation of Dreams in theAncient Near East, 268, n. 34.12IX: rev. ii, x+21 (K.2582). In addition to the paro-nomasia, note that the pun is also visual and based onidentical signs (with the exception of A == ID in theprotasis).13The play here is on the word "bird" (i.'iiiuru).14VII: rev. ii, x+15-16. The apodosis IjA.A = haliiqu"lose," appears to have been associated with the pro-tasis' TUL = burtu "well, fish pond," via a learnedpun between its component signs, IjA and A. Theformer sign, when read as KU6 means nunu "fish,"i.e., a creature living in a fish pond. The latter sign Aalso represents mu "water." CAD B 335, s.v. burtu.

1

}

Ir"

,~

If he goes to Lubda (Lu-ub-daki): im-prisonment (me-si-ru) will seize [him].ls

If he seizes a fox (KAs.A = selibu), hewill seize a Lamassu (AN.KAL), but ifhe seizes a fox in his hand (SU), and itesc~pes, he will have seized a Lamassu,but it also will escape from his hand(SU).16

Mesopotamian oneirocritic practicesappear to have had a wide-ranging influ-ence. A. Leo Oppenheim, in his seminalwork on the subject, suggested that theNew Kingdom Egyptian dream oraclesshowed the imprint of Mesopotamiantechniques in their format and in somedetails, a remark now supported by addi-tional- Egyptological research.17 Thoughhe does not discuss it in depth, I pointout that both the Egyptian dream bookfrequently displays the punning herme-neutic. Three examples will illustrate.

If a man has a dream in which he -peelsoff his finger nail (be 'ek). Bad omen.The work (be'ek) of his hands will beseized.

If a man has a dream in which he offersincense (snlr) to the god. Bad omen. TheI:age of the god (n[r) is against him (i.e.,he is incensed!).

m_. - ---- .-.-

NOEGEL HOMER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERNONEIROMANC

If a man has a dream in which he uncov-ers (kf'w) his derriere (Pbwy). Badomen. He will come to an end (kf'wpbwy).

More recently, Mark Geller18 has seensimilar Mesopotamian oneirocritic influ-ence in the format and some protases ofsome Talmudic dream reports.19 Hereagain the dream reports reveal the pres-ence of the punning heremeutic.

Bar Kappara reports a dream to Rabbi inwhich some people told him "You willdie in the month of ' Adar and not seeNisan." Rabbi interprets this dream:"You will die with honor ('adratiih), andnot come into temptation (nisiiy6n)."2~

Bar Kappara reports a.dream in which hisnose ('ap) falls off. As Rabbi interpretshis dream: "Heated anger (baron 'ap)has been removed from yoU."21

One who sees a reed (qiineh) in a dreamwill acqire (qeneh) understanding.22

If one sees an elephant (PU) in a dream,wonders (pelii 'ot) will be wrought forhim.23 -

Though some scholars have empha-sized similarities in format and detail

when demonstrating Mesopotamian in-

15IX: obv. i, y+13 (Sm 29 + 79-7-8, 94). Here it isthe LU sign which logographicaIly suggests itself asDAB = kdlu "imprison, hold, contain." Similarly, theDB sign (=KU) represents the verb nadil, one ofwhose many meanings is "put in prison, fetter, cage."CAD Nil 86, s.V.nadu. These equations are bolsteredvisually as well by the signs LU and DAB which areidentical, and by the DB sign which differs from LVand DAB only in that it lacks a vertical wedge on itsright side.16If "fox" is read syllabically as !ie,lib-bu, the samesigns can be read as (A).AN.KAL-u, Le., "Lamassu." -Moreover, though SV here means qiitu "hand," onelexical lists shows us that dLAMMA = dSU. SeeScott B. Noegel, "Fox on the Run: Catch a Lamassuby the Pun," NABU (1995), 101-2.17See Noegel, Nocturnal Ciphers.18M. J. Geller, "The Survival of Babylonian Wissen-schaft in Later Tradition," in Sanna Arc and R.' M.

Whiting (eds.), TheHeirs of Assyria: Proceedings ofthe Opening Symposium of the Assyrian and Babylo-nian Intellectual Heritage Project Held in Tvar-minne, Finland, October 8-11, 1998 (MelammuSymposia, I; Helsinki, 2000), 1-6.19For the role of wordplay in Rabbinic exegesis ingeneral see Isaac Heineman, ;'1'),1\;'1':>" (Jerusalem:Magness Press, 1970), 103-130. See also BT,Berakhot 56b, 57a; Baba Kama 55a. For a brief dis-cussion of Talmudic dreams see Joshua Trachten-berg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study of FolkReligion (New York, 1974). For a complete list ofdream puns in the Talmud see Noegel, NocturnalCiphers.20BT, Berakhot, 56b.2l BT, Berakhot, 56b.22BT, Berakhot, 56b.23BT, Berakhot, 56b-57a.

169

NOEGEL HOMER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ONEIROMANCY

.~

fluence on these other dream collections,I would suggest that the presence of thepunning hermeneutic also should be ta-ken into consideration. We need not look

for specific punning parallels, but rathersimply the presence of the punning her-meneutic itself, since it implies the exis-tence of a learned system of hermeneuticprinciples or approaches. Therefore, theEgyptian and Talmudic dream oracles,both in format and in their ubiquitousemployment of the punning hermeneutic,uniquely evidence the chronological andgeographic pervasiveness of Mesopota-mian oneirocritic practices.

With this background in mind, I turn towhat to my knowledge is the only extantancient dream' manual in Greek, theOneirocritica of Artemidorus of Daldis,Though a product of the second centuryCE, the Oneirocritica nevertheless repre-sents the apex of a long oneirocritic tra-dition, one which it collects and embod-ies. Artemidorus himself cites numerous

dream interpreters and their works byname. He also consorted with market-

place diviners and studied every avail-able work on the subject. Thus, the Onei-racritica is a fitting text with which tocompare the Near Eastern dream manu-als.

