This account of the dream of Alcyone is the only mention of Morpheus in the ancient sources. The gods, however, took pity on the couple and turned both Alcyone and Ceyx into kingfishers. When Alcyone awoke from her dream, she was so overcome with grief that she threw herself into the sea. He tells the queen not to waste her time with false hope and prayers because he has already died. In her dream, Morpheus appeared to Alcyone with her husband’s features but pale and dripping with water. Among all the Oneiroi, he was most skilled at taking human form. Morpheus assumed the shape of Ceyx to appear in Alcyone’s dream. He mirrors only men another forms the beasts and birds and the long sliding snakes. The father Somnus (Sleep) chose from among his sons, his thronging thousand sons, one who in skill excelled to imitate the human form Morpheus his name, than whom none can present more cunningly the features, gait and speech of men, their wonted clothes and turn of phrase. His Metamorphosis, an epic work spanning fifteen books, is the only extant source of information about Morpheus. One of the later writers that was influenced by Homer was the Latin poet Ovid. The image of the Oneiroi flying through gates of horn and ivory was preserved throughout antiquity, probably due to Homer’s influence on later writers. In this way, they could influence mankind indirectly and give prophecies without the aid of an oracle or seer. The gods could instruct the Oneiroi on which gate to pass through to take prophetic dreams to a specific person. Linguists point to a play on words, with the Greek word for “horn” sounding similar to “fulfill” and “ivory” sounding similar to “deceive.” The idea of these two gates appeared in Greek mythology as early as Homer’s Odyssey. The gate of ivory gave falsehoods that could steer men in the wrong direction. The gate of horn gave prophetic dreams that were sent by the gods and always proved true. The gate that each Oneiros passed through determined what type of dream it would carry on that night. One gate was made of horn, the other of ivory. Each night they flew out from their cavernous home like a thousand bats to spread dreams around the world.Īs they left Erebos, each Oneiros passed through one of two gates. The Oneiroi lived in Erebos, the land of eternal darkness that lay beyond the rising sun. This is because he possessed a particular skill that, when used correctly, could be valuable to the gods. Morpheus was one of the few exceptions to this and was the member of the Oneiroi given the most individualization. They were inseparable from the idea they represented and it was their only function. The daimones, by and large, had few individual traits and were not well-defined characters in the myth. As was the case of the Oneiroi, many of the thousands were not even given individual names. Most, however, were minor characters who were rarely mentioned. Eros, for example, was the personification of love. Some of these daimones became prominent characters in mythology. Most of these beings, called daimones by the Greeks, shared their names with the noun they personified. They represented nearly everything in the world and human experience including ideals, vices, physical attributes, and emotions. While the major gods of Olympus are unique and often complex characters, the more numerous personified spirits made up the majority of the Greek deities. The personified dreams were among many such spirits in the Greek pantheon. Among the thousand Oneiroi, Morpheus was one of the few who was named. The Oneiroi were dark, winged spirits who flew forth every night to bring both true and false dreams to mankind. Hypnos’s mother was Nyx, the primordial goddess of the night, and his brother was Thanatos, the personification of death. Their father was Hypnos, the personified spirit of sleep. Morpheus was the leader of the Oneiroi, the personifications of dreams. What is a mystery, however, is whether Morpheus was a Greek deity at all. One work from ancient literature clearly describes the daimon and his abilities. How Morpheus got his name is not a mystery. He was one of a thousand spirits who carried visions, both true and false, to men as they slept. Morpheus was not, however, the only god of dreams in ancient Greece. While morphe was the word for formation, he was a spirit associated with dreams. One of these was Morpheus, but he was one of the rare personifications whose name did not match what he’s commonly associated with. Harmonia was the personification of harmony, Pheme was fame, and Mania was frenzy. Many of these spirits can be recognized by modern readers because, although they were minor gods, the words that gave them their names have been handed down to us from Greek. Most of these were daimones, the personifications of various concepts, emotions, and ideas. The mythology of ancient Greece contained many minor gods and goddesses.
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