Research case · People & kin
Riding with Achilles
Vienna, Austria · c. 1900
A boy of eight dreamt that he was being driven with Achilles in a war-chariot, guided by Diomedes. The day before he was assiduously reading about great heroes.
Open this dream in the galaxy →
- Source
- Dream Psychology: Psychoanalysis for Beginners (trans. M. D. Eder) — Sigmund Freud; translated by M. D. Eder, 1920. Ch. II
- Rights
- Public domain (US)
- Record type
- Research case
- Place
- Vienna, Austria · Austrian
- Date
- c. 1900
- Uncertainty
- Moderate
- Imagery
- Child · Horse · War · Book
- Feelings
- Joy · Wonder
How traditions have read this kind of dream
Psychological
Family members, friends and strangers populate most dreams. Freud read many such dreams as wishes in disguise; contemporary researchers emphasise continuity with waking relationships and concerns.
Freud, Dream Psychology (1920)
Mythological
Dreams in epic and scripture are often addressed to someone — a wife waiting for a husband, a son receiving a vision for his family — and are told aloud to be understood.
Odyssey XIX; Genesis 37
Chinese traditions
Confucius lamented that he no longer dreamed of the Duke of Zhou; in Chinese letters, dreaming of someone is a measure of how much they are on one’s mind.
Analects 7.5
These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.
Dreams that share its images
- Oh, I’ve had such a curious dream! Oxford, England · 1865 (novel)
- Hector’s ghost before my sight Troy (setting) · 19 BCE (poem)
- The general’s buried sword Shouchun, Anhui, China · Tang (undated)
- Two women yoked to my son’s chariot Susa (setting) · 472 BCE (play)
- I gave birth to a lion Athens, Greece · c. 495 BCE
- A goddess put lightning in my hand Near Rome, Italy · 88 BCE