The ancient hermeneutic traditioJ;1swhich the Oneirocritica represents em-ploy various interpretive principles ac-

24 Oppenheim,. The Interpretation. of Dreams in theAncient Near East, 216.25In Iliad 23 :65ff. records the appearance of the soulof Patrocolus in a dream. In Iliad 16:672 Sleep andDeath are twin brothers.26For Notariqon see Artemidorus Daldianus, Oneiro-critica. Trans!. Robert J. White (Noyes ClassicalStudies; Park Ridge, NJ., 1975), 196, where a mili-tary commander in the Jewish War in Cyrene dreamtthat the letters iota, kappa, and theta were inscribedon his sword. These letters were taken to representthe Jews, Cyrenaens, and death. For rabbinic practiceand the Bible, see Stanley Gevirtz, "Abram's 318,"IEl19 (1969), 1l0-l3. Compare this with the gematria

170

cording to classifications that appeargenerally in the earlier Near Easterndream materials. These patterns includetaking into account the dreamer's occu-

pation, a distinction between the rightand the left, and a polarity betweendreams and their meanings, i.e., if onedreams a bad thing, it means a goodthing. As in Near Eastern sources, theGreeks use the word "to see" to describea dream experience, and thus, both peo-ples equate dreams with visions. Withregard to literary "message dreams" wealso find in both sources a likening ofsleep to wind,24 and an association ofdreams with the underworld. The latter

appears already in Homer's Odyssey24:11-12 in which the souls of the deadare taken by Hermes past the Gates ofHelios and the "Land of Dreams" (oii!!oS;OYelQCDV).25Also similar is a distinctionbetween message dreams and symbolicdreams, a belief in the divine origin ofdreams, the topos of

'> '"

IIII

i~'

which Frans Dornseiff long ago sug-gested were Mesopotamian in origin,28remind us of Artemidorus' understandingof dreams as texts, as he notes: "For it

makes no difference whether one says thenumber itself or a word whose letters in-

dicate the number."29 Three exampleswill demonstrate the diversity of Artemi-

dorus' punning interpretive strategies.

A weasel (yaA:ij) that appears in a dreamrepresents a lawsuit (OL'XTj),since bothwords, when treated as numbers, equalforty-two (3 + 1 + 30 + 8 = 42// 4 + 10 +20 + 8 = 42/) (gematria).30

A penis (f,ttl°w) in a dream can signifythe making of important plans (f,tll~w)...(polysemy).3l

A wolf (M'XOC;) signifies a year(A'U'X6:~ac;)because of its name (parono-masia).32

Another feature found in Artemidorus

and in Near Eastern dream oracles, is theuse of literary and mythological texts asinterpretive templates. For example, Ar-temidorus interprets the appearance of"horses" in a dream as denoting "ships,"

~ ,n --, ,' ,


since Homer's Odyssey 4:708 refers toships as "horses of the sea" (aAO~L1C1COL).33Artemidorus similarly asserts:"That dreams are not entirely unrelatedto myths can be seen from this example...Heracles burned in a fire, so too a womanwho dreamt she did the labors of Hera-

cles."34 If one quotes a book in a dream,the events of that text will come to passin one's life as they unfolded in thetext.35 Thus, as with Near Eastern manu-als, dreams are viewed as texts and sym-bolic dreams, as texts that require deci-pherment. As Artemidorus put it: "Whe-never they (the gods) speak in riddlesand do not speak plainly, you must at-tempt to solve the riddJes."36 This re-mark, of course, reminds us of the NearEastern view expressed in Num 12:6-8.37

When a prophet of Yahweh arises amongyou, I make myself known to him in a vi-sion, I speak with him in a dream. Not sowith my servant Moses; he is trustedthroughout my household. With him Ispeak mouth to mouth, plainly and not inriddles... '

Part 2. The punning interpretat.ion of symbolic dreamsas reflected in Near Eastern and early Greek literature.

The punning hermeneutic in Mesopo-tamia was not limited to dream interpre-tation. On the contrary, since punning

appears originally to have been a manticdevice, it appears in most of the othermethods of Mesopotamian divination,

28See, e.g., Frans Dornseiff, Das Alphabet in Mystikund Magie (Leipzig, 1925), and also the followingadditions to the subject. R. Hallo, "Uber die griechis-chen Zahlbuchstaben und ihre Verbreitung," ZDMG80 (1926), 55-67; "Zusatze zu Franz Dornseiff's Al-phabet," Archiv fUr Religionswissenschajt 23 (1925),166-74; A. Bertholet, Die Macht der Schrift in Glau-ben und Aberglauben (Abhandlungen der DeutschenAkademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1948/1;Berlin, 1950). Each noted in Liebennan, "A Meso-potamian Background for the' So-called Aggadic'Measures' of Biblical Hermeneutics," 167, n. 45.29Daldianus, Oneirocritica, 196.30Daldianus, Oneirocritica, 165, 178, n. 11.

3l Daldianus, Oneirocritica, 39.32Daldianus, Oneirocritica, 96, 142.33Daldianus, Oneirocritica, 46.34Daldianus, Oneirocritica, 202.35Daldianus, Oneirocritica, 210.36Daldianus, Oneirocritica, 214.37See similarly, Lieberman, "A Mesopotamian Back-ground for the So-called Aggadic 'Measures' of Bib-Hcal Hermeneutics," 157-225; Tigay, "An EarlyTechnique of Aggadic Exegesis," 169-189; Dom-seiff, Franz, Das Alphabet in Mystik und Magie(Leipzig, 1925); Scott B. Noegel, "Atbash in Jere-miah and Its Literary Sigificance," JBQ 24/2-4(1996), 82-9, 160-6,247-50.

