Dream Gates

“Stranger, dreams verily are baffling and unclear of meaning, and in no wise do they find fulfillment in all things for men. For two are the gates of shadowy dreams, and one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those dreams that pass through the gate of sawn ivory deceive men, bringing words that find no fulfillment. But those that come forth through the gate of polished horn bring true issues to pass, when any mortal sees them.”

— Homer, Odyssey XIX:560 et seq.

Homer describes these horn and ivory dreamscape gates as portals from the spirit world through which daimones send their messages to morals. Where most people might have a hard time distinguishing a horn gate from an ivory gate even in the waking realm, a skilled dream-reader presumably has methods that can determine which gate a dream passed through, and therefore whether it is a false or truthful omen.
Virgil describes analogous physical gates between the Underworld and the Mortal Realm, through which Aeneas must pass with his father, Anchises, and the Cumaean Sibyl.

Two gates the silent house of Sleep adorn;
Of polished ivory this, and that transparent horn:
True visions through transparent horn arise;
Through polished ivory pass deluding lies.
Of various things discoursing as he passed,
Anchises hither bends his steps at last.
Then, through the gate of ivory, he dismissed
His valiant offspring and divining guest.

— Virgil, Aeneid VI:893-898

Scholars still dispute why this group, on the way back from the Underworld, travels through the ivory gate of lies rather than the horn gate of truth.
Based on a Greek language pun. The play on the words κέρας (horn) and κραίνω (fulfill), and upon ἐλέφας (ivory) and ἐλεφαίρομαι (deceive), cannot be preserved in English.

Type

Portal