Dreams

There is sufficient evidence to show that dreams were considered of no little importance. They were looked upon as "revelations from a world quite as real as that which we see about us when waking" (Renouf). They were sent by the gods and were much desired, even magic being resorted to to produce them. Formulae for coercing the gods to send certain dreams have been found, but they are of a late date. Prophetic dreams sometimes required explanation by a profe ional expert, of whom there was a recognized cla , the *Hersheshta*, lasting until Greek times. Among instances of dreams in Egyptian lore are: (a) that recorded on the tablet in front of the Sphinx, in which Thothmes IV. tells how the god (Harmakhis) appeared to him and made him many promises on condition that he cleared away the sand from around his image, i.e. the Sphinx; (b) the Sallier Papyrus II. gives the counsels of Amen-em-hat I. to his son, which were revealed to that son in a dream; (c) it was in a dream that the Prince of Bekhten was visited by the god Khensu and ordered to return his statue to Thebes (see story of the po e ed prince of Bekhten, on a stela in the Bibliothèque Nation ale); (d) an Ethiopian stela records how the Pharaoh had a dream which was interpreted to him to mean that he would unite Egypt and Ethiopia under one sceptre; (e) the dream of the Pharaoh which was interpreted by Joseph in Genesis xli.