171


" /

from extispicy texts, to birth omens,magic stones, prophecy, astral magic,and the reading of birds.38 In an extispicytexts, for example, we read:

"If the station (a particular mark on theliver) is long (arik); the days of the rulerwill be long (irriku)."39

"If the 'reinforcement' (another well-defined portion of the liver) is thick (ul-IU:j); rejoicing (ullu:j libbi) of thearm y ."40

In the series of abnormal birth omensknown as Summu Izbu we find:

'--"

"If a ewe gives birth to a lion, and it hasmatted hair (mali); a reign of mourning(mali); the land will be full of mourning(maid); attack of the enemy."4\

. To cite one example from a Neo-Babylonian magical stone list I refer tothe aban are "eagle stone" which wasemployed as an amulet for pregnantwomen precisely because of the homo-nymity between aru "be -pregnant" andaru "eagle." I could cite numerous othersfrom a wide variety of divinatory disci-plines.42 Indeed, ancient Mesopotamianscholarly commentaries also bear witnessto the derivation of esoteric meaningsfrom texts via word play.43 Though itcertainly was not the only hermeneutic in

i

iI!iIi

existence, punning nevertheless served as.one of the most pervasive divinatoryhermeneutics throughout Mesopotamianhistory. The pervasiveness of this pun-ning hermeneutic bolsters the words of S.Parpola.

...the crafts of these scholarly expertswere to a large extent complementaryand... their respective disciplines andfields represented parts of a largerwhole, which I, in conformity with thenative Mesopotamian terminology, pro-pose to call "wisdom."44

This background informs W. Burkert'scomment that these same experts, hisitinerant "craftsmen of the sacred,"45transmitted their divinitory and purifi-catory skills, as well as elements of theirmythological "wisdom" to the West,46where they impacted Greek literature.

This impact is confirmed by extant pas-sages of early Greek literature thatclearly echo Mesopotamian classics...Just as in the case of liver divination, theliterary borrowings seem to belong onlyto the last phase of Greek epic poetry; it

- is post-Bronze Age works such as EnumaElish and Erra which have left theirmark. It is precisely the Homeric epochof Greece that is the epoch of the orien-

. tali zing revolutionY .

38See now the collection of essays in Scott B. Noegel(ed.), Puns and Pundits: Wordplay in the HebrewBible and Ancient Near Eastern Literature (Bethesda,MD, 2000).39Starr, The Rituals of the Diviner, 10.40Starr, The Rituals of the Diviner, 10.4\ Leichty, The Omen Series: Summa l=bu, 77, V:39.Noted also in Tigay, "An Early' Technique of Agga-dic Exegesis," 178, but as an example of Mesopota-mian "parable, allegory, or symboL" This examplemore accurately belongs with Tigay's reme= cate-gory.42See Noegel, Nocturnal Ciphers.43 See, e.g., Livingstone, Mystical and MythologicalExplanatory Works of Assyrian and BabylonianScholars (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986).44Parpola, "Mesopotamian Astrology and Astronomyas Domains of Mesopotamian 'Wisdom'," in Hannes

"' /

172

D. Galter, ed., Die. Rolle der Astronomie in denKu/turen Mesopotamiens; Beitriige =um 3. Gra=erMorgenliindischen Symposium. 23.-27. September,1991 (Grazer MorgenUindische Studien, 3; KarlFranzons Universit1it, Kopernikusgasse 24; Graz,1993), 52. The emphasis is the author's. It perhaps isno coincidence that the word c:m "wisdom" appearsin Genesis only in connection with the mantic profes-sionals of Egypt (Gen 41:.8,41 :33).45See, Walter Burkert, ."Itinerant Diviners and Magi-cians: A Neglected Element in Cultural Contacts," inR. H!igg (ed.), The Greek Renaissance of the EigthCentury B.C. Tradition and Innovation (Proceedingsof the Second International Symposium at theSwedish Institute in Athens, 1-5 June 1981; Stock-holm, 1983), 115-19.46Burkert, The Orientali=ing Revolution, 6.47Burkert, The Orientali=ing Revolution, 129.

i

"

iii

i

,1

J

~

~'.~...0

~j'".1;

:~i

'---/

,--= ~..' -- .0 -

Though Burkert does not mention it,the authors of these Mesopotamian clas-sics were mantic professionals.48 Indeed,the author of the Epic of Erra states inhis opening that he received the entiretext in a dream. The Epic of Gilgameshwas compiled by an exorcist, or perhapskalu singer. To some degree, therefore,demonstrating Mesopotamian literary in-fluence in early Greek literature is tan-tamount to demonstrating divinatory in-fluence. In this regard West's depictionof the Greek bard is striking: .

We should probably envisage the IEpoet-besides other functions such as in-voking gods at sacrifices, and recitingmagical incantations for various commu-nity needs-celebrating the noble qualitiesand heroic enterprises of the king and hisancestors... 49

Indeed, we hear of the complementar-ity and'inter-disciplinarity of Greek divi-natory professionals, in the Iliad 1:62-63,where, Achilles equates, as with equalpower, the soothsayer, omen readers,priest, prognosticator, and dream inter-preter.so In the Mesopotamian world, thisrange of interdisciplinary mantic skillsand their commonalities, explains whywe find the word play hermeneutic por-trayed accurately in Mesopotamian liter-ary portrayals of dream interpretation. Ioffer a few examples to illustrate, eachfrom the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In the Old Babylonian version, Gil-gamesh dreams' that a meteorite (ki:fru)fell from the sky on top (ana $eri) of

,him. His mother interprets the dream by


way of word play. She asserts that hewill meet one born of the steppe land (ina$eri) who will become the strength(ki$ru) of the god Ninurta. Both inter-pretations are confirmed shortly after-wards.

