Morpheus

Morpheus ('Fashioner', derived from the Ancient Greek: μορφή

meaning 'form, shape')[1] 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 medieval period, the
name began to stand more generally for the god of dreams, or of
sleep.[2]

Contents Morpheus, painted by Jean-Bernard

Ovid Restout

Gallery
Namesake
See also
Notes
References

Ovid
In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Morpheus is one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep).[3] 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."[4] Like other gods associated with
sleep, Ovid makes Morpheus winged.[5]

Ovid called Morpheus and his brothers, the other sons of Somnus, the Somnia ("dream shapes"), saying
that they appear in dreams "mimicking many forms".[6] Ovid gives names to two more of these sons of
Sleep. One called Icelos ('Like'), by the gods, but Phobetor ('Frightener') by men, "takes the form of beast
or bird or the long serpent", and Phantasos ('Fantasy'), who "puts on deceptive shapes of earth, rocks,
water, trees, all lifeless things".[7]

The three brothers' names are found nowhere earlier than Ovid, and are perhaps Ovidian inventions.[8]
Tripp calls these three figures "literary, not mythical concepts".[9] However, Griffin suggests that this
division of dream forms between Morpheus and his brothers, possibly including their names, may have
been of Hellenistic origin.[10]

Gallery


Auror Morphe Morphe Fresco in the gallery Evening or Morpheus

a us and us of the Palazzo by Charles Le Brun
wakes Iris, by awakeni Medici-Riccardi in
Morph Pierre- ng as Florence: Charon's
eus by Narciss Iris boat, the sleep of
Bartol e draws Night and Morpheus
omeo Guérin, near by by Luca Giordano
Altom 1811 René- (1684–1686)
onte Hermita Antoine
(1769) ge Houass
Museu e (1690)
m

Morpheus Morpheus appears to

appears to Alcyone. Engraving
Alcyone. (or etching more
Engraving by likely) by Bauer for
Virgil Solis for Ovid's
Ovid's Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses Book XI, 633–676.
Book XI, 650–749.

Namesake
Friedrich Sertürner derived the name of the opiate drug morphine from the name of
Morpheus.
4197 Morpheus

See also
Hypnos – Personification of sleep in Greek mythology
Gates of horn and ivory
Oneiroi
Dream (character) – Protagonist of the comic book series The Sandman
Notes
1. Griffin, p. 249; Grimal, s.v. Morpheus, p. 296; LSJ s.v. μορφ-ή (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dmorfh%2F).
2. Kearns, s.v. Morpheus p. 968; Griffin, p. 248.
3. Grimal, s.v. Morpheus, p. 296; Tripp, s.v. Somnus, p. 534; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.633–677
(https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.165.xml).
4. Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.633–638 (https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphose
s/1916/pb_LCL043.165.xml).
5. Grimal, s.v. Morpheus, p. 296; Griffin, p. 243; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.652–653 (https://ww
w.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.167.xml).
6. Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.613 (https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/191
6/pb_LCL043.163.xml).
7. Griffin, p. 249; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.638–643 (https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-m
etamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.165.xml).
8. Griffin, p. 249.
9. Tripp, s.v. Somnus, p. 534.
10. Griffin, pp. 179, 249.

References
Griffin, A. H. F. (1997), A Commentary on Ovid, Metamorphoses XI, Hermathena,
vol. 162/163, Dublin: Trinity College Dublin, pp. 1–290, JSTOR 23041237 (https://www.jstor.
org/stable/23041237).
Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996,
ISBN 9780631201021.
Kearns, E. (1996), "Morpheus", in S. Hornblower; A. Spawforth (eds.), Oxford Classical
Dictionary (https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198661726) (3rd rev. ed.), Oxford,
ISBN 9780198661726.
Ovid. Metamorphoses, 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, 1916. Online version at Harvard University Press (https://www.loebclassics.com/view/
LCL043/1916/volume.xml).
Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First
edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.

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