Historical figures Dream Meanings

Historical figures typically represent the kind of person you would like to be or could be, as people in dreams often represent aspects of yourself of which you may be unaware. The historical figure you dream about can come from any time period; you need to look for character traits and attributes, experiences and achievements either good or bad that have meaning and relevance to you.

If you dream of Tutankhamen, for example, the beautiful golden face of this young pharaoh may suggest the delights of youth and early promise; on the other hand, that the body is embalmed for all eternity may suggest that you are denied the right to express yourself. The association with ‘mummy’ suggests that your parents might not be allowing you the freedom you need.

If you dream of Julius Caesar—someone famous for being brutally betrayed and assassinated by his followers—this image may suggest that your hostility towards someone, however justified, is a betrayal. Caesar also warns against alienating others through ambition and pride.

If you dream of Nero, the Roman emperor, it could be that you are worried by your own, or someone else’s, life of debauchery and random, cruel decisions. To dream of Cleopatra is a stark warning of the dangers of balancing love with ambition and power; she famously combined sex appeal, political cunning, beauty and ambition to influence her Roman lovers, Caesar and Mark Anthony. The warning in the dream comes from the fact that she ultimately died from a self-inflicted serpent bite.

For Jungians, ‘good queen Bess’ or Queen Elizabeth I may evoke the archetypal image of the great mother, combining earthly power with spiritual exaltation. Also significant is the fact that Elizabeth, as the Virgin Queen, renounced her sexuality for her country. George Washington was a brave soldier and honest leader, and presents an image of the archetypal father figure. Freudians might perhaps see his felling of the infamous cherry tree, because ‘he could never tell a lie’, as an acknowledgement of repressed sexuality. The famous French leader Napoleon was a liberator yet also a tyrant, and in dreams may be the symbol of a dictator or overbearing father figure. As a role model of justice with wisdom and compassion, Abraham Lincoln may evoke the wise old man archetype with its ability to impart knowledge and inspire; his assassination, which he predicted in a dream, adds elements of sacrifice and intuition to his symbolism. The head of the Catholic Church, the Pope, may also represent the archetypal wise old man.

As the ultimate villain of the twentieth century, Adolf Hitler reminds you that dark urges are not fictional characteristics but very much alive in human nature. Jungians would see in him and other brutal dictators, such as Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung or Pol Pot, the archetypal shadow figure. Winston Churchill, by contrast, is a shining example of the triumph of wisdom, experience and indomitable will, as his greatest glory only came when many thought his career was over. A symbol of strength and persistence, he is also an ideal father figure: tough and gruff, but also fair, courageous and protective. The dream image of John F. Kennedy is a symbol of the archetypal free-spirited hero, but he may also indicate voracious sexual appetites.

The appearance of Carl Jung in your dreams may be reassuring you if you share his view that dreams are a powerful way to gather new insights on the path to spiritual self-fulfillment.

If Freud appears in your dreams, he may represent the image of the psychoanalyst listening to your anxieties. You may speak to your dream analyst about things you keep from others—and even yourself—in waking life. For dreams such as being present at a famous event in world history, such as the Battle of Waterloo or the first moon landing, see TIME.