Gilgamesh's mother also employs apolysemous ~ermeneutic in the Assyrianversion. After conveying his first dreamin which he sees the ki$ru sa dAnim(I, v,28) or "meteorite," his mother offersan interpretation that derives from multi-ple readings of the word ki$ru. For ex-ample, she states kfma ki$ru sa' dAnimdunnuna emuqiisu "like a ki$ru of Anu,so mighty is his strength" (1:iii,4). Herethe words dunnuna emuqiisu "mighty ishis' strength," semantically play, onanother meaning of ki:fru, namely"strength."sl She also asserts that his vdream represents dannu tapJpu musezibfibril "a strong commrade who rescues afriend" (I:vi,l), one who Iii innizebkiikdsa "will never forsake you" (I:vi,5).The verb ka$iiru can be written in Sume-rian in several ways. One' way in par-ticular is with KAD, a sign that in turncan be read ezebu "forsake,"52 the veryverb that we have twice in her interpre-tation.

Elsewhere I have discussed two poly-semous .messages in Ea's secret warningto Utnapishtim.53 Specifically, I exam-ined XI: 14: sakan abubi ubla libbasunu

iliini rabati "the great gods set theirhearts to ubla the deluge" and XI:26:makkura zerma napiSta bullit "spurnproperty, keep living beings alive." I

48 It is likely that many Israelite and Egyptian divi-natory techniques were inherited from Mesopotamia.See, e.g., Frederick H. Cryer, Divination in AncientIsrael and its Near Eastern Environment: A Socio-Historical Investigation (JSOTS, 142: Sheffield,1994). '49 West, "The Rise of the Greek Epic," 154.50For a discussion of the similarities here to Greekepic see Rollinger, "Altorientalische Motivik in der

fiilhgriechischen Literatur am Beispeil der homeris-chen Epen...," 187-9051CAD K 436, s.v.ld~ru.52CAD E 416, S.v.ezebu.53 Scott B. Noegel, "A Janus Parallelism in the Gil-gamesI1 Flood Story," ASJ 13 (1991), 419-21; "AnAsymmetrical Janus Parallelism in the GilgameshFlood Story," ASJ16 (1994),10-12. .

173


.~

noted that the former plays on the poly-semy inherent in the word ubla, namely"want, desire, yearn for"54 and also"carry and sweep off (which often is saidof water),"55 and that the latter in XI:26involves two puns: zerma "spurn," whichalso can be read as serma "construct";and makkura "property," which also sug-gests makura "boat" (from Sum. ma-gurS).56I shall not detail my observationshere since they are available elsewhere.Suffice it to add that in both passage Eaalso equips his urgent message with awealth of alliteration, specifically in therepeated consonants Ibl, Ill, and In/.

Later in XI:45-47,57 Ea issues a poly-semous warning to Utnapishtim by tell-ing him that the chief god Enlil promisesto "provide" (zaniinu) the people with an"abundance" (nubsu) of "wheat cakes"(kukki) and "wheat" (kibati). Utna-pishtim, the wise man that he is, is ableto perceive other meanings in these fourwords, namely an "excessive" (nuhsu)"storm" (zaniinu) of "darkness" (kukku)and "heaviness" (kib ittu). 58

Each of the polysemous statements Ihave discussed have in common a context

(.'\'---"

of dreams. As Ea tells the divine assem-

bly: aniiku ul apta piriSti iliini rabuti.Atra-hasissunata usabrisumma piristiiliini isme "It was not I who disclosed the

secret of the great gods. I let Atra-.gasisbehold a dream, and he perceived the se-cretofthe gods" (XI:186-187).

Examples of the literary portrayal ofsymbolic dreams and the punning here-meneutic could be multiplied manytimes, 59 and I could add to them samplesfrom the biblical record; but I think thepoint has been made-since the ancientNear Eastern literary texts were the per-view of mantics, they accurately reflectthe use of the punning hermeneutic alsofound in other forms of Near Easterndivination.

The materials I have discussed, and theparallels between Mesopotamian andGreek dream omens, naturally r-aise thequestion whether earlier Greek literarytexts reflect the punning hermeneutic.With this in mind, I turn to what W.Arend has defined as the only extantsymbolic dream in e~rly Greek lite-rature,60 that of Penelope's dream in theOdyssey 19:536-559:

~

54 CAD All 21-22, s.V. abalu. See also the doublesense of abalu in an apodosis in the VeFlusTablets ofAmmi~aduqa (= Tablet 63 of the series Enuma AnuEnlil): nagbu ippataru dAdad =unndu dEa nagbesuubbula sarru ana sarri salima isappar "'springs toopen?,' Adad will bring his rains, Ea his floods, kingwill send messages of reconciliation to king." Foundin Reiner and Pingree, Enuma Anu Enlil, Tablet 63:The Venus Tablet of Ammi.

,Listen to this dream of mine and inter-pret it. I keep a flock of twenty geese(XfjVE~!-tOL)here. They eat grain from thewater (:Jt'UQovEOO'UOLVd; uoa'to~) and Idelight in watching them. In my dream Isaw a great eagle with a curved beak(aY'X'UA.OXELA.T)~)swoop down from themountain (OQEO~)and break their necks(auXEva~), killing them (E'X'tavEv).Therethey lay heaped (E'XEX1JV'tO)in the greathall (!-tEyaQOt~),while he soared up intothe clear sky... I grieved piteously be-cause the eagle had killed my geese (!-tOtai.E'to~ E'X'tavE xiiva~). 61

The inclusion of birds in Penelope'sdream offers a narrative twist found also

in Near Eastern literature;62 namely theplacement of an omen within an omen,63since birds too were divinatory tools.64Moreover, since the name Penelope itselfsuggests the word "duck," the attentivereader cannot help but attribute impor-tance to birds and their meaning in thispencope. .

More important is the presence inPenelope's dream of word plays that con-stitute riddles to the dream' s in~erpreta-tion. The first is Penelope's reference togeese coming from the water to eat grain.


