ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an exhaustive list of substances that in Greek and Latin literature are said to have the potential of inducing, causing, or preventing certain types of dreams. The substances for inducing revelatory dreams in the Lapidary of Damigeron-Evax, in the Cyranides, and in passages from Pliny and Fulgentius are included. The substances are mainly stones, though we also encounter hoopoes heart, leaf of bay laurel, and linen. The attested substances for bringing pleasant dreams are dried fruits and herbs. The sources are Hermippus, Pliny, and Simeon Seth. In medical literature, a number of aliments and herbs cause disagreeable dreams when eaten or drunk. These include pulses, cabbage, leek, parts of various herbs, and young wine. As several ancient physicians considered nightmares to be caused by indigestion, one should possibly connect the bad dreams attributed to certain aliments with the gastrointestinal problems they are also said to cause. Two anonymous medical texts state that the cowpea causes nocturnal emission.
