ARCE PA: “If a crocodile has sex with her, she will die swiftly”: Dreams and Divination in Ancient Egypt

Lectures are FREE for ARCE members. For more information, visit arce-pa.org or email us at info@arce-pa.org

Lecture Information: 

In the ancient world, the Egyptians had a reputation for excelling in divination, the practice of gaining knowledge about the future via occult channels. Many types of divination were known and habitually practiced in ancient Egypt, primarily by temple priests who employed specific handbooks for this purpose. Such arts included astrology, the study of the behavior of animals (so-called animal omina), oil divination (aka lecanomancy), and more. But one particularly popular branch of divination was oneiromancy, that is dream interpretation. 

This talk will introduce the audience to new research on ancient Egyptian oneiromancy, discussing in detail the workings of dream interpretation manuals and what light they shed on our knowledge of the ancient Egyptian mind.