Dream Galaxy

Anecdote collection · Cities & buildings

The dead emperor came back in anger

Luoyang, China · c. 180

漢靈帝夢見桓帝，怒曰：「宋皇后有何罪過，而聽用邪孽，使絕其命。

Original text — In Search of the Supernatural, vol. 10, Gan Bao

Emperor Ling of Han dreamed of the late Emperor Huan, who said angrily: “What crime did Empress Song commit, that you listened to wicked men and had her life cut short?”

Translation · Editorial translation (draft)

Open this dream in the galaxy →

Source
In Search of the Supernatural, vol. 10 — Gan Bao, c. 350
Rights
Public domain (ancient text)
Record type
Anecdote collection
Place
Luoyang, China · Chinese
Date
c. 180
Uncertainty
High — Anecdote from Gan Bao’s In Search of the Supernatural (c. 350); reported, not first-hand.
Imagery
Ruler · The dead · Palace
Feelings
Fear · Unease

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Houses, corridors and endless stairs are frequent dream settings. Some writers read buildings as figures for the self; others note simply that dreams rebuild the spaces we move through every day.

cf. Stevenson, A Chapter on Dreams (1888)

Mythological

Labyrinths, towers and underground cities appear in myths from Crete to Babel — built places where people lose their way, reach too high, or find hidden kingdoms.

Greek myth; Genesis 11

Chinese traditions

Tang tales like “The Governor of Nanke” place a whole kingdom of palaces inside a dream, only to reveal it as an ants’ nest — a lasting image for the brevity of worldly glory.

Li Gongzuo, c. 802

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images