The Interpretation of Dreams was impressed by the work when he read it in 1905. Rank was moved to write a critical reanalysis of one of Freud's own dreams, and perhaps partly for this reason came to Freud's attention. It was with Rank's help that Freud published the work's second edition in 1909. The classicist Norman O. Brown, writing in "Life Against Death" (1959), described "The Interpretation of Dreams" as one of the great applications and extensions of the Socratic maxim "know thyself." The philosopher Paul Ricœur, writing in "Freud and Philosophy" (1965), described Freud's work as his "first great book", and argued that
Dream interpretation would be effected through divine grace by incubating dreams within the confines of the temple. Dreams were also considered prophetic or omens of particular significance. Artemidorus of Daldis, who lived in the 2nd century AD, wrote a comprehensive text "Oneirocritica (The Interpretation of Dreams)". Although Artemidorus believed that dreams can predict the future, he presaged many contemporary approaches to dreams. He thought that the meaning of a dream image could involve puns and could be understood by decoding the image into its component words. For example, Alexander, while waging war against the Tyrians, dreamt that a satyr was dancing on