Somnus
Roman personification of sleep, equivalent to the Greek Hypnos
The Myth of Somnus
Somnus was the gentle god of sleep, twin brother of Mors (Death) and son of Nox (Night). Ovid describes his dwelling in the Metamorphoses with vivid detail: a cave in the land of the Cimmerians where no sunlight penetrated, surrounded by poppies and drowsy herbs, through which the river Lethe flowed with a soothing murmur. No door or gate barred entry, so that no hinge could creak and disturb the god's eternal slumber. Around him lay his thousand sons, the Somnia (dreams), chief among them Morpheus, who could take any human form. Roman poets used Somnus as a literary device for transitions between waking and dreaming, and Virgil placed his cave near the entrance to the underworld.
Parents
Nox and Erebus
Children
Morpheus
Symbols
Fun Fact
Ovid described the cave of Somnus as having no doors at all, because even the sound of a hinge would wake the god of sleep
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
Hypnos
💭 conceptGod of sleep
The gentle god of sleep and twin brother of Thanatos (Death). Hypnos dwelt in a dark cave where no light or sound could penetrate, surrounded by poppies.
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.
God of Sleep
💭 conceptSleep, rest, dreams
Hypnos personifies sleep itself, dwelling in a dark cave where the river Lethe flows and poppies bloom.
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.
Drakon Kholkikos
🐉 creaturedragons
The ever-wakeful dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece in the sacred grove of Ares at Colchis
Oneiroi
🏔 titandreams, prophetic visions
The collective personifications of dreams, children of Hypnos, who passed through gates of horn or ivory.
Zeus
⚡ godKing of gods and men
Zeus was the king of the Olympian gods, ruler of the sky, wielder of the thunderbolt — the supreme deity whose authority held the divine and mortal orders together.
Melinoe
⚡ godUnderworld
A chthonic goddess of ghosts and nightmares who drove mortals to madness with spectral visions
Hades
⚡ godKing of the dead
The ruler of the Underworld who received the dead, guarded by Cerberus and feared so deeply that Greeks avoided speaking his name.
Apollo
⚡ godGod of light, music, prophecy, and plague
Apollo was the most complex Olympian — god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and rational thought, the divine embodiment of Greek civilisation.
Pasithea
🏔 titanrelaxation, hallucination, the fourth grace
One of the Charites, the Grace of rest and relaxation, given in marriage to the god Hypnos.
Selene
⚡ godTitaness of the moon
The Titaness who personified the moon, driving her silver chariot across the night sky. She fell in love with the mortal Endymion and visited him nightly as he slept.