The Body

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Oneirocritica Book 1, which is largely dedicated to the human body and body-symbolism, and examines the ways in which Artemidorus’ conception of the body and its functions might be historically and culturally distinctive. Artemidorus offers us a remarkably detailed and coherent ‘tour’ of the symbolic meanings of the constituent parts of the male and female body, based around a series of polarities (upper and lower, right and left, front and back), which reflect three different dimensions of the social order (status, age, gender). The ways in which bodies are gendered (firmness, dryness, vigour) in Artemidorus’ body-symbolism are discussed in detail, and the extraordinary over-signification of the male penis and under-signification of the female vagina in Artemidorus’ classificatory system are highlighted. The chapter concludes with an extended discussion of the presentation of physical and mental disability in the Oneirocritica.