rd or second century B.C.) represents the God of Israel as giving
Nebuchadrezzar an outline of the history of the rise and fall of the
kingdoms of Western Asia and Greece.[1650] A god might employ a dream
for a less worthy purpose: Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon to mislead
him and thus direct the issue of the war.[1651] So important for life
did the Greeks conceive the dream to be that, as it would seem, they
personified it.[1652]

_Incubation._ Divine direction by dreams was not always left to chance.
The custom arose of sleeping near a shrine (_engkoimesis_, incubation)
where, doubtless, after appropriate ritual preparation the god was
expected to signify his will in a dream (his generally friendly feeling
was assumed and the dream would be of the nature of an answer to
prayer). This was one of the means employed by Saul when he desired to
learn what would be the issue of the impending battle with the
Philistines.[1653] In Greece, and later in Italy, the most famous shrine
of incubation was that of Asklepios (Aesculapius), which was widely
resorted to and came to exert a good moral influence.[1654] The renown
of the shrine was doubtless increased by the fact that Asklepios was a
god of healing.[1655]

+923+. As a dream was often obscure the services of a trained
interpreter became necessary in order that the dream might be effective.
The interpreters were magicians, priests, or sages[1656]--men in
intimate association with deities and acquainted with their modes and
vehicles of revelation;[1657] dreams thus became equivalent to oracular
responses. An interpreter would become famous in proportion to the
number of fulfillments of his interpretations, and his god would share
in the glory of his renown.[1658] Of the particular conditions through
which certain men and certain shrines attained special fame we have few
details.

Oneiromancy, in unorganized form, was studied in very early periods of
religious life. It shared in the general advance of thought, and in the
course of time a traditional science of the explanation of dreams arose.
There were records of experiences, particularly of notable fulfillments,
and it became possible to make lists of dreams with
interpretations;[1659] these were written down and passed on from
generation to generation, increasing in volume as they went. Such
manuals have played no inconsiderable part in the life of the
people.[1660]

+924+. _Ordeals._ Divination has played an importan