Sleep gods

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.

thumb|Morpheus, painted by Jean-Bernard Restout Morpheus ( 'Fashioner', derived from , meaning 'form, shape') is a god associated with sleep and dreams. In Ovid's Metamorphoses he is the son of Somnus (Sleep, the Roman counterpart of Hypnos) and appears in dreams in human form. From the Middle Ages, the name began to stand more generally for the god of dreams, or of sleep.

thumb|"Nestor Appearing in a Dream to Agamemnon" (1805) by Henry Fuseli

thumb|272x272px|Phantasos on the western corner of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts by Robert Henze In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Phantasos (, 'apparition' 'fantasy' from , phantasíā, 'appearance' 'imagination') is one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep, the Roman counterpart of Hypnos). He appeared in dreams in the form of inanimate objects, putting on "deceptive shapes of earth, rocks, water, trees, all lifeless things