THE Department of Classical Philology of Columbia University has approved this monograph as a contribution to knowledge worthy of publication. We are happy to agree, and we hope that Mr. Messer will be able to fulfill his promise of further contributions to his chosen subject. He was led to the study of the dreams in Greek literature by the discovery -- which every serious student of Latin literature will make -- that without Greek you cannot get far into Latin; for he first set out to investigate Roman dreams (see "Mnemosyne," 45, 78-92). His present work is really introductory to a more general study of the ancient dream, especially as portrayed in Latin literature. It deals particularly with the dreams in Homer, Hesiod, and the Tragedians, (I) as a part of the machinery, a motive force in the development of action, narrative, plot, and (2) as artistic ends in themselves, more or less complete, more or less refined, more or less natural or artificial. The author has collected, for his own purposes, all dreams and references to dreams that he can find in Greek or Latin literature down to the second century A.D., and his footnotes give proof of his wide reading and of the intrinsic interest of his materials. His style is somewhat inelegant, and his arrangement unattractive. His method is to plough solemnly through the whole field, noting and discussing each dream as it appears. Accordingly there is too much repetition, and a bewildering abundance of cross-references. If only he had added a short chapter summarizing his results, his work would have been more likely to be recognised for what it is -- a very sound and useful piece of not particularly inspired research. That the author is no mere compiler is shown by many touches of just literary appreciation. He is at his best in pointing out that Penelope's dream of geese and eagle (Odyssey XIX.) is unlike other dreams in Homer, an allegorical vision which demands interpretation, "a new departure for the epic, and a model for the allegorical dreams of tragedy.' The second part, in which the eagle returns and announces him as Odysseus, is in the manner of the older type, the objective dream which tells its own tale without any mystery; and this addition, Mr. Messer thinks, is an indication that the poet felt uneasy about the introduction of the new technique (pp. 33-4). Excellent, again, is the remark (p. 57) that 'the immediate source of the dream in tragedy is to be found not in religion and cult, but in the literature.' So is the discussion (p. 81 ff.) of the dream in Sophocles' "Electra," where the old literary motif is adapted, not so much for its mechanical effect upon the plot as for its value as a means and an excuse for the portrayal of character. Finally, the description of the dream in Euripides' "Iphigenia in Tauris" as approximating to 'the highly chiseled miniatures in which the Alexandrian period delights, ' strikes me as just and illuminating. Where Mr. Messer sticks to the literature and his own commonsense, his work is sound and useful. Sometimes, unfortunately, he is led, like most of us, into the dangerous by-paths of cult-conjecture....--"The Classical Review," Volume 33

A collection of innovative essays on major topics in ancient Greece and Rome, first published in 2004.

An illustrated introduction to ancient Greek tragedy, written by one of its most distinguished experts, which provides all the background information necessary for understanding the context and content of the dramas. A special feature is an individual essay on every one of the surviving 33 plays.

Examiningthe manifest and invisible dead, this book considers the nature, extent andlimitations of harmful interaction between the living and the dead in Greektragedy, concentrating on the abilities of the dead, the consequences of corpse exposure andmutilation, and the use of avenging agents by the dead.

In some versions of the myth, Iphigenia was due to be immolated by her father on Artemis’ altar before the beginning of the Trojan War, but was replaced by the goddess with a deer, at the last moment. This is the most staggering, and perhaps best-known, rite of sacrifice in Greek tragedy. Perfectly symmetrical, the end of this war is marked by another human tribute, Polyxena. Some of the topics investigated in this volume include whether these sacrifices, as well as similar ones such as those of Macaria and Menoeceus, the husbands of the Danaides, the hero Pentheus, and Aegisthus, are all a way to balance things out, or whether they cause an even greater unbalance.

The history and literature of the Roman Empire is full of reports of dream prophecies, dream ghosts and dream gods. This volume offers a fresh approach to the study of ancient dreams by asking not what the ancients dreamed or how they experienced dreaming, but why the Romans considered dreams to be important and worthy of recording. Dream reports from historical and imaginative literature from the high point of the Roman Empire (the first two centuries AD) are analysed as objects of cultural memory, records of events of cultural significance that contribute to the formation of a group's cultural identity. The book also introduces the term 'cultural imagination', as a tool for thinking about ancient myth and religion, and avoiding the question of 'belief', which arises mainly from creed-based religions. The book's conclusion compares dream reports in the Classical world with modern attitudes towards dreams and dreaming, identifying distinctive features of both the world of the Romans and our own culture.

Examines aspects of the dream in Homer and Greek tragedies as an originating cause or impetus of the action in a poem or play.