Search the Kids Internet
Encyclopedia > Somnus
Article Content
Hypnos
Redirected from Somnus
In Greek mythology, the personification of sleep (Roman equivalent Somnus). His twin was Thanatos ("sleep"), death; their mother was the goddess Nyx.
His offspring consisted of the things that occur in dreams, the Oneiroi. The four principal of these appear in the dreams of kings: Morpheus, Phobetor, Icelus and Phantasos. According to one story he lived in a cave underneath a Greek island; through this cave flowed Lethe, the river of forgetfulness.
Endymion received the power to sleep with his eyes open from Hypnos, in order to constantly watch his beloved Selene.
In art, Hypnos was portrayed as a naked youthful man, sometimes with a beard, and wings attached to his head.
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
|
Search Encyclopedia
|
Featured Article
|