Pascalis Romanus (or Paschal the Roman) was a 12th-century

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, medical expert, and dream theorist, noted especially for his

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

translations of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

texts on

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, oneirocritics, and related subjects. An Italian working in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, he served as a Latin interpreter for Emperor

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Romanization of Greek, Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; "born in the purple"), w ...

Oneirocriticism

Pascalis compiled the ''Liber thesauri occulti'', a Latin book on dream interpretation, in 1165 but appears not to have completed it himself. The second book and the first part of the third were translated or adapted from the ''Oneirocriticon'' of Achmet and the classical treatise of

Artemidoros Artemidoros Aniketos (Greek: ; epithet means "the Invincible") was a king who ruled in the area of Gandhara and Pushkalavati in modern northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. A son of Maues? Artemidoros has a Greek name and has traditionally bee ...

. His are the earliest known Latin translations of excerpts from Artemidoros. In the first part of the work, Pascalis also draws on

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

, quoting from what he refers to as the '' liber de naturis animalium''. Pascalis works within the dream classification system of

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

: *''somnium'', a dream requiring interpretation *''visio'', a vision that comes true *''oraculum'', a prophetic dream mediated by authority *''insomnium'', a false or misleading dream caused by bodily disturbance *''visum'', a nightmare with supernatural contact Elaborating on the three "true" types, Pascalis distinguishes each by the degree to which the soul achieves liberty from the body and by literary mode. In the ''somnium'', the soul perceives the future allegorically; in the ''visio'',

historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

; and in the ''oraculum'', prophetically. The future can sometimes be revealed directly, but often dreams rely on integument, allegory, and

figure Figure may refer to: General *A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration *Figure (wood), wood appearance *Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif *Noise figure, in telecommunication *Dance figure, an elementary dance pattern ...

. Pascalis quotes the Solomon of the occult tradition as saying: What Solomon means, Pascalis goes on to explain, is not that we should avoid the interpretation of dreams, but rather that we should recognize that ''littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat'' ("the letter kills, but the spirit brings to life" ). Reason allows us to investigate the truth that is symbolized. Steven Kruger has discussed the dream theory of Pascalis in the context of medical discourse, or "

somatization Somatization is a tendency to experience and communicate psychological distress in the form of bodily and organic symptoms and to seek medical help for them. More commonly expressed, it is the generation of physical symptoms of a psychiatric cond ...

," resulting from the introduction of new medical and scientific texts to Europe. While the ''Liber thesauri occulti'' draws on the tradition of

humors Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers. Humorism began to fall out of favor in the 1850s ...

, Pascalis goes beyond the connection Macrobius makes between ''insomnium'' and hunger or thirst to offer an elaborate psychosomatics. Where Macrobius had explained the ''visum'' in terms of an ''

incubus An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...

'', Pascalis offers a complex medical explanation involving blood circulation, the bodily position of the sleeper, and humoral disposition.

Other translations

In 1169, Pascalis translated the ''

Cyranides The ''Cyranides'' (also ''Kyranides'' or ''Kiranides'') is a compilation of magico-medical works in Greek first put together in the 4th century. Latin and Arabic translations also exists. It has been described as a "farrago" and a ''texte vivant ...

'', a

Hermetic Hermetic or related forms may refer to: * of or related to the ancient Greek Olympian god Hermes * of or related to Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary Hellenistic figure based on the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth ** , the ancient and m ...

magico-medical compilation. In his preface, he summarized his method: Other Latin translations from Greek by Pascalis include the ''Ystoria Beate Virginis Marie'' by the 8th–9th-century priest and monk Epiphanios and the ''Disputatio contra Judaeos'' attributed (with difficulties of chronology) to Anastasios of Sinai.Mavroudi pp. 84–85, note 14
online
with additional citations.

Editions

* Collin-Roset, S. "Le ''Liber thesauri occulti'' de Pascalis Romanus (Un traité d'interprétation des songes du XIIe siècle)". ''Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Age'' 30 (1963) 111–198.

Selected bibliography

*''The Occult Sciences in Byzantium''. Edited by Paul Magdalino and Maria Mavroudi. Geneva: La Pomme d'or, 2006. Limited previe
online
* Thomas Ricklin, ''Der Traum der Philosophie im 12. Jahrhundert. Traumtheorien zwischen Constantinus Africanus and Aristoteles''. Leiden/Boston/Cologne 1998, esp. pp. 247–270.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pascalis Romanus Oneirologists 12th-century Byzantine people 12th-century Latin writers Italian medical writers Officials of Manuel I Komnenos Interpreters 12th-century translators 12th-century Italian physicians 12th-century Italian writers