The Interpretation of Dreams in book IV of hippocratic treatise De victu

Abstract

This paper presents an original translation into Portuguese of that which could be considered the first book of dreams: book IV of hippocratic treatise De victu. Following the translation, some considerations on the book composition and chapters, emphasizing some key concepts that guide the translation hereby presented. Dream interpretation on this treatise can be understood as a method of body knowledge. Body disorders are mapped, coded and decoded into images that respond to a micro-macrocosmic relation, defined by the treatise author as an apomímesis toû hólou. Dream imagery in this treatise configurates a specific semantic field of the iatrikè tékhne, differenciating itself from others tékhnai that also make use of dreams.