[Footnotes with numbers are Kepler’s; footnotes with letters are mine.]
I. The Dream
The narrator reads about ancient magic before falling asleep in the moonlight to dream
II. ‘My name is Duracotus …’
A mysterious book, written by an Icelander named Duracotus, whose mother Fiolxhilde practiced ancient & occult arts
III. A Voyage
After an argument with his mother, the boy Duracotus stows away on a ship bound for Denmark
IV. At Hven with Tycho Brahe
Duracotus joins the students of astronomer Tycho Brahe at the Uraniborg observatory on the island of Hven
V. Voyage Home
After studying at Uraniborg for years, Duracotus returns to Iceland and his mother Fiolxhilde, who thought him dead
VI. Fiolxhilde Speaks
Fiolxhilde reveals the occult art of conversing & traveling with certain ‘wise spirits’ encountered in Iceland
VII. A Summoning
Fiolxhilde summons her arcane teacher, an entity or ‘daemon’ with the ability to travel through space
VIII. The Daemon from Levania
The daemon describes Levania – the earth’s moon – and the selection of humans who can survive the journey
IX. Journey to the Moon
The dangers of space travel for humans and the methods used by daemons to ensure their safety
X. Between Worlds
How squadrons of daemons can transport human travelers to the moon through the shadow of a solar eclipse
XI. On Lunar Astronomy
How the astronomy of the inhabitants of the moon differs between lunar regions and from the earth
XII. The Earth from the Moon
The appearance of the earth and the movements of celestial objects seen by the inhabitants of the moon
XIII. Lunar Regions
The regions of the moon according to astronomical phenomena seen from the lunar surface
The Somnium Project 
[…] The Somnium Project: Johannes Kepler: Somnium (The Dream) […]
Don’t know who’s reading this but– point of interest, ‘Levana’, ‘The White One’, is a poetic name for the moon in Hebrew
Fascinating – thank you!
Meeee! I’m reading this, Avi. I’ve been (trying) to teach myself Latin for many years. It’s slow going but personally rewarding… Using Wheelock’s 7th Ed.. This page is a real find… And I thank you!
Are there only XiV pages published? Are the rest going to be published here?
Yes, it’s a work in progress. Eventually I hope to complete all the pages of the story and the many footnotes, which are about four times as long as the main story. If you subscribe/follow the blog you can get email updates when new pages are posted. Please note they are not public domain, but a new (& copyrighted) translation – however I hope to post the entire story so it can be read here for free forever.
And I can’t thank you enough! This page is a real find for me!
Congratulations for this amazing work!
Is it okay to reproduce this online (along with your name, blog’s name and all the due credits for your hardwork), purely for the sake of promoting this work? or saving for personal use?
Also, I’d love to know from where you’re translating (the original piece) and is it available somewhere?
How many chapters are remaining and by what time will it be completed?
Good luck for this tho! 🙂
Thanks, you are welcome to link to or quote from my translation here, but not to reproduce the whole translation.
The Latin is from Frisch 1858, Kepler’s Opera Omnia, source here: https://archive.org/details/joanniskepleria12frisgoog
I’ve also edited the Latin shown on my blog to common modern spellings.
The main story is about 2/3 done, then there are many 1000s of words of Kepler’s footnotes to go
Hello Tom, that’s an amazing work you are doing!
I am staying on Ven in the moment and were at Brahe’s Uraniborg this sfternoon. I published a small post with pictures, pasted in from your Latin text and set a link to your Blog. Please let me know whether I should add Background or Credits about your Blog. Thanks! Christian
Pls click… http://wp.me/p5Mrwz-1gV
Yes that’s fine, thank you for the link! I will also link your blog post up in the blog section here
Your work is fantastic. Thank you. I would like to get your updates in order to fully understand the role of Somnium within the specificities of the socio-political context when it was written.
Is this every thing? this is the whole novel?
No, not yet. Still about half of the story and all of Kepler’s own footnotes to go
Superb; much enjoyed so far,
This is so great!! Thank you thank you!!
More please 🙂
Thanks so much. I am sharing the link with a few others who will appreciate as much as I did.
[…] Isaac Asimov et de Carl Sagan, sci-fi a commencé bien plus tôt, avec un roman intitulé” Somnium (“Le Rêve”), écrit par nul autre que l’allemand, un astronome et un mathématicien […]
[…] mavens as Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan, sci-fi started even previous, with a unique referred to as Somnium (“The Dream”), written by means of none rather than German astronomer and mathematician […]
For some years I work on “Somnia”, works, aspects (philosophical or scientific) that are given under the literary genre of a “somnium”, so there is some time that I study Kepler’s somnium and your work has been very helpful. Thank you
[…] Somnium, Johannes Kepler, 1608. […]
[…] concept we could all someday lead a cosmic lifestyle. In 1609, German astronomer Johannes Kepler wrote a novel through which a young traveller lands on the Moon to seek out that lunar beings consider Earth […]
[…] other blog is the Somnium Project (https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/somnium/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog) – I want to read Kepler’s story, having read John Banville’s, […]
I am an English teacher at a science high school in South Korea. I am planning to read the English version of Somnium with my students, and your website is greatly helping me with the understanding! (I am an English teacher, so I don’t know much about science.) Thank you very much for your hard work. : )
[…] Somnium in an online English translation is infamously nasty. I can recommend starting here: https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/somnium/ – but that only gets you the first half of the story. For the second half, go to the […]