Here the expression tOO'UOLVES Mm;os;"they eat grain from the water" perhapssuggests the name 'OO'UOOE'lJS.65The punis piqued by ambiguous syntax whichforces us to contemplate whether then'UQovor the geese are in the water. 66

Also suggestive of Odysseus is theeagel's curved beak, his ay'X'UAoXELA:Y)S;,which punfully echoes Odysseus' "cur-ved bow" (aY'X'lJAa'to;a) (cf. Odyssey21 :264). The pun is edified soon after-wards by Penelope's decision to test theSuitors with Odysseus~ bow.

Word plays also connect the wordxftves "geese," with txex'Uv'to "heap up,"and £'X'taVEVused for the "killing" of thegeese. These puns are rein.forced by thesemantic parameters of the verb 'X'tELVW,which Liddell and Scott note only rarelyappear in reference to animals. In fact, .they cite Penelope's dream as an excep-tion.67 Thus, the puns and the verb for"kill" suggest the slaughter of humans.Moreover, the number and appetites ofthe geese also suggest their interpretationas the Suitors, for the Suitors frequentlyappear as twenty feasting men.68

Penelope's use of the word av:x.evas;

1933),61, n. 3, notes that Penelope's dream does notconform structurally to other Homeric dreams whichare message dreams. A. H. M. Kessels, Studies on theDream in Greek Literature (The Netherlands, 1978),150, asserts that all dreams in Homer are messagedreams. See also the comment of Joseph Russo,Manuel Fernandez-Galiano, and Alfred Heubeck, ACommentary on Homer's Odyssey Vol. 2 (Oxford,1992), 102, that "of several dreams in Homer, onlythis one resembles a true dream: its message is hid-den in a symbolic code."61The translation (with minor modification) is that ofE. V. Rieu, Homer: The Odyssey (New York, 1991).62Gudea's dream in Cylinder A:17. E. Jan Wilson,The Cylinders of Gudea: Transliteration, Transla-tion, and Index (AOAT, 224; Neukirchener VerlagNeukirchen-Vluyn, 1996), 26-7; and the dreams ofJoseph in Gen 40:17-19. Ancient Near Eastern lit-erature knows of other instances in which omens areplaced within other omens, e.g., a Kassite extispicytext which is said to have occurred in a dream. See H. .F. Lutz, "A Cassite Liver Omen Text," JAOS 38(1918),77-96.

63Ludwig Binswanger, Wandlungen in der Auffassungund Deutung des Traumes: van den Griechen bis =urGegenwart (Berlin, 1928); Joachim Hundt, DerTraumglaube bei Homer (Grieswalder Beitrage zurLiteratur und Stilforchung, 9; Grieswald, 1935),2-3.64 Noted also by Hundt, Der Traumglaube beiHomer, 90, n. 28.65For other puns on Odysseus' name see Louis PhilippeRank, Etymologiseering en Verwante Verschijnselenbij Homerus (Netherlands, 1951),51-62; B. Louden,"Categories of Homeric Wordplay," TAPA 125(1995),34-7.66Russo, A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey Vol. 2,101-2. .67L&S, 1001, s.v. X'tELVOO. .68 We also later learn that twenty maidens were re-quired for the Suitors, presumably one for eachSuitor, Odyssey 20:157; cf. Telemachus' reference tothe "more than twenty" Suitors in 16:245. Note theremark of Russo, A Commentary on Homer's Odys-sey Vol. 2, 102, that ":..the single activity that char-acterizes the geese is eating..." (italics original).

175

-

NOEGEL HOMER AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ONEJROMANCY

~

for "necks" continues the punning onxf)v££ and tx£X'lJV'tOand reinforces theinterpretive connection between the bro-ken necks of the assembly and her Suit-ors who just previously are called thebest of the Achaeans (Axmwv) (Odyssey19:529).69

The heapIng of dead geese in the"great halls" (lleyagoL£) also suggeststhe slaying of the Suitors for the greathalls are where the Suitors continuallybanquet (17 :604). In fact, we later learnthat Odysseus' slaughter of the Suitorsleaves them heaped (XEX'lJV'tO)in the"great halls" (Il£YeXgwv) (Odyssey22:375, 389).70 In addition, the use oftXEX'lJV"COrecalls a previous scene inwhich maidens feed the Suitors with

bread (like the geese) and pour water(EXHJaVvowg) over their hands (1: 146).

Note also in the expression IlOLat£"Co~Ex"Cav£xf)va£ how Penelope's use of IlOLcan be understood as a simple possessivewith xf)va£, but also as a dative of disad-vantage with Ex'tan meaning "he killedthem for me." Moreover, the reading IlOLat'to£ as "my eagle" offers an ironic sub-tlety that suggests to Russo that "Pene-lope does not yet know that the eagle ismore truly hers than the geese are."7!

The cumulative impact of these punsjustifies the words of the eagle in Pene-lope's dream who perches on a beam andinterprets:

~

~1

"The geese are the Suitors, and I, that be-fore was the eagle-omen (atEtO£ ogVt£),am now again (aii'tE n:o£) come back asyour husband (noat£), who will let loosea cruel doom upon all the Suitors"(Odyssey 546-549).

Note how the eagle draws a punningconnection between his form as an eagle(at£'to£) and what he is now again (au'tE'tEO£), Le., her husband. The word nOaL£"husband," also is polysemous and canmean "a drinking feast" or "carousal"72(cf. Odyssey 10:176, Iliad 1:469). Its us-age here befits the image of drinkinggeese in the dream and hints at Odys-seus' return while the Suitor's carouse.

After listening to the dream, the dis-guised Odysseus perceives Penelope'saccount as an omen 73 and assures her of

the interpretation's accuracy.

Lady, in no wise is it possib'le to inter-pret (iJJtoxgCvaa8mf4 this dream andgive it another meaning... For the Suit-ors' destruction is plain to see, for oneand all; not one of them shall escapedeath and doom (xfiQa£) (Odyssey19:555-558).

Penelope replies (in a famous passagelater imitated by Vergii in the Aeneid).

