Dream Galaxy

Literary dream · Death & the departed

Two Alexanders in battle, crowned with corn

Cappadocia, Anatolia · 321 BCE

he thought he saw two Alexanders ready to engage, each commanding his several phalanx, the one assisted by Minerva, the other by Ceres; and that after a hot dispute, he on whose side Minerva was, was beaten, and Ceres, gathering ears of corn, wove them into a crown for the victor.

Original text — Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans (Dryden trans., rev. Clough), Plutarch; trans. John Dryden et al., rev. A. H. Clough

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Source
Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans (Dryden trans., rev. Clough) — Plutarch; trans. John Dryden et al., rev. A. H. Clough, c. 100 / 1859 (revision). Life of Eumenes
Rights
Public domain (author died 100+ years ago)
Record type
Literary dream
Place
Cappadocia, Anatolia · Ancient Greek
Date
321 BCE
Uncertainty
High — From Plutarch’s Lives (Dryden translation, revised by Clough); a reported dream.
Imagery
War · Ruler · Crowd · Food
Feelings
Awe

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Dreams of the dead returning are widely reported after bereavement. Ellis noted how such dreams often move, over years, from disbelief to quiet acceptance; many people describe them as comforting rather than frightening.

Ellis (1911), ch. VIII

Mythological

In Homer, dreams pass through gates of horn and ivory; across many cultures the dead were believed to visit the living in sleep, and dreams were a place where the two could meet.

Odyssey XIX

Chinese traditions

Chinese poets wrote dreams of the departed as acts of remembrance: Su Shi’s “Ten years, living and dead” and Du Fu’s “My old friend entered my dream” are read to this day as elegies.

Su Shi (1075); Du Fu (759)

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images