In this contribution, we examine Plutarch’s use of dreams, paying special attention to their
influence on the historical process of development. For this purpose, we analyse some of the
most common terms signifying ‘dream’ or ‘sleep’ such as ὄνειρος, ὄναρ, ἐνύπνιον and ὕπνος, so
that we can appreciate their semantic evolution (if appropriate), focusing on texts that make
reference to the Hellenistic period. Finally, we try to shed some light on the opinion of our
author about the subject.