Wiener Studien 126/2013, pp. 7-24, 2014/01/16
Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie, Patristik und lateinische Tradition
The combination of the metaphors of dream and shadow in P. 8, 95/96 is usually interpreted as a potentiation of the insubstantiality and transitoriness of human existence. In contrast to that, this paper tries to show, that a complex view of human existence is articulated here, involving the different levels of the personality and illustrating their respective ontological limitations. While the metaphor of shadow refers to the ephemerality and finiteness of the physical-conscious existence, the metaphor of dream, thus the thesis of this paper, refers to a hidden immortal, indestructible self that is limited in terms of vitality and that only has a ‘reality of dreams’.