Morpheus ('Fashioner', derived from the grc, μορφή meaning 'form, shape') is a god associated with

sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a de ...

and

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

s. In

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'' he is the son of

Somnus In Roman mythology, Somnus ("sleep") is the personification of sleep. His Greek counterpart is Hypnos. Somnus resided in the underworld. According to Virgil, Somnus was the brother of Death ( Mors), and according to Ovid, Somnus had a 'thousand ...

and appears in dreams in human form. From the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the name began to stand more generally for the god of dreams, or of sleep.

Ovid

's ''

'', Morpheus is one of the thousand sons of

(Sleep). His name derives from the Greek word for form (μορφή), and his function was 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." Like other gods associated with sleep, Ovid makes Morpheus winged. Ovid called Morpheus and his brothers, the other sons of Somnus, the ''Somnia'' ("dream shapes"), saying that they appear in dreams "mimicking many forms". Ovid gives names to two more of these sons of Sleep. One called Icelos ('Like'), by the gods, but

Phobetor In Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', Phobetor ('Frightener'), so called by men, or Icelos ('Like'), so called by the gods, is one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep). He appeared in dreams "in the form of beast or bird or the long serpent". According ...

('Frightener') by men, "takes the form of beast or bird or the long serpent", and

Phantasos In Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', Phantasos ('Fantasy') is one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep). He appeared in dreams in the form of inanimate objects, putting on "deceptive shapes of earth, rocks, water, trees, all lifeless things". According t ...

('Fantasy'), who "puts on deceptive shapes of earth, rocks, water, trees, all lifeless things". The three brothers' names are found nowhere earlier than Ovid, and are perhaps Ovidian inventions. Tripp calls these three figures "literary, not mythical concepts". However, Griffin suggests that this division of dream forms between Morpheus and his brothers, possibly including their names, may have been of Hellenistic origin.Griffin, pp. 179, 249.

Gallery

File:Aurora weckt Morpheus.jpg, ''Aurora wakes Morpheus'' by Bartolomeo Altomonte (1769) File:Guerin Pierre Narcisse - Morpheus and Iris 1811.jpg, ''Morpheus and

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

'', by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, 1811 Hermitage Museum File:René-Antoine Houasse - Morpheus Awakening as Iris Draws Near, 1690.jpg, ''Morpheus awakening as Iris draws near'' by René-Antoine Houasse (1690) File:Luca Giordano 009.jpg, Fresco in the gallery of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence: ''Charon's boat, the sleep of Night and Morpheus'' by Luca Giordano (1684–1686) File:Le Brun Le Soir ou Morphée.JPG, ''Evening or Morpheus'' by

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...

File:Virgil Solis - Ceyx-Morpheus Alcyone.jpg, ''Morpheus appears to Alcyone''. Engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 650–749. File:Johann Wilhelm Baur - Morpheus in the house of Ceyx, before Alcyone.jpg, ''Morpheus appears to Alcyone''. Engraving (or etching more likely) by Bauer for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 633–676.

Namesake

Friedrich Sertürner Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner (19 June 1783 – 20 February 1841) was a German pharmacist and a pioneer of alkaloid chemistry. He is best known for his discovery of morphine in 1804. Biography Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner was born to J ...

derived the name of the opiate drug

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. T ...

from the name of Morpheus. *

4197 Morpheus 4197 Morpheus, provisional designation , is a highly eccentric asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 11 October 1982, by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Eugene Sho ...

, an

Apollo asteroid The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s. They are Earth-crossing asteroids that have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth ...

and

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

Morpheus Morpheus ('Fashioner', derived from the grc, μορφή meaning 'form, shape') is a god associated with sleep and dreams. In Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' he is the son of Somnus and appears in dreams in human form. From the Middle Ages, the name b ...

, a character of ''The Matrix'' franchise *

, character from The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

References

Sources

* . * Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, . * . *

. ''

, Volume II: Books 9-15''. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library No. 43. Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

, 1916
Online version at Harvard University Press
* {{Authority control Dreams in religion Roman gods Sleep deities id:Oneiroi#Morfeus

Ovid

Gallery

Namesake

See also

References

Sources