Morpheus

Morpheus ('Fashioner', derived from t he Ancient Greek: μορφή meaning 'form, shape')[1] is a
god associat ed wit h sleep and dreams. In Ovid's Metamorphoses he is t he son of Somnus and
appears in dreams in human form. From t he Middle Ages, t he name began t o st and more
generally for t he god of dreams, or of sleep.[2]

Morpheus , painted by Jean-Bernard

Restout

Ovid
The only ancient ment ion of Morpheus occurs in Ovid's Metamorphoses , where Ovid t ells of
t he st ory of Ceyx and his wife Alcyone who were t ransformed int o birds. In Ovid's account ,
Juno, (via t he messenger goddess Iris) sends Morpheus t o appear t o Alcyone in a dream, as
her husband Ceyx, t o t ell her of his deat h.[3]

Ovid makes Morpheus one of t he t housand sons of Somnus (Sleep).[4] His name derives from
t he Greek word for form (μορφή), and his funct ion was apparent ly t o appear in dreams in
human guise. According t o Ovid "no ot her is more skilled t han he in represent ing t he gait , t he
feat ures, and t he speech of men; t he clot hing also and t he accust omed words of each he
represent s."[5] As wit h ot her gods associat ed wit h sleep, Ovid present s Morpheus as winged.[6]

Ovid called Morpheus and his brot hers, t he ot her sons of Somnus, t he Somnia ("dream
shapes"), saying t hat t hey appear in dreams "mimicking many forms".[7] Ovid gives names t o
t wo more of t hese sons of Sleep. One called Icelos ('Like'), by t he gods, but Phobet or
('Fright ener') by men, "t akes t he form of beast or bird or t he long serpent ", and Phant asos
('Fant asy'), who "put s on decept ive shapes of eart h, rocks, wat er, t rees, all lifeless t hings".[8]

The t hree brot hers' names are found nowhere earlier t han Ovid, and are perhaps Ovidian
invent ions.[9] Tripp calls t hese t hree figures "lit erary, not myt hical concept s".[10] However,
Griffin suggest s t hat t his division of dream forms bet ween Morpheus and his brot hers,
possibly including t heir names, may have been of Hellenist ic origin.[11]
Gallery

Aurora wakes Morpheus by Bartolomeo

Altomonte (1769)

Morpheus and Iris, by Pierre-Narcisse

Guérin, 1811 Hermitage Museum
 Morpheus awakening as Iris draws near by
René-Antoine Houasse (1690)

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)
 Evening or Morpheus by Charles Le Brun

Morpheus appears to Alcyone. Engraving by

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

Morpheus. Sculpture by Teofila Certowicz

(1889), National Museum in Kraków
Namesake

Friedrich Sertürner derived the name of

the opiate drug morphine from the
name of Morpheus.
4197 Morpheus, an Apollo asteroid and
near-Earth object
Morpheus, a character of The Matrix
franchise
Morpheus, character from The
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Morpheus pods, the fictional invention
created by Gagan Rassmussen to stop
people from sleeping in the 2015
Doctor Who episode Sleep No More
See also

Morpheus
at Wikipedia's sister projects

Definitions
from
Wiktionary
Media from
Commons

Hypnos – Personification of sleep in

Greek mythology
Oneiroi – Personification of dreams in
Greek mythology

Notes

1. Griffin, p. 249; Grimal, s.v. Morpheus, p.

 296; LSJ s.v. μορφ-ή (https://www.perseu
s.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3A
text%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dmorf
h%2F) .

2. Kearns, s.v. Morpheus p. 968; Griffin, p.

248.

3. Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.585–677 (http

s://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-met
amorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.163.xml) .

4. Grimal, s.v. Morpheus, p. 296; Tripp, s.v.

Somnus, p. 534; Ovid, Metamorphoses
11.633–677 (https://www.loebclassics.co
m/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_L
CL043.165.xml) .

5. Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.633–638 (http

s://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-met
amorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.165.xml) .
 6. Grimal, s.v. Morpheus, p. 296; Griffin, p.
243; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.652–653
(https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid
-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.167.x
ml) .

7. Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.613 (https://ww

w.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorp
hoses/1916/pb_LCL043.163.xml) .

8. Griffin, p. 249; Ovid, Metamorphoses

11.638–643 (https://www.loebclassics.co
m/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_L
CL043.165.xml) .

9. Griffin, p. 249.
10. Tripp, s.v. Somnus, p. 534.
11. 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.or
g/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://arch
ive.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.loebclas
sics.com/view/LCL043/1916/volume.x
ml) .
Tripp, Edward (June 1970). Crowell's
Handbook of Classical Mythology
(First ed.). Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
ISBN 069022608X.
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Morpheus&oldid=1222953045"

This page was last edited on 8 May 2024, at

23:36 (UTC). •
Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless
otherwise noted.