Penelope's Perspective
Penelope’s Perspective
Dreams have influenced cultures for as long as cultures have existed, yet the meaning of dreams have changed and developed with each civilization until they have become molded into the perceptions we hold today. They have been a target subjected to science and technology, but still to this day remain a partial mystery as to each persons personal experiences with dreams. In ancient history, dreams such as The Dream of Dumuzi and Gilgamesh suggest that they carry divine signals that can only be interpreted as the truth, whether it has already happened or is going to happen in the future. Yet history took a turn in the perception of dreams in the time of the Greeks, such as with Penelope’s dream. In Homers epic, The Odyssey, Penelope begins to wonder about the validity of her dreams, and by doing so she changes the overall understanding of the basis of dreams people have across the world. “He awoke from his dream. He trembled from his vision. He rubbed his eyes, terrified” (The Dream of Dumuzi, p. 1).
When Dumuzi wakes up from his dream and experiences pure terror, it is interesting to compare this dream it to the nightmares we have today. Nightmares in humans today can lead to symptoms such as anxiety, fear, and nausea; yet nightmares today are usually remedied quickly. For Dumuzi, this dream required the interpretation of his sister, who explained that the dream signaled that his demons were coming to kill him. Not moments after his sister reads both of their fates in the interpretation, the Ugallu are after them. This is undoubtedly a prophetic dream and Dumuzi never considers it to be a trick from the gods or a deception of any kind. Thousands of years after the death of Dumuzi, the epic of Gilgamesh made the influence of dreams on people even more apparent. Gilgamesh’s first dream is about a giant meteor that falls to Earth that Gilgamesh embraces and takes to be his equal. He can hold it, but it is
Dreams have influenced cultures for as long as cultures have existed, yet the meaning of dreams have changed and developed with each civilization until they have become molded into the perceptions we hold today. They have been a target subjected to science and technology, but still to this day remain a partial mystery as to each persons personal experiences with dreams. In ancient history, dreams such as The Dream of Dumuzi and Gilgamesh suggest that they carry divine signals that can only be interpreted as the truth, whether it has already happened or is going to happen in the future. Yet history took a turn in the perception of dreams in the time of the Greeks, such as with Penelope’s dream. In Homers epic, The Odyssey, Penelope begins to wonder about the validity of her dreams, and by doing so she changes the overall understanding of the basis of dreams people have across the world. “He awoke from his dream. He trembled from his vision. He rubbed his eyes, terrified” (The Dream of Dumuzi, p. 1).
When Dumuzi wakes up from his dream and experiences pure terror, it is interesting to compare this dream it to the nightmares we have today. Nightmares in humans today can lead to symptoms such as anxiety, fear, and nausea; yet nightmares today are usually remedied quickly. For Dumuzi, this dream required the interpretation of his sister, who explained that the dream signaled that his demons were coming to kill him. Not moments after his sister reads both of their fates in the interpretation, the Ugallu are after them. This is undoubtedly a prophetic dream and Dumuzi never considers it to be a trick from the gods or a deception of any kind. Thousands of years after the death of Dumuzi, the epic of Gilgamesh made the influence of dreams on people even more apparent. Gilgamesh’s first dream is about a giant meteor that falls to Earth that Gilgamesh embraces and takes to be his equal. He can hold it, but it is