"Dreams, my friend," said the thoughtfulPenelope, "are awkward and confusingthings: not all that people see in themcomes true. For there are two gates thro-ugh which these unsubstantial visionsreach us; one is of horn (xEgaEaatfS and

69The pun also'reminds us of the eagels' actions thatthe augur interpreted in book 2. There, however, theword for necks was 6€LQa~.The use of aUX"Evac;,therefore, stands out intertextually.70Russo, A Conimentary on Homer's Odyssey Vol. 2,102, note that "Homer has sustained a (perhaps un-conscious) connection with the suitors in his choiceof the verb." ,7] The observations on the possessive use of ~OLarefound in Russo, A Commentary on Homer's OdysseyVol. 2, p 102.72 L&S, 1453, S.v. Jt6GL~.

73 As noted by Kessels, Studies on the Dream in

176

Greek Literature, 99.74This verb is commonly used for interpreting omensand oracles. See Iliad 5:150. .75 E. L. Highbarger,The Gates of Dreams(Baltimore,1940),38, indentified the gate of horns as the Gate ofthe Sun known in Mesopotamian and Egyptian my-thology sources, a gate guarded by a bull, but theGate of Ivory has not permitted a similar identifica-tion. This interpetation has not received general ac-ceptance, though Russo, A Commentary on Homer'sOdyssey Vol. 2, 103, notes "The prominence given inCrete to sacred horns could weIl derive from thiseastern source."

~

the other of ivory (tAEepa'VtL).Those thatcome through the carved ivory (tAeepav-1:0£) gate deceive/harm us (tAEepaLQov-'tat) bringing unfulfillment (a,xQaav'taepEQO'V'tE£);whereas those that issue fromthe gate of burnished horn (xEQao.>v)really fulfill (t'tUfta xQaLvouOL)..."76(19:560-565,571-572).

'"

~

.i

Penelope's pessimism plays on Odys-seus' use of U3toxQLvao6m and xf]Qa~.Her remark also equates horn with ful-fillment and ivory with deception, i.e.,xcQawv with xQaLvouOL and £A.£cpav'to£with £A.ccpaCQoV'tm. Moreover, Penelo-

pe's statement .is ambiguous because"each verbal phrase describing what each

group of dreams does is open to two in-terpretations."77 The verb £A.ccpaLQov'taLmeans both "cheat" and "damage," andthe expression E'tUI-.ta xQaCvouoL canmean "fulfill things that are real" or"really have power to fulfill. "78 For Pene-lope the allusive nature of symbolicdreams is readily conveyed through theambiguity of word play.79

Such punning in the story of Pene-lope's symbolic dream, like the dreamaccounts in the epic of Gilgamesh, dem-onstrate the Odyssey's familiarity withthe interpretive strategies of mantics.

Moreover, Penelope's dream edifiesfor the audience a previous omen in book2 in which Zeus vindicates Telemachus'assertion that Odysseus would return by

,11:

~

Iji'll,


sending two eagles who fly from on highfrom a mountain peak.

For a time they flew swift as the blasts ofthe wind side by side with wings out-spread; but when they reached the middleof the many-voiced assembly, then theywheeled about, flapping their wingsrapidly, and down on the heads of allthey looked, and death was in their glare.Then they tore with their talons one an-other's cheeks and necks (OELQC1.£)on ei-ther side, and darted away to the rightacross the houses and the city of the men(Odyssey 2:146-154).

Amazed at the omen, Telemachus and

his companions consult one Halitherses.whom Homer describes as surpassing "allmen of his day in knowledge of birds andin uttering words of fate" (Odyssey2: 157). He interprets the omen as pre-dicting a great woe upon Penelope'swooers, and the return of Odysseus in thetwentieth year. 80 According to JosephRusso, the actions of the birds constitutea foreshadowing by producing "a vividpicture, corresponding closely to the tac-tics of Odysseus' vengeance, an unex-pected attack by a determined pair on anunarmed crowd."8! Yet, the omen is morethan a literary d~vice, it is a reflection ofthe poet's conception of omens, his man-tic ideology; for the text derives from acultural matrix that treated omens as di-

vine messages. Literary allusions are

76Kessels, Studies on the Dream in Greek Literature,128, n. 73, notes that the Homeric Hymn hymnus adMercurium, 559 and Euripides, Jon, 604 use the verbxQaCvoo"fulfill" in connection with divination.77Russo, A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey Vol. 2,103.78Russo, A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey Vol. 2,103.79Anne Amory, "The Gates of Horn and Ivory," YaleClassical Studies 30 (1966), 43-9, has observed,Penelope's mention of "horn" (xEQa£)subtly remindsus of Odysseus by way of his bow, which is made ofhorn (21:393-5) and Odysseus' eyes which the nar-rator remarks repressed tears as if fixed by iron and

horn (19:211-12). Moreover, Penelope's reference toivory anticipates her opening of the storeroom withan ivory-handled key to get Odysseus' bow of horn.Amory concludes: "The bow and the key are con-nected primarily with the revenge theme... but thegates of the dreams passage is connected also withthe revenge theme..." (49). .80 It is worthnotingherethat Eustathius' 12thcenturycommentary sees the actions of the eagles in theomen in Odyssey 2:154 as clawing the necks andcheeks of the Ithacans. This would provide an evencloser parallel between the dream and the omen.8l Russo, A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey Vol. 1,p 141.

177


thus essentially a means by which thepoet portrays the art of prediction. In-deed, Homer vindicates the augur whenafter the twentieth year Odysseus returns.

