Hypnos: Greek God of Sleep

The Story of Hypnos

Hypnos was the gentle god of sleep. According to Hesiod, he was a son of Nyx, the night, and the twin brother of Thanatos, the god of death. The two brothers lived together in the dark underworld, where the sun never shines on them.

Hypnos was kind and soothing to mortals, bringing rest to tired bodies. He was often shown as a young man with wings on his shoulders or on his head, carrying a poppy or a horn of sleeping liquid. In Ovid's telling, he lived in a dark, silent cave near the land of the Cimmerians, where the river of forgetfulness flowed past.

Hypnos even had power over the gods. Once he put Zeus to sleep so that Hera could send storms against Heracles. When Zeus awoke he raged through the heavens looking for Hypnos, who escaped only by hiding with his mother Nyx, since Zeus would not anger the goddess of night.

During the Trojan War, Hera wanted to distract Zeus so the Greeks could gain ground. She asked Hypnos to put Zeus to sleep again, and at first he refused, remembering how close he had come to disaster. Hera won him over by promising him Pasithea, one of the Graces, as his wife, and he lulled Zeus to sleep while disguised as a bird in a tall pine tree.

When Zeus's son Sarpedon was killed at Troy, Hypnos and Thanatos carried his body gently back to his homeland of Lycia for burial. In some tellings, Hypnos was also the father of the dream gods, including Morpheus. The Romans called him Somnus, and his name lives on in the word hypnosis.