Morpheus the God

The Greek god, Morpheus, also known as ‘He who forms’, is the Greek god of dreams. The Greeks believed that he shaped and formed dreams for mortals. Morpheus played an important role as a god; he was the leader of the Oneriroi tribe. The tribe was made up of himself and his three brothers, Icelus, Phobetor and Phantos. The Oneriroi were a well-known tribe and had the duty of creating dreams for humans. They were often asked to create dreams to warn mortals of danger and future experiences.

This was especially important in the case of kings, queens, heroes and heroines, such as Queen Penelope and Agamemnon. Icelus was the creator of dreams of reality and truth. Phobetor represented fearsome and alarming dream, playing a role in dreams in the form of an animal. Phantos, as you may notice by his name, created dreams of fantasy; these were often the most strange and unrealistic dreams of all. He would appear in dreams as inanimate objects, such as earth, rocks, water and plants. Morpheus, the leader of the tribe, was the vital dream creator, appearing as humans in a dream.

Unlike his brothers however, Morpheus could simply send thoughts and objects into dreams, without having to play a role in them himself. The Oneriroi lived at the coast, on the seashores. Morpheus, during his lifetime, is said to have lived in a dark cave, filled with poppy flowers. Morphine, a well-known painkilling drug, which is derived from poppy flowers and induces a dream-like state, is named after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. Morpheus’s uncle is Thanatos, the God of Death. His grandparents are Nyx, Goddess of Night and Erebus, God of Darkness.

Morpheus was said to be romantically involved with Iris, the Goddess of the Rainbow. As a god, Morpheus possesses the natural powers & abilities of an Olympian god such as immortality, omnipresence, vast strength, and the potential to do magic such as the ability to shape-shift, to teleport and to manifest objects. As the God of Sleep he makes mortals and other gods fall asleep in his “sleep blanket”. However, even he is not immune to falling asleep in this blanket, as seen in the episode Hercules and the All-Nighter. Morpheus also appears to bring the night by dragging his blanket across the sky.