The verification of one omen with an-

other is standard Near Eastern practiceand is widely reflected in Near Easterntexts. Since dreams and omens were in-

herently uncertain, their interpretationsrequired the support of other divinatoryefforts. While the "combination of dreamand omen or a dream and oracle is foundnowhere in the Iliad or the Odyssey,"82the depiction of divinatory activity in theOdyssey illustrates this same narrativeprogram of omen verification throughdreams and other portents.83

We already have seen how Penelope'sdream affirms the augur's prediction inbook 2, but prior to Penelope's dreamTelemachus observes a similar omen:

Even as he spoke a bird flew by on theright, an eagle (atELb~), bearing in histalons a great, white goose (xii'Va), atame fowl from the yard, and men andwomen followed shouting. But the eagledrew near to them, and darted off to theright in front of the horses; and theywere glad as they saw it, and the heartsin the breasts of all were cheered(15:160-165).

Before Telemachus can interpret the

omen Helen prophesies:84

Even as this [eagle] came from themountain, where are his kin, and wherehe was born, and snatched up the goose(xiiv) that was bred in the house, even soshall Odysseus return to his home aftermany toils and many wanderings, and

.82Messer, The Dream in Homer and Greek Tragedy,67. However, Messer did not consider Zeus' doubleconfinnation of Odysseus' dream-vision through averbal utterance and portent in 20:100-1..83Note also the observation of Oppenheim, The In-terpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East,222-3 who recognized in Iliad 5:149-51 the implica-tion "that the oneirop%s likewise sought to establish

178

shall take vengeance; or even now he isat home, and is sowing the seeds of evilfor all the Suitors (15:174-178).

Soon afterwards Zeus sends Telemachus

another sign of the Suitor's demise.

Even as he spoke a bird flew by upon theright, a hawk, the swift messenger ofApollo. In his talons he held a dove, andwas plucking her and shedding the feath-ers down on the ground...(15:525-534).

The seer Thebclumenos85 interprets theomen as meaning "no other descent thanyours in Ithaca is more kingly (~aO'L-A.EV'tEQOV);you are' supreme forever"(15:533-534). This omen shown to Te16-machus' serves an allusive function in the

narrative, anticipating Odysseus' killingof the Suitors on the day sacred toApollo (20:276-278,21 :258-259).

Numerous lexical and thematic fea-

tures parallel Penelope's dream with theaugur and Theoclumenos' predictions inbooks 2 and 15. Both the augur's predic-tion and Penelope's dream report eaglesthat soar from mountains and break the

necks of assembly members, killingthem. Both omens incorporate the num-ber twenty. Like Penelope's dream, theomen in book 15 interprets an eagle thatsoars from a mountain and kills a goose(X1lv).All omens suggest the same inter-pretation which comes to pass. Again,this is more than sophisticated intratex-tuality, it is a poetic method for demon-strating the veracity of the omens.

Just as Penelope's dream edified threeprevious bird omens, so too does the Odys-sey edify the interpretation of Penelope's

the meaning of 'symbolic' dreams by means of pro-voked omens."84In Hittite bird omens one also finds female inter-preters. See, e.g., Annelies Kammenhuber, Orake/-praxis. Traume, und Vor=eichenschau be; den Hethi-tern (Heidelberg, 1976), .46.8S Odyssey 15:225-56 establishes the seer as adescendant of a family of reputable diviners.

.1

" "

L

Jci~.~'"~

\

dream in book 20:98-119 by way of akledon (20:120), i.e., an omen based onan accidental 'overhearing, another omentype found earlier in Mesopotamia.86 Inbook 20 Odysseus prays to Zeus for asign, and Zeus responds with a peal ofthunder from a cloudless sky, to which awoman grinding wheat stops and re-marks:

Surely this is a portent (tEQa~)that youare showing to some man ... May theSuitors this day for the last and latesttime hold their glad feast in the halls(l!£yaQoL~) of Odysseus. They haveweakened my limbs with bitter labor, as Imade them barley meal,. may they nowsup their last (20:114-119).

In anticipation of the fated feast,twenty maidens draw water for the Suit-ors.

The portent is another link in the Odys-sey's chain of omens that predict Odys-seus' return. To this end the text againemploys lexical. and thematic featuresthat remind his audience of Penelope'sdream. Both episodes involve Jtugov"wheat," references to the halls of Odys-seus, the gluttony of the Suitors, theirdrinking of water, and the number twenty(Odyssey 20: 157). Both omens predictthe return of Odysseus. .

Moreover, this kledon anticipates yetanother bird omen witnessed by the Suit-ors who ask of Zeus a sign while plottingthe death of Telemachus in the assembly:"...a bird on their left, an eagle of loftyflight, clutching a timid dove" (20:242-


247). As Russo intuitively notes, "Thispowerful eagle and helpless dove recallthe bird symbolism of Penelope's dream,and point to the destruction of the Suitorsby the powerful Odysseus. "87

The punning connections betweenPenelope's symbolic dream and its mea-ning, and the word plays in Penelope'sstatement about dream interpretationdemonstrate the Odyssey's familiaritywith the linguistic techniques of mantks;techniques that are grounded in Meso-potamian. The integration of divinatoryknowledge into a literary artifice thatverifies one omen by way of another alsois standard Near Eastern practice. In asimilar vein Gerd Stein has shown that

the praxis described in the Odyssey's"Book of the Dead," (book 11) by whichOdysseus consults a prophet shares much ¥in common with Hittite and Mesopota-.mian magic rituals.88 R. Rollinger alsohas demonstrated a number of similari-

ties between Homeric and Mesopotamianmantics.89 It would appear, therefore, thatthe redactors of the Odyssey were associ-ated with mantics closely enough also toportray their oneirocritic activity accu-rately and with legitimacy. 90

A comprehensive dis.cussion of thenumerous similarities between Penelo- .

pe's d.ream in the Odyssey and the otherdreams mentioned in the epic of Gil-gamesh is beyond the scope and spacelimitations of this article; Suffice it toadd, however, that when combined withth~ evidence for a shared narrative strat-

86Oppenheim, The Interpretation of Dreams in theAncient Near East, 211, compares this episode withthat of Gideon in Judges 7.87Russo, A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey Vol. 3,120. .88See, e.g., G. Steiner, "Die Unterweltsbeschworungdes Odysseus im Lichte Hethitischer Texte," UF 3(1971),265-83.89 Rollinger, "Altorientalische Motivik in der frilh-

.griechischen Literatur am Beispeil der homerischen

Epen..."90Homer as blind poet also fits the topos of manticsas handicapped in ancient Mediterranean world. Cf.Teiresias the blind seer (Odyssey 10:493), and theblind Demodokos (Odyssey 8:36) who though de-prived of sight was given sweet song. On this seeJohn Pairman Brown, "The Mediterranean Seer andShamanism," ZAW 93 (1981), 374-400, especially377-8.

