On Prophecy, Dreams and Human Imagination

Synesius, De insomniis

edited by Donald A. Russell and Heinz-Gunther Nesselrath

Book cover: On Prophecy, Dreams and Human Imagination

Hardback (Published)

(December 2014)

ISBN: 9783161524196

6.06 x 9.06 inches

Price: $74.00

In stock

~ENG~Synesius’ essay De insomniis (‘On Dreams’) inquires into the meaning and importance of dreams for human beings and treats themes – most of all the relationship of humans to higher spheres -, which for religiously- and philosophically-minded people are still important today.


Synesius’ essay De insomniis (`On Dreams’) – written soon after 400 AD by a man who was not only a highly educated Greek intellectual but also (in the last years of his life) a Christian bishop of the city of Ptolemais (Cyrenaica) – inquires into the ways and means by which a human being, while sleeping and dreaming, may make contact with higher spheres, and it does so in the light of a clearly recognizable Neo-Platonic concept of the soul and its salvation. Synesius’ thoughts are thus an important contribution of Later Antiquity on topics – the place of man within the universe and his means of communication with higher powers – that not only were of high concern for his contemporaries, but still are today for religiously- and philosophically-minded people. Besides introduction and translation (with notes), several essays shed light on the work from the perspective of various disciplines.

  • Edited by Heinz-Gunther Nesselrath
  • Edited by Donald A Russell