Co-sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), Portland Society; the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) - Oregon Chapter; and the department of Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies.

Already in antiquity, the Egyptians had a reputation amongst neighbouring civilisations for excelling in divination, the art of gaining knowledge about the future via occult channels. Many types of divination were practiced in ancient Egypt, primarily by temple priests who consulted specific handbooks for this purpose, on behalf of both royal and private customers. Such branches of divination included astrology, terrestrial omina (interpretation of the behaviour of animals), brontoscopy (interpretation of storms and other violent weather events), and many others. But, perhaps the most popular technique was that of oneiromancy, that is, dream interpretation.

This talk will first introduce its audience to the fascinating world of ancient Egyptian divination, and will then focus on the specific subject of oneiromancy, presenting in detail the workings of dream interpretation handbooks and what light they shed on our knowledge of the ancient Egyptian mind. Unpublished papyri, which were recently discovered by the speaker, will be discussed during the lecture. These manuscripts provide direct evidence not only of the way the ancient Egyptians categorised the world of dreams, but also of the hopes and anxieties that they faced in their daily existence, giving us unique insights in otherwise obscure aspects of the ancient Egyptians’ subconscious, including the more unconventional aspects of their sexuality. 

Dr Luigi Prada is Associate Professor of Egyptology at Uppsala University, Sweden, and an Honorary Research Associate of the Griffith Institute, University of Oxford. Formerly, he held academic positions in Egyptology departments in the UK (Oxford University), Germany (Heidelberg University), and Denmark (Copenhagen University). Within Egyptology, he specializes in textual, religious, and social studies, with particular focus on the latter part of Egypt’s history, from the New Kingdom to the Late and Graeco-Roman Periods. He is passionate about fieldwork, and is Assistant Director of the Oxford / Uppsala epigraphic project working with Egyptian colleagues in the necropolis of Elkab, southern Egypt; he also participates in fieldwork in Sudan. He is President of the Society of Friends and Collaborators of the Museo Egizio (ACME) in Turin, Italy. 

Free and open to the public.