179


I1'-../IIII

egy of omen verification and oneiroman-tic punning, some degree of Near Easterninfluence seems like ly.

Of course, the influence need not havebeen direct. A. Leo Oppenheim sug-gested that Near Eastern influence onGreek divinatory practices derived fromTelemessos in Caria, a city famed for theinvention of all sorts of divinatory tech-niques.91 Whether this region of South-west Asia Minor acted as a conduit forthe diffusion of Near Eastern oneirocritic

methods, from Mesopotamian and Hittitecenters of learning to Greece, is impossi-ble to demonstrate. Nevertheless, in thelight of growing evidence for Near East-ern influence in Homeric texts, it seems aplausible scenario.92 Such a view recallsW. Burkert and Fritz Graf's93 attributionof influence to the itinerant seers, bothreminiscent of Cyrus Gordon's earliersuggestion that the demioergoi spreadNear Eastern mantic culture throughoutthe Homeric West,94

Regardless of the model of transmis-sion, a comparison of Near Eastern man-tic techniques with the Odyssey's por-trayal of the same, suggests that theywere cut from similar cloth. At the veryleast, the comparisons help to elucidateeach other. As scholars continue to in-

vestigate Near Eastern and Aegean con-tacts, it will become increasingly moreimportant to establish with greater claritythe social contexts of mantics in these

~

regions, and to reflect synchronically anddiachronically upon the relationship be-tween magic (however defined), divina-tion, wisdom, and literature.

Some work in this area already hasbeen done, especially by Classicists, andwith exciting results. Sarah Iles John-ston, for example, recently has under-taken a comparative study of the Greekarid Near Eastern use of figurines to rep-resent and control ghosts.95 Her studysees the borrowing and adaptation ofNear Eastern concepts as a process that"validated or challenged existing Greekcultural values. "96

Viewing the process of adaptation inthis way allows us to appreciate betterhow this borrowing is negotiated as acultural process. With reference to dreaminterpretation and the Near Eastern pun-ning hermeneutic, such an approach al-lows us to place the evidence for sharedmantic practices in a social context andto see -in the similarities and distinctions

signs of validation and challenge.Adopting Johnston's approach we

might say that in the light of the NearEastern materials, the Odyssey's treat-ment of symbolic dreams differs little,suggesting that the theoretical principlesthat undergird Mesopotamian oneiro-mancy, and other forms of divination,offer little challenge to the existing cul-tural values of his day.

Where the Homeric text does appear to

//1I

91 Cf. Cicero, De divinatione 1:41.92 Observed by Oppenheim, The Interpretation ofDreams in the Ancient Near East, 239.93Fritz Graf, "Excluding the Charming: The Devel-opment of the Greek Concept of Magic," in MarvinMeyer and Paul Mirecki (eds.), Ancient Magic andRitual Power (Religions in the Graeco-RomanWorld, 129; Leiden, 1995),29-42.94 Cyrus H. Gordon, "Ugaritic Guilds and HomericClHMIoEPror," in Saul Weinberg (ed.), The Aegeanand the Near East: Studies Presented to Hetty Gold-man on the Occasion of Her Seventy-Fifth Birthday

180

(Locust Valley, NY, 1956), 136-43.95Sarah Isles Johnston, "Songs for the Ghosts: Magi-cal Solutions to Deadly Problems," in David R. Jor-dan, Hugo Montgomery, and Einar Thomassen (eds.),The World of Ancient Magic. Papers from the FirstInternational Samson Eitrem Seminar at the Nor-weigian Institute at Athens, 4-8 May 1997 (Papers ofthe Norwegian Institute of Athens, 4; Bergen, 1999),83-102.96 Johnston, "Songs for the Ghosts: Magical Solu-tions to Deadly Problems," 89.

"-..J

differ is in its use of word play beyondthe narrative confines of the symbolicdream and its interpretation. Penelope'sspeech about dreams incorporates wordplays, which, while indexing the tech-niques of oneiromantics, and thus re-minding us of the hermeneutical key tounderstanding her dream, also registerswhat might be thought of as an expandedliterary use of the device.

Moreover, where the Odyssey also ap-pears to differ is in its marked ambiva-lence concerning the reliability of de-coding symbolic dreams with accuracy;hence, Penelope's gates. of horn andivory. Agamemnon's deceitful messagedream (OUA.o~OV£LQO~)in the Iliad 2:6could be mentioned in support. Such anambivalent, if not mistrusting under-standing of dreams accords less with the

-,


Near Eastern materials, and. reflects acertain amount of tension in antiquitywith regard to the reliability of dreams,especially symbolic ones, as a mode ofdivine discourse. However, since theOdyssey anticipates Penelope's symbolicdream through mantic acts of augury andkledomancy, and since it validates boththem and the dream by allowing Odys-seus to return in the twentieth year, wemust see its treatment of the symbolicdream as a literary response to this ten-sion, and as a legitimation of the oneiro-critic arts over and against any contraryviews of the day.

Perhaps of greater significance, then,than the source of the OdysseY's divina-tory knowledge, is the implication that anawareness of divinatory technique holdsfor ancient conceptions of the poet.97

~97See, e.g., Brown, "The Mediterranean Seer and Shamanism."

~,

181

dreaming and the ideology of mantics: homer and ancient...

Documents