![]() In one tradition reported by Fronto, he was created by Jupiter (the Roman name for Zeus) and did not have any true parents. According to Seneca, he was the son of the obscure goddess Astraea. According to Hyginus, for example, he was born not to Nyx alone but rather to Nyx and her consort Erebus, the embodiment of darkness. However, there were other versions of Hypnos’ parentage. Google Arts & Culture (AKA Google Art Project) Public Domain Sleep and Death, the Children of the Night by Evelyn de Morgan (1904) Hypnos also had a twin brother, Thanatos, the personification of death. His siblings included Momos (“Blame”), Eris (“Strife”), and the Moirae (“Fates”), among many others. In the familiar tradition, Hypnos was one of the children of Nyx, the primordial goddess of night, and was born without a father. In one sanctuary of Asclepius in Sicyon, there was a statue of Hypnos lulling a lion to sleep. As the god of curative sleep, he was sometimes shown alongside healing gods, such as Asclepius and Hygieia. Hypnos was represented in other contexts as well. On the famous Cypselus Chest, the two gods were depicted as children in the arms of their mother Nyx. Statues of Hypnos and Thanatos also stood in the citadel of ancient Sparta. One favored subject for Greek case painters was a scene from the Iliad in which Hypnos and Thanatos carried the body of the fallen hero Sarpedon back to his home in Lycia. Hypnos was often depicted together with his brother Thanatos, especially in early art. Sometimes Hypnos himself was shown sleeping. He had various iconographic attributes that helped to distinguish him, including the stem of the sleep-inducing poppy, a horn full of soporific drugs, and a staff. In ancient art, Hypnos was generally depicted as a winged boy or young man. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Public DomainĪnother later source, the satirist Lucian, wrote that Hypnos ruled over the faraway island of dreams. Iris as Ambassador in the Realm of Hypnos by Giulio Carpioni (1655–1660) Nor bearded ears in fields, nor sands upon the shore. Stuff’d with black plumes, and on an ebon-sted:īlack was the cov’ring too, where lay the God,Īnd slept supine, his limbs display’d abroad:Īnd mock their forms the leaves on trees not more, On creaking hinges turn’d, to break his sleep.īut in the gloomy court was rais’d a bed, No door there was th’ unguarded house to keep, Night from the plants their sleepy virtue drains,Īnd passing, sheds it on the silent plains: The palace moats, and o’er the pebbles creeps,Īnd with soft murmurs calls the coming sleeps.Īnd all cool simples that sweet rest bestow ![]() Nor setting, visits, nor the lightsome noon Later authors gave more picturesque accounts of Hypnos’ home, describing it as nestled in some remote corner of the world and blossoming with all kinds of soporific plants: But from an early period, Hypnos was also associated with the Aegean island of Lemnos. According to Hesiod, the god of sleep lived with his mother Nyx and his brother Thanatos in the dark depths of the Underworld. There were different accounts of where exactly Hypnos made his home. He was also occasionally imagined as the companion of Eros. In some later accounts, he was said to be a follower of Dionysus. The Oneiroi (“Dreams”), for example, were sometimes described as his subjects. In addition to his mother Nyx (“Night”) and his twin brother Thanatos (“Death”), Hypnos had a number of close associates among the gods. ![]() Moreover, as the bringer of dreams, Hypnos was sometimes viewed as a deceptive god. On the other hand, Hypnos was closely connected with death-Thanatos, death personified, was his twin brother, after all-and he could therefore be menacing. ![]() On the one hand, he was a gentle, kindly force-the embodiment of sweet sleep and a liberator from care and anxiety. He could also bring sleep to gods or mortals by covering them with a veil, or even with his mere presence. The god would typically approach people from the air and could induce sleep using any number of attributes: his wings, a twig, a wand dipped in the waters of the River Lethe, or a horn filled with sleep-inducing drugs. According to the poet Hesiod, he “roam peacefully over the earth and the sea’s broad back and kindly to men.” Gentle Hypnos was typically described as handsome, youthful, and winged (his wings, at least in some accounts, were said to grow out of his temples). He was thus regarded as an extremely powerful deity. He was responsible for bringing sleep to all living things, both mortal and immortal. ![]() Hypnos was the god or daemon who personified sleep. In Roman culture, Hypnos was called Somnus or Sopor (Latin words for “sleep”). Hýpnos) is the Greek word for “sleep.” It is ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European * sup- no-, also meaning “sleep.” The name “Hypnos” (Greek ῞Υπνος, translit. ![]()
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