Morpheus (Ancient Greek:Μορφεύς,romanized: Morpheús 'Fashioner', derived fromAncient Greek:μορφή,romanized: morphḗ, meaning 'form, shape')[1] is a god associated withsleep anddreams. InOvid'sMetamorphoses he is the son ofSomnus (Sleep, the Roman counterpart ofHypnos) and appears in dreams in human form. From theMiddle Ages, the name began to stand more generally for the god of dreams, or of sleep.[2]
The only ancient mention of Morpheus occurs in Ovid'sMetamorphoses, where Ovid tells of the story ofCeyx and his wifeAlcyone who were transformed into birds. InOvid's account,Juno (via the messenger goddessIris) sends Morpheus to appear to Alcyone in a dream, as her husband Ceyx, to tell her of his death.[3]
Ovid makes Morpheus one of the thousand sons ofSomnus (Sleep).[4] His name derives from the Greek word for form (μορφή), and his function was apparently to appear in dreams in human guise. According to Ovid "no other is more skilled than he in representing the gait, the features, and the speech of men; the clothing also and the accustomed words of each he represents."[5] As with other gods associated with sleep, Ovid presents Morpheus as winged.[6]
Ovid called Morpheus and his brothers, the other sons of Somnus, theSomnia ("dream shapes"), saying that they appear in dreams "mimicking many forms".[7] Ovid gives names to two more of these sons of Sleep. One called Icelos ('Like'), by the gods, butPhobetor ('Frightener') by humans, "takes the form of beast or bird or the long serpent", andPhantasos ('Fantasy'), who "puts on deceptive shapes of earth, rocks, water, trees, all lifeless things".[8]
The three brothers' names are found nowhere earlier than Ovid and are perhaps Ovidian inventions.[9] Tripp calls these three figures "literary, not mythical concepts".[10] However, Griffin suggests that this division of dream forms between Morpheus and his brothers, possibly including their names, may have been of Hellenistic origin.[11]
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