ABSTRACT
Dreambooks in Byzantiumoffers for the first time in English translation and with commentary six of the seven extant Byzantine oneirocritica, or manuals on the interpretation of dreams. The Byzantines also sought to interpret their dreams through dream key manuals. The Church and State may have tried to control divination, but even patriarchs and emperors had to admit that dreams had a solid scriptural basis, and tradition and cultural lore insisted that throughout history God has sent prophetic visions and dreams to people whom He favors. The oneirocriticon attributed to Manuel is found on folia of the fifteenth- century Codex Parisinus Graecus. A few fragments of this treatise appear on the final folium of Codex Leidensis Voss. It is more probable that a post-Byzantine author wrote an oneirocriticon by drawing on dreambooks, like the Nicephorus, with which he was acquainted. It is just not clear whether the dreambook in Codex is a copy of a pre-existing text or the copyist's own work.
