One of these, across the earth and the wide sea-ridges, goes his way quietly back and forth, and is kind to mortals, but the heart of the other one is iron, and brazen feelings without pity are inside his breast.вЂќ вЂ“ Hesiod, Theogony 758 Never upon them does Helios, the shining sun, cast the light of his eye-beams, neither when he goes up the sky nor comes down from it. These are Hypnos and Thanatos, dread divinities. вЂњ carries Hypnos (Sleep) in her arms, and he is ThanatosвЂ™ (DeathвЂ™s) brother вЂ¦ And there the children of gloomy Nyx have their houses. With favouring aspect to my prayer incline, and save thy mystics in their works divine.вЂќ вЂ“ Orphic Hymn 85 to Hypnos Thy pleasing gentle chains preserve the soul, and even the dreadful cares of death control for Thanatos (Death), and Lethe (Forgetfulness) with oblivious stream, mankind thy genuine brothers justly deem. Tamer of cares, to weary toil repose, and from whom sacred solace in affliction flows. вЂTis thine all bodies with benignant mind in other bands than those of brass to bind.

Hypnos, king of Gods, and men of mortal birth, sovereign of all, sustained by mother earth for thy dominion is supreme alone, over all extended, and by all things known. вЂњTo Hypnos (Sleep), Fumigation from Poppies. Nor bearded ears in fields, nor sands upon the shore. StuffвЂ™d with black plumes, and on an ebon-sted:Д«lack was the covвЂ™ring too, where lay the God,ДЄnd slept supine, his limbs displayвЂ™d abroad:ДЄnd mock their forms the leaves on trees not more, On creaking hinges turnвЂ™d, to break his sleep.Д«ut in the gloomy court was raisвЂ™d a bed, No door there was thвЂ™ unguarded house to keep, Night from the plants their sleepy virtue drains,ДЄnd passing, sheds it on the silent plains: The palace moats, and oвЂ™er the pebbles creeps,ДЄnd with soft murmurs calls the coming sleeps.ДЄnd all cool simples that sweet rest bestow Nor trees with tempests rockвЂ™d, nor human cry Дwells here, and a dumb quiet next to death. Nor beast of Nature, nor the tame are nigh, Nor watchful dogs, nor the more wakeful geese,Дisturb with nightly noise the sacred peace No crowing cock does there his wings display, Nor setting, visits, nor the lightsome noon His brother is Thanatos, God of Peaceful Death. Through the Gates of Horn come prophetic dreams, and through the Gates of Ivory come deceptive dreams which mislead. Hypnos opens two gates,В the Gates of Horn and Ivory, through which Oniros comes into the minds of men. Hypnos delivers mortals from pain and mental suffering, with the help of his sons and his brother Oniros (Dream) he colours their sleep with dreams. Morpheus appears in human form in our dreams, Phobetor as birds and animals, and Phantasus as all the animate objects of our dreams. Together they have three children, Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasus who occupy the dreams of men. He is most beloved of the Muses, and his spouse is Pasithea, one of the Charities.

He carries a drinking horn, from which he pours sleep-inducing opium. Hypnos is a gentle and benevolent god who sometimes takes the form of a singing bird, sometimes that of a winged youth or old man. The cave is surrounded by opium poppies and other sleep-inducing herbs. Hypnos dwells with his twin brother Thanatos, god of Death, inВ aВ dark caveВ by theВ banks of the river Lethe (Oblivion), at the entrance to Hades. His father is Erebus, the pure darkness of Hades, the Underworld. Hypnos the Bountiful, as he wasВ known by the ancients, rests in the arms of his mother Nyx (Night).

Hypnos symbol