Sacred Tales (accounts of his own dreams) by Aelius Aristides

accounts of dreams involving deities

pp.

cap : sec

locality dreamt about

deity (incl. sun & star) or idol

action

207-8

1:10-14

p. 207 1:10 Temple of Asklepios

1:11 "statues of the Good Fortune and the Good God"

p. 208 1:12 told of his dream in Smyrna to the priest

208-9

1:17-21

p. 208 1:17 Temple of Asklepios

p. 209 statue of Asklepios; 1:18 Phoibos

1:21 "shadow of columns" indicated noon-time

210

1:22

market-place in Smyrna

"rising of the sun"

recited verse of Euripides (Phoinessai 3)

211

1:24-26

1:24 Temple of Apollon on mt. Miluas

  

buildings had been added from Elephantine in Aiguptos

212

1:30-31

1:30 Temple of Asklepios

"at dawn"

sang "I celebrate Zeus"
 

1:33

    

prayed to Zeus & Ares

213

1:36-40

    

1:38 spoke of "divine visions" of Asklepios & Sarapis

217-8

1:53-57

p. 217 Smyrna

  

the prophet Koros warned of poisoned figs

220-1

1:69-73

p. 220 1:69 through Mysia

1:71 "the God" (Apollon)

p. 221 1:73 wrote poe:m about Koronis

222

1:78

Temple of Zeus Asklepios

  

found epistle at his feet

224

2:7

  

"the Savior" (Asklepios)

"He ordered me to go forth unshod."

226-8

2:15-25

p. 226 1:18 Smyrna

Asklepios-Apollon

p. 227 viewed finger-sign for # 17

228-9

2:26-28

p. 228 2:27 Temple of Asklepios

  

p. 229 was to dedicating ring to Telesphoros, inscribing it "O! son of Kronos"

229-30

2:29-36

p. 229 2:30 Sacred Theatre

  

"hymned the God" ("arbiter of fate" 2:31)

230-232

2:37-44

  

p. 231 2:40 Asklepios (& Athene 2:41)

p. 232 2:42 "She reminded me of" the Odysseid

243-4

3:10-13

p. 244 3:13 "ancestral hearth"

"statues of the Gods"

inscription : "Offer thanks to the Gods."

245

3:16-20

3:20 "hearth of my foster fathers"

"statue of Zeus"

  

246

3:21-22

3:21 Temple of Telesphoros

"statue of Artemis"

  
 

3:22-23

3:22 Temple of Hugieia

3:23 Telesphoros about my neck

"a light shone on the opposite wall"

250

3:39

altar of Zeus

"a shining star darted through the market place"

  

262

4:39

    

hymn to Athene; hymn to Dionusos
 

4:40

  

Hermes "with his dog skin cap"

"I was singing of him"

264

4:45-46

4:46 Temple of Zeus Asklepios

  

dedicated inscription to Olumpian Zeus

264-5

4:48-51

p. 264 4:48 Ancestral Temple of Neus

p. 265 4:50 3-headed statue

shouted "The One"

266

4:55-56

  

4:55 gazing at the morning star

4:56 Asklepios of Pergamos is established in the sky

269

4:69

    

called on Asklepios

285

5:31

  

"sun rising from the market place"

  

291

5:64-65

5:64 Athenai

  

5:65 "procession in honor of Eros"

(there is a brief summation of the Sacred Tales on pp. 121-128)

(summation of author’s bodily symptoms on p.165-167)

pp. 197-199 general agreement, on specifics, with Artemidoros

pp. 199-201 specific agreement, on secondary implications, with Artemidoros

these Sacred Tales are correlated with affectations (in waking life) of author’s internal body (cf. Daoist deities in body-interior), also (p. 282 5:23) girl’s body-interior with entrails of sacrificial animals; and are characterized by dreams of :

telling and being told (both within actual dream) of dreams which had occurred earlier; taking of (also during waking life) psychedelic hallucinogens (such as the wormwood at p. 229 2:28);

another person having simultaneously "a dream vision which I too had, but somehow a little different" (p. 229 2:30) [this is "mutual dreaming", related to dream-telepathy].

reminiscence of shamanism

Sacred Tales 2:53 (p. 234)

Navaho "Night Chant"

[on "road to Hippon" (2:52)] : "I ... dove into the middle of the river. Within it rocks churned and timber was carried along, and waves rose as if from the winds. And ... there was a loud roaring sound. He rocks ... whirled about, but ... much stream rose up, ... and we sang" the Paian.

"the gods take his log out of a whirlpool where the rivers meet" (NST).

"he made a strange voyage in a hollow log, with windows of crystal, guided by the gods; finally, at a place sacred to the Navaho, a whirling lake with no outlet and no bottom, he beheld the "whirling logs" — a cross upon which rode eight Yei, two on each arm; and by these he was instructed in a mystery of healing" (NRM).

this sandpainting is more fully described in NCh, pp. 121-123.

NST = http://www.canyonart.com/sandrugs.htm

NRM = http://www.oldandsold.com/articles26/indian-mythology-48.shtml

NCh = Washington Matthews : The Night Chant. 1902.

C. A. Behr : Aelius Aristides and the Sacred Tales. Amsterdam : Adolf M. Hakkert, 1968.