Morpheus (mythology)

Morpheus and Iris, by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, 1811

Morpheus (/ˈmɔrfiəs/ or /ˈmɔrfjuːs/) is a god of dreams who appears in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Morpheus has the ability to mimic any human form and appear in dreams. His true semblance is that of a winged daemon, imagery shared with many of his siblings. Starting in the medieval period, the name Morpheus began to stand generally for the god of dreams or of sleep.^[1]

In Ovid

The Roman poet Ovid states in his Metamorphoses that Morpheus is a son of Somnus and reports that he had a thousand siblings, with Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos being merely the most prominent among them.^[2]

Derivations

In language

• The name of the opiate drug Morphine is derived from the name of Morpheus.

Notes

References

• Griffin, A. H. F. (1997), A Commentary on Ovid, Metamorphoses XI, Hermathena, 162/163, Dublin, JSTOR 23041237 .
• Kearns, E. (1996), "Morpheus", in S. Hornblower & A. Spawforth (eds.), Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd rev. ed.), Oxford, ISBN 9780198661726 .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Morpheus.

• Ovid, Metamorphoses Book XI, at Google Books