Homer & Dreams

 

Homer & Dreams

            Sigmund Freud looked at dreams as being a window through which we could see into the unconscious mind of an individual. He proposed that dreams represented the repressed desires and unconscious thoughts of the person and that through using the right analysis techniques, a trained individual could reveal the hidden desires of a patient and obtain insight into that person’s psychological state of mind. Freud saw dreams as a form of wish fulfillment, where socially taboo or unacceptable unconscious desires were being disguised or expressed through symbolic imagery in a person’s dreams. The ancient Greeks, as represented by Homer, had a very different view of mortal dreams. They did not see dreams as subjective, psychological phenomena or reflective of a person’s internal psychology. Instead, in the Iliad and the Odyssey, dreams are seen as powerful forms of communication from the divine realm which deliver real world consequences to mortals and have great influence on the course of future events on earth. They deliver very clear messages from immortal powers and contain information or instructions that are to be acted upon by the recipient. Failing to act upon the message of a received dream is tantamount to going against divine will. The gods do not take kindly to those who go against their will.

            The Homeric dream typically has several distinct elements associated with it. The dream originates in the divine realm and the gods use dreams as a way of communicating and interacting with mortals, as well as influencing events through their divine intervention, a habit not infrequently used by the immortals. Unlike modern thinking where dreams are seen as subconscious manifestations, in Homer dreams are external to the dreamer and that person physically interacts with the dream figure or witnesses the dream scenario as it unfolds before them. Homer’s dreams deliver specific messages, information or instructions to the dreamer with the specific intent of guiding that person to perform certain actions at the behest of the gods. Sometimes the visitation of the god to the dreamer can take on the form of an omen or a symbol. Dreams are always interpreted by the dreamer and many times by others, and at times those interpretations are open to inaccuracies.

            Book II of the Iliad starts with Agamemnon’s dream. Zeus made a promise to Thetis that he would assist the Trojans in defeating the Achaeans because of the slight that had been done to her son Achilles. The plan was that he would encourage Agamemnon to attack the Trojans with full force and that the enemy would counter attack and win the battle, because Achilles had withdrawn from the fighting and the Achaeans could not succeed without his help.

Now all the gods and the charioteers slept throughout the night but sleep did not come to Zeus, because he wrestled in his mind how he might bring honour to Achilles and destroy many of the ships of the Achaeans. It came to his mind that the best plan would be to send a portentous dream to Agamemnon son of Atreus, and having called forth the dream, he sent it on with winged words. “Speed forward O weighty dream toward the swift ships of the Achaeans. After entering the tent of Agamemnon son of Atreus, say these exact words that I command of you. Order him to arm the long-haired Achaeans for now is the time for him to seize the city of Troy with its wide streets. All of those immortals who have their homes on Olympus have ceased quarreling with each other. Hera has brought them all to her way of thinking and grief is about to descend upon the people of Troy.”

            King Agamemnon reported that the message was believable because it had come to him in a form that was trustworthy. Hear me my friends! The sweet nectar of a divine dream has come to me in the night. The image that I saw in my dream was like the divine Nestor in size and appearance. In response to the god’s command, Agamemnon is ready to take the action proposed in the divine message. To do otherwise would be unthinkable. Having spoken thus, the dream departed from me and flew away and sweet sleep left me. So, come now and let us arm the sons of the Achaeans. Unknown to Agamemnon, the dream is a deceit and is designed to lead the Achaeans to utter destruction by motivating their king to launch a full-scale attack. The situation was further exacerbated when Agamemnon decided to bolster the fighting spirit of his troops by suggesting that they just pack up and go home. This strategy backfired when the troops rushed to the ships in panic, happy to be rid of the war. Odysseus stepped in and got them to return to the battle and ultimately the Danaans were successful. Zeus knew that Troy was fated to fall and although he appeared to support the Trojans with Agamemnon’s dream sequence, he continued to maintain his neutrality in the fighting by ensuring the final Greek victory.

            In Book XXIII of the Iliad we find Achilles falling asleep while groaning heavily in sorrow over the death of his friend Patroclus. The spirit of the deceased warrior visited him in a dream.

When sleep took hold of him and sweetly washed away the cares from his heart, for his limbs were sore and tired from chasing Hector in windy Ilios, there came to him the spirit of the unfortunate Patroclus, looking very much like him in stature and voice and in the garments he was wearing on his skin and he stood above the head of Achilles and spoke unto him.

Patroclus delivers his message and asks several things of Achilles in the dream:

Honour me with funeral rites so that I might pass through the gates of Hades. The spirits keep me at a distance, those of men who are done with working, and they will not allow me to join with them across the River and I wander aimlessly through the broad gates of the house of Hades. Give me your hand I beg you, for never more shall I return from Hades once the fire has consumed me.

And the same fate awaits you Achilles who is like unto the gods, for you will be overcome beneath the walls of the wealthy Trojans. And I will ask you one more thing, if you will listen, do not bury my bones apart from yours Achilles but lodge them with yours.

And the grieving Achilles consents to what has been asked of him in his dream and later commands that funeral games be held in honour of his deceased fiend.

Then the swift-footed Achilles answered him. “Why have you come here you beloved head to enjoin me about these things? I will bring all these things to a conclusion and I will do whatever you ask. But come now and stand nearer to me and let us, at least for a little while, comfort each other in our grief.”

This dream sequence is significant because it serves to point out the depth of the friendly relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, the importance of showing honour to the dead and the inevitability of death for the two warriors. It is through death on the battlefield that the Homeric hero achieves honour, glory and a substitute for immortality. Having their ashes in a shared burial is a foreshadowing of their subsequent reunion in the afterlife.

The third major dream sequence in the Iliad occurs in Book XXIV when King Priam receives a dream from the god Hermes, disguised as a Myrmidon soldier, who instructs him on how to penetrate the camp of the Achaeans, locate Achilles and beg for the return of the body of his son Hector.

The son of Cronos sent Iris to sacred Ilios. “Get up and go, swift Iris and leave the site of Olympus and bring a message to Ilios, to great-hearted Priam that he must go to the ships of the Achaeans to ransom his dear son and that he must bring gifts o Achilles that will gladden his heart.

The messenger of Zeus came near to Priam and spoke to him, uttering a gentle sound and yet his limbs were set trembling. “Be of good courage, Priam son of Dardanus and do not be afraid. I do not come to bring you any harm, for I come to you with good intentions. I am a messenger to you from Zeus, who though he is far off, cares for you greatly and has great pity on you.”

Of course King Priam shared his dream with his wife and looked to her for her interpretation and confirmation of what was proposed. In atypical fashion, Hecuba suggested that her husband had gone mad and counselled him to ignore the commands of the god.

“My lady, a messenger from the Olympian Zeus has come to me and told me that I must go to the ships of the Achaeans and ransom our beloved son and bear gifts to Achilles that will gladden his heart. But tell me, what do you think? As far as I am concerned, my heart is overjoyed at the thought of going to the ships and into the midst of the throng of the Achaeans.”

Thus he spoke and his wife answered him with a sharp cry. “O woe is me in my heart. What has happened to the wisdom for which you were famous among those whom you rule and strangers alike? How can you even think about going to the ships of the Achaeans and looking into the eyes of he who has killed so many of your brave and noble sons? You heart is truly made of iron.”

Priam’s journey to the Achaean’s camp is seen by some as symbolic of a journey to the underworld where he confronts death and loss. His meeting with Achilles is a most powerful scene of lamentation, supplication and reconciliation. Priam asks Achilles to think of his own father and the grief that he will bear when his son Achilles inevitably dies. The meeting is a turning point in the story and we witness a monumental shift in the thinking and personality of Achilles. The Iliad began with an invocation to the Muse to sing of the wrath of Achilles, and in this scene, brought about by Priam’s dream sequence, we witness the dissipation of that wrath. We learn that human nature and a shared humanity can transcend war.

The most notable dream sequence in the Odyssey comes in Book XIX when Penelope tells Odysseus, who is disguised as a beggar, about a dream that she has had.

But come now and hear my dream and tell me what it means. I have twenty geese that come out of the water to eat wheat and my heart warms to gaze upon them. But a big eagle with a crooked beak flies forth from a mountain and seizes them all by the neck and kills them and they lie in heaps in the great hall while he is taken aloft into the shining sky.

What is different about this dream, compared to other dreams in Homer, is that it is not a visitation from a divine being with a message or instructions for the dreamer, but rather an omen of things to come. After eating the twenty geese, the eagle perches on the ridge-pole of the house and explains the significance of the dreamy vision.

Be of good courage, daughter of widely-famed Icarius, for this is not a dream but a true vision of what is about to happen. The geese are the suitors and I, who was once an eagle, have come back as your husband and I am the one who will let loose a cruel destiny on all these suitors.

Odysseus attempts to give credence to the dream by telling Penelope,

My lady, it is not possible to turn this dream away and give it some other meaning since Odysseus himself has pointed out how things will come to pass. The destruction of all the suitors is plain to see and not a single one of them will escape from death and fate.

Then wise Penelope interprets the dream herself and notes with skepticism that not all dreams and the omens which they present can be trusted implicitly.

Stranger, dreams are very confusing and of unclear meaning and they do not always find their fulfillment among men. For there are two gates in shadowy dreams, one built of horn and one of ivory. Those dreams that enter through the gate of sawn ivory are deceptive and bear no fulfillment. But dreams that pass through the gate of well-polished horn will find fulfillment when seen by mortals.

Penelope’s dream sequence is significant because it highlights her wisdom and cunning, but also points out the conflict within her of hope versus doubt. It emphasizes her loyalty to Odysseus and her deep love for him and her wish that he will return and exact justice and vengeance. The dream sequence sets the stage for the archery contest and the ultimate victory of Odysseus over those who would destroy his home and family.

Modern thinkers view dreams as subconscious functions of the brain which are influenced by our waking thoughts, emotions and memories. The ancient Greeks, on the other hand, saw dreams as messages from the divine realm that offered information, instructions guidance or prophecies or omens of things to come. This shift in thinking from ancient times to the present is reflective of a move from looking at dreams as external divine interventions, to understanding them as internal, psychological phenomena. As has been pointed out, dream sequences in Homer often play vital and pivotal roles in the bard’s narrative.