Dream Report

Early 5th Century BCE

Now, lo, I saw a dream and since then I am very feverish. May Iahmoliah attend to my welfare.

Now, if you wish, do not sell them. Let the children eat them. Lo, there do not remain any cucumbers.

Translated by
Bezalel
Porten
.

Credits

Dream Report, in Bezalel Porten and Ada Yardeni, eds., Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, trans. Bezalel Porten (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1999), D7.17, p. 169. Used with permission of Bezalel Porten.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

Engage with this Source

This enigmatic letter, from the first quarter of the fifth century BCE, is addressed to a woman (perhaps the writer's wife) and reports on a dream that left the writer feverish. He gives instructions about providing food for the children. The rest of the letter is unclear and subject to very different translations.

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