Dreams & Divine Revelation
The gods spoke in sleep — commissioning kings, warning of doom, in dreams the learned knew how to read.
Dreams were a recognized channel of divine communication. A god might appear in a dream to commission a king to build a temple (as Ningirsu does to Gudea), to warn of coming danger, or to reveal hidden things; ominous dreams foretold the future and could be interpreted by experts using dream-handbooks. Some dreams were clear messages, others cryptic signs requiring decoding, and rituals existed to ward off the evil portended by a bad dream. From royal building-accounts to the dream-omen series, the dream sits alongside divination as a means by which the unseen will of the gods broke through into waking life.
Key passages(9)
The building of Ninĝirsu's temple (Gudea, cylinders A and B)