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In this book, Gil H. Renberg examines the ancient religious phenomenon of “incubation", the ritual of sleeping at a divinity’s sanctuary in order to obtain a prophetic or therapeutic dream. Most prominently associated with the Panhellenic healing god Asklepios, incubation was also practiced at the cult sites of numerous other divinities throughout the Greek world, but it is first known from ancient Near Eastern sources and was established in Pharaonic Egypt by the time of the Macedonian conquest; later, Christian worship came to include similar practices. Renberg’s exhaustive study represents the first attempt to collect and analyze the evidence for incubation from Sumerian to Byzantine and Merovingian times, thus making an important contribution to religious history.

Incubation (Religion) --- Heiligtum. --- Incubation (Religion). --- Inkubation --- Ägypten --- Hellenismus. --- Egypt. --- Greece. --- Griechenland --- Middle East. --- Incubation (in religion, folk-lore, etc.) --- Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric --- Religion --- Revelation --- Spiritual healing

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This study documents and analyses the structure and function of greek incubation rituals in classical and hellenistic times addressing all relevant and extant literary and epigraphical testimonia concerning the rites and rules surrounding incubation. It shows that previous approaches, which treated incubation as a chthonian phenomenon, as a rite of passage, or as comparable to initation in mystery cults are not supported by the available testimonia on these rites. An analysis of the social context of the rites surrounding incubation shows they differed surprisingly little from the rites performed by other worshippers at these sanctuaries. Various ritual factors are explored in order to explain why ordinary, or low-intensity, rites could create a high-intensity experience for the worshipper. Further, the structure of incubation rituals is examined in the light of the origins and development of the practice in is examined in the light of the origins and development of the practice in Greece. Contrary to previous theories on the origins of incubation, it is argued that the phenomenon began as an exclusive consultation technique for priests, magistrates and select worshippers and was a natural variant of oracular techniques in archaic and early classical Greece. When incubation became accessible to everyone in classical society as a part of the cult of Asklepios, rituals for the masses were then created. The ritual did not have one, coherent structure across all the sanctuaries which offered it ; rather, the ritual practice adapted to local customs and factors such as the size of the cult. Some rites for intermediaries were kept, but new motivational factors were added, which resulted in very popular cults.

Folk-lore of incubation --- Incubation (in religion, folk-lore, etc.) --- Incubation (Religion) --- Greece --- Grèce --- Religion --- Rites et cérémonies --- Grèce --- Rites and ceremonies --- Religious life and customs --- Religions --- Rites et cérémonies. --- Incubation

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Inscriptions, Greek --- Incubation (Religion) --- Asklepios (Greek deity) --- Inscriptions grecques --- Asclépios (Divinité grecque) --- Translations into English --- Cult --- Traductions anglaises --- Culte --- Epidaurus (Extinct city) --- Epidaure (Ville ancienne) --- Religion --- Excavations (Archaeology) --- Aesculapius (Greek deity) --- Greece --- Antiquities --- 292.1 --- Godsdiensten van de Grieken --- Law, Ancient --- Law, Assyro-Babylonian --- Law, Hittite --- Law, Sumerian --- Sources. --- 292.1 Godsdiensten van de Grieken --- Asclépios (Divinité grecque) --- Incubation (Religion) - Greece - Epidaurus (Extinct city) --- Excavations (Archaeology) - Greece - Epidaurus (Extinct city) --- Aesculapius (Greek deity) - Cult - Greece - Epidaurus (Extinct city) --- Inscriptions, Greek - Greece - Epidaurus (Extinct city) --- Greece - Antiquities --- Epidaurus (Extinct city) - Religion --- Asclépios (divinité grecque) --- Oniromancie --- Grèce --- Épidaure (ville ancienne)

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Prior studies of incubation have approached it from a history of religions perspective, with a view to historically reconstruct the actual practice of incubation in ancient Near East. However, this approach has proven unfruitful, not due to the dearth of relevant data, but because of the confusion with regard to the definition of the term incubation. Suggesting a way out of this impasse in previous scholarship, this book proposes to read the so-called “incubation” texts from the perspective of incubation as a literary device, namely, as a type-scene. It applies Nagler’s definition of a type-scene to a literary analysis of two Ugaritic mythical texts, the Aqhatu and Kirta stories, and one biblical story, the Hannah story.

Incubation (Religion) --- Hannah --- Aqhat epic. --- Keret epic. --- Bible. --- Criticism, interpretation, etc. --- Incubation (in religion, folk-lore, etc.) --- Keret --- ʻAlilat Keret --- Krt text --- O Karatu --- On Karatu --- Aḳhat --- Sipur Aḳhat --- Legend of Aqhatu --- Aqhat --- Aqht --- Ob Akkhite --- On Aqhita --- Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric --- Religion --- Revelation --- Spiritual healing --- Mythology, Ugaritic. --- Typology (Theology) --- Ugaritic literature --- History and criticism. --- Relation to the Old Testament. --- Criticism, Narrative. --- Types, Biblical --- Symbolism --- Symbolism in the Bible --- Ugaritic mythology --- Hannah - (Biblical figure)