Oneiroi
The collective personifications of dreams, children of Hypnos, who passed through gates of horn or ivory.
The Myth of Oneiroi
The Oneiroi were the dream-spirits, children of Hypnos (Sleep) and dwellers in a cave in the far west or in the underworld. They emerged each night to visit sleeping mortals. Homer's Odyssey describes two gates through which dreams pass: the gate of horn, through which true prophetic dreams come, and the gate of ivory, through which false or deceptive dreams pass. The chief Oneiroi were Morpheus (human forms), Phobetor or Icelus (animal forms), and Phantasos (inanimate objects). The Oneiroi were both the dreams themselves and their divine carriers — entities that carried meaning across the boundary between waking and sleeping consciousness.
Parents
{Hypnos}
Children
{}
Symbols
Fun Fact
The two gates of dreams in the Odyssey — horn for true dreams, ivory for false ones — may involve a wordplay: the Greek for horn (keras) sounds like the verb "to fulfill," while ivory (elephas) echoes "to deceive."
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Phobetor
🐉 creaturedreams,underworld
A god of nightmares who took the form of animals in dreams, son of Nyx and brother of Morpheus, one of the Oneiroi — the thousand dream spirits.
Morpheus
💭 conceptGod of dreams
The god of dreams who appeared in the sleeping visions of mortals, taking human form. Son of Hypnos (Sleep), he shaped the dreams of kings and commoners alike.
Nox
🏔 titannight (Roman equivalent)
The Roman equivalent of Nyx, primordial goddess of night, mother of darkness and light alike.
Pasithea
🏔 titanrelaxation, hallucination, the fourth grace
One of the Charites, the Grace of rest and relaxation, given in marriage to the god Hypnos.
Rhea
🏔 titanTitaness of fertility, motherhood, the mountain wilds
Mother of the Olympian gods and wife of Kronos. Rhea saved the infant Zeus from being devoured by his father, enabling the rise of the Olympians.
Somnus
⚡ godSleep, rest, dreams
Roman personification of sleep, equivalent to the Greek Hypnos
Ourea
🏔 titanmountains
The primordial gods of mountains, born directly from Gaia as personifications of individual peaks.
Golden Age
🏔 titanParadise, Primordial Innocence
The mythical era of peace and plenty under Cronus's rule, before Zeus and the Olympians brought the current order of toil and mortality.
Tartarus
🏔 titanthe deep abyss, primal darkness below
A primordial deity personifying the deep abyss below Hades, one of the first beings to emerge from Chaos.
Phoebe
🏔 titanTitaness of prophetic radiance
The Titaness of bright intellect and prophetic radiance who held the Oracle of Delphi before passing it to Apollo.
Hyperion
🏔 titanTitan of heavenly light, observation
Titan of light and father of the sun, moon, and dawn. Hyperion was one of the original twelve Titans, embodying the celestial light that preceded the Olympians.
Hesperos
🏔 titanevening star, twilight
The personification of the Evening Star (Venus at dusk), whose appearance signalled the transition from day to night.