

However, Hypnos wasn’t able to keep Zeus asleep for very long, and when he awoke, he was furious, pursuing Hypnos endlessly until he fled to his mother’s cave. Hera wanting to help the Achaean people and the forces of Troy, seduced her husband Zeus and had Hypnos place him into a deep slumber. There aren’t many mentions of Hypnos in Greek mythology, but he does play a small run Homer’s Iliad during the Trojan War. He was often depicted carrying around several objects that would aid him to send people into a slumber: a horn that contained sleep-inducing opium that would cause sleep when blown a branch dipped in the river of forgetfulness occasionally, an inverted torch and a poppy stem. The idea of these wings covering his eyes in all the forensic sleep is quite interesting. When Hypnos was depicted as a physical being, he was seen as a young man with wings on his shoulders or even on his brow. So, naturally, it makes sense that these two gave birth to children who are heavily associated with dreaming. Pasithea was regarded as the goddess of meditation, relaxation and hallucination. He would eventually take a wife known as Pasithea, who was the youngest of all Graces, promised to him by the goddess Hera. Hypnos would rise into the sky with his mother Nyx and bring sleep to all those below when the night did come. There is another variation of this cave located under the island of Lemnos, where the river forgetfulness would flow, which ties into the idea that sleep is a time when we could forget our problems. He made his home in a dark cave, blind in opiate blooms, such as the opium poppy and the bread seed poppy. It was believed that Hypnos resided in Erebus, the land of eternal darkness, which in some accounts was even considered to be his father. Lastly, Phantasos, whose name derived from the Greek word meaning “fantasy,” would be responsible for creative and fantastic dreaming.Still, in some variations, he was instead referred to as Hegellos, and he would make dreams seem more realistic. Phobetor, whose name originates from the Greek word meaning “frightening”, was responsible for creating nightmares.

These began as hypnos’ siblings, but many believed that his sons also became part of the Oneiroi: Hypnos and Thanatos, Sleep and His Half-Brother Death by John William Waterhouse He was also a brother of Thanatos, the personification of death, and among his numerous brothers and sisters with Oneiroi, a collection of deities responsible for bringing dreams. Hypnos is taken directly from the Greek word meaning “sleep”, and as his name suggests, he was indeed the ancient Greek version of The Sandman. We’ve previously discussed Nyx and some of her children, and today, it is another one of those children that we’ll be examining, Hypnos, the spirit and personification of sleep. Hypnos, the son of night and darkness, the brother of dreams and nightmare, secluded in his cave by the sea-a silent and empty place to be. He was saved by taking refuge with Night ( Nyx), whose power Zeus always respected. Hypnos usually refused to anger Zeus, possibly because he had already come close to having a thunderbolt hurled at him. On several occasions, Hera asked Hypnos to lull her husband Zeus to sleep so that she could attack his son Heracles. His roman counterpart was Somnus (“Sleep”). Hypnos lived in the underworld, the realm of Hades, and never saw the sun. Morpheus, the god of dreams, was his son. Hypnos (“Sleep”), in Greek Mythology, was the son of Nyx, the night goddess, and the brother of Thanatos (“Death”). In Conclusion Who is Hypnos in Greek Mythology?.
