What did ancient philosophers think about dreams?

According to ancient beliefs, dreams were messages from the gods. There are records about these beliefs in the historical records of Ancient Egypt and Sumer. It is also included in the historical narratives of Herodotus and the expressions of some poets.

So, what did these dreams mean, according to common belief? According to this old belief that we are talking about, they told the future and had the power to heal. There were even holy temples built for it. One of the most important was the dream temples of Asklepios. Diseases are treated in the temple on the island of Kos, where people go to heal through sleep and dreams. These temples were even called hospitals at that time.

Asklepios was a poet according to some researchers, a philosopher by others, a healer of diseases, and even "the most humane of gods" according to some. Dream healing was considered one of the most effective therapies used by ancient doctors to treat illness.

Arnold Mindell explains that, believing that the body is healed in dreams during sleep, the diseases in the dream will be reflected, and that the priest or doctor performs healing by taking into account the message from the gods during therapy. With our current knowledge and worldview, this message comes from the body and is called body intelligence.

Aristotle developed ideas about modern dream analysis for the first time in Greek history and did not accept the divine origin of dreams. Aristotle believed that dreams could have a predictive content, but this was mostly coincidental.

In the light of all this, it is true that we have an inner potential, that we have very valuable dreams in our past that we cannot explain with logic, and that leaders have important prophetic dreams. We need to remember again that we are spiritual beings other than what we perceive with our five senses. In this way, I believe it will be possible to be in balance.