Hypnos
In
Greek mythology,
Hypnos was the personification of sleep; the
Roman equivalent was known as Somnus. His twin was
Thanatos ("death"); their mother was the goddess
Nyx ("night"). His palace was a dark cave where the sun never shines. At the entrance were a number of poppies and other
hypnogogic plants.
Hypnos' offspring consisted of the things that occur in dreams, the
Oneiroi. The three principals of these appear in the dreams of kings:
Morpheus,
Phobetor and
Phantasos. According to one story he lived in a cave underneath a
Greek island; through this cave flowed
Lethe, the river of forgetfulness.
Endymion received the power to sleep with his eyes open from Hypnos in order to constantly watch his beloved
Selene.
In art, Hypnos was portrayed as a naked, youthful man, sometimes with a beard, and wings attached to his head. He is sometimes shown as a man asleep on a bed of feathers with black curtains about him.
Morpheus is his chief minister and prevents noises from waking him. In
Sparta, the image of Hypnos was always put near that of
death.
*
Hesiod's Theogony
