Artemidorus

▪ Ephesian soothsayer

flourished 3rd century AD, Ephesus, Roman Asia [now in Turkey]

      soothsayer whose Oneirocritica (“Interpretation of Dreams”) affords valuable insight into ancient superstitions, myths, and religious rites. Mainly a compilation of the writings of earlier authors, the work's first three books consider dreams and divination generally; a reply to critics and an appendix make up the fourth book. He was reputed to have written books on interpreting bird signs and palm reading, but they have been lost.

▪ Greek geographer

      (fl. 100 BC, Ephesus, Lydia [now in Turkey]), Greek geographer whose systematic geography in 11 books was much used by the famed Greek geographer-historian Strabo (b. 64/63 BC). Artemidorus' work is based on his itineraries in the Mediterranean and on the records of others. The work is known only from Strabo's references to it and from fragments preserved by later authors and from the surviving part of an abridgment, dating possibly from the early 5th century AD, of his coastal guide to the Mediterranean and Euxine (Black) seas.

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