We have all heard the expression "Fall into the arms of Morpheus" and we relate this Greek god with Sound . Despite that familiarity with his name is one of the gods more unknown since there are very few myths and legends about his figure. In Supercurioso we have talked about other characters of Greek mythology practically ignored and whose stories, however, have marked our culture. One of those cases is that of Hermaphrodite , the son of Aphrodite who gave name to hermaphroditism, another is that of nymph Eco , by which the acoustic phenomenon receives its name. This time we want to get closer to Morpheus, the god of sleep and three of the myths that speak about him .
Morpheus, the god of sleep
Before starting, it is necessary to clarify that Morpheus is the god of sleep not in the sense that it produces drowsiness or desire to sleep, which would be the task of his father, Hypnos, but the god of the dream as the one that induces "to imagine things or events that are perceived as real while sleeping."
3 Myths about Morpheus, the god of dreams or the god of dreams
Morpheus was the son of Hipnos, the god who personifies and induces sleep, and Pasithea, one of the caritas or graces, which represents hallucinations and also hallucinogens. Some authors make Nix, the Night, the mother of the god Morpheus. Hypnos was the twin brother of Thanatos, the god of death without violence. Hipnos and Pasitea had a thousand children known as oniros. These sent the dreams to the humans through two doors, one made of horn and another of ivory according to if they were true or false.
He Morpheus god , according to the myth, he is the leader of the oniros and has the task that nothing disturbs the dream of his father, Hipnos. He god of the dream He sleeps in an ebony bed inside a cave surrounded by poppy flowers that he uses to make dreams come true in men when he touches them with them.
The brothers of Morpheus, the god of dreams or god of dreams
Among the oniros, the three most powerful are Morfeo, Fobétor (Iquelo) and Fantaso . This trio of brothers were the only ones who could appear in the dreams of kings and rulers, leaving the task of dreaming other mortals, usually, in the hands of the rest of his brothers, less important. Morpheus he could take any human form he wanted to appear in dreams and he was represented with wings. With them he traveled quickly and silently to any part of the earth where he was needed to induce and enter into the dreams of men, taking especially the form of loved ones and releasing them for a time from the sorrows with which the gods afflict to the humans. He is the messenger of dreams.
Fobétor, the second oniro, appeared in dreams but could only take the form of animals, especially monsters such as dragons, vipers or hyenas. He was the bearer of nightmares and sometimes provoked prophetic dreams. He was represented as a dark-winged spirit like a bat. The third brother, Fantaso, was in charge of inanimate things, fundamentally related to nature, such as trees, water, rocks, etc. All that had no soul was his kingdom in the world of dreams.
The myth of Morpheus and Alcyone
Although Morpheus is not the protagonist of this myth, he plays a major role in the outcome of it.
Alcíone was the daughter of Eolo and married for love with Céix. One day Céix embarked to consult the oracle of Apollo despite the fact that Alcíone opposed warning him of the dangers of the sea. The ship was wrecked and the man was drowned. Alcíone prayed every day to Hera to return her husband and the goddess who knew he was dead, asked Hipnos to let him know in dreams.
Morpheus took the form of the husband. Naked and dripping with water, he told her that he had died. Alcíone, desperate, committed suicide in the sea and the gods, moved by such great love, turned them both into kingfishers so that they could continue their life together. If you want to know more about this exciting myth, you can read the post: Alcíone, the daughter of Eolo, turned into Martín Pescador for love.
Iris, Morfeo's wife
Some authors considered that the god Morpheus He did not have a partner since his work throughout the land takes up all his time. However, others pointed out that Morfeo's partner, the god of the dream It's Iris. The goddess of the rainbow was Hera's favorite messenger and was in charge of asking Hipnos to send Morpheus to visit Alcíone in the form of her husband to let her know he had died.
Iris was the rainbow goddess who announced the end of the storms by sealing a pact between humans and gods. She was represented as a young girl with golden wings and a multicolored robe with which she left a trail in the shape of a rainbow. He had free access to all corners of the Earth and the sea and could even access the underworld. He shared with Morpheus some attributes such as wings and the ability to sleep, but only to the perjurers, with the water of the river Styx that he carried in a vase.
The punishment of Zeus
Zeus punished Morpheus for the various occasions in which he had warned mortals, through dreams, of events that were to come and of which they should know nothing. Zeus, angry, threw one of his rays fulminating him.
As an extra data we will add that of Morfeo, god of the dream , the German pharmacist referred Friedrich Sertürner the name of "morphine", whose active principle was discovered and isolated in the first decade of the 19th century.
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