1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Artemidorus

ARTEMIDORUS. (1) A geographer “of Ephesus” who flourished about 100 B.C. After studying at Alexandria, he travelled extensively and published the results of his investigations in a large work on general geography (Τὰ γεωγραφούμενα) in eleven books, much used by Strabo and others. The original work is lost, but we possess many small fragments and larger fragments of an abridgment made by Marcianus of Heracleia (5th century), which contains the periplus of the Euxine and accounts of Bithynia and Paphlagonia. (See Müller, Geographi Graeci Minores; Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography; Stiehle, “Der Geograph Artemidoros von Ephesos,” in Philologus, xi., 1856). (2) A soothsayer and interpreter of dreams, who flourished in the 2nd century A.D., during the reigns of Hadrian and the Antonines. He called himself Daldianus from his mother’s birthplace, Daldis in Lydia, in order to make its name known to the world. His Ὀνειροκριτικά, or interpretation of dreams, was said to have been written by command of Apollo Daldianus, whose initiated votary he was. It is in four books, with an appendix containing a collection of prophetic dreams which had been realized. The first three books, addressed to Cassius Maximus, a Phoenician rhetorician (perhaps identical with Maximus of Tyre), treat of dreams and divination generally; the fourth—with a reply to his critics—and the appendix are dedicated to his son, also named Artemidorus and an interpreter of dreams. Artemidorus boasts of the trouble expended on his work; he had read all the authorities on dreams, travelled extensively, and conversed with all who had studied the subject. The work is valuable as affording an insight into ancient superstitions. According to Suidas, Artemidorus also wrote on augurs and cheiromancy, but all trace of these works is lost. (Editions: Reiff, 1805, Hercher, 1864; translation and notes, Krauss, 1881; English translation by Wood, 1644, and later editions.)