Hypnos

In Greek mythology, Hypnos ( ; Ancient Greek: , 'sleep'), also spelled Hypnus, is the personification of sleep. The Roman equivalent is Somnus. His name is the origin of the word hypnosis. Pausanias wrote that Hypnos was the dearest friend of the Muses.

In Greek mythology, Hypnos ( ; Ancient Greek: , 'sleep'), also spelled Hypnus, is the personification of sleep. The Roman equivalent is Somnus. His name is the origin of the word hypnosis. Pausanias wrote that Hypnos was the dearest friend of the Muses. ==Family== Hypnos lived next to his twin brother, Thanatos ( , ), in the underworld, where the rays of the sun never reached them. In Hesiod's Theogony, Hypnos is one of the offspring of Nyx ( , ), the goddess of Night, without a father. In genealogies from works by Roman authors, he is the son of Erebus (Darkness) and Nox (Night, the Roman name for Nyx). In the Iliad, Nyx is a dreadful and powerful goddess, and even Zeus fears to enter her realm. His wife, Pasithea, is one of the youngest of the Charites and is promised to him by Hera, who is the goddess of marriage and birth. ==Hypnos in art== asleep at Hypnos's side. Detail of ancient fresco in Pompeii found in Civitella d'Arno, Italy Hypnos appears in numerous works of art, most of which are vases. An example of one vase that Hypnos is featured on is called "Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus," which is part of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston's collection. In this vase, Hypnos is shown as a winged god dripping Lethean water upon the head of Ariadne as she sleeps. There are only three bronze statues featuring Hypnos known to be found in the Roman world. The first one was found in mid-19th century in Civitella d'Arno (Italy), kept in the British Museum in London since 1868. This bronze head has wings sprouting from his temples and the hair is elaborately arranged, some tying in knots and some hanging freely from his head. The second one, a torsus, was found in Jumilla (Spain) in 1893 and is now exhibited at the Berlin antiquities collection. The most recent discovery took place in 1988 in Almedinilla (also in Spain), where bronze statue almost intact of Hypnos was found in a Roman villa dated in the 2nd century A.D. It is kept in the local History & Archaeology Museum. The National Roman Museum of the Italian capital keeps an Hypnos marble head found in Hadrian's Villa, built around 120 AD by Emperor Hadrian in Tivoli as a retreat not far from Rome. ==Words derived from Hypnos== The English word "hypnosis" is derived from his name, referring to the fact that when hypnotized, a person is put into a sleep-like state (hypnosis "sleep" + -osis "condition"). The class of medicines known as "hypnotics" which induce sleep also take their name from Hypnos. ==References== Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Hyginus, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing, 2007. . Google Books. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) VII.1., Zürich and Munich, Artemis Verlag, 1994. . Internet Archive. Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). . ==External links== 3D model of Bronze head of Hypnos via laser scan of a cast of British Museum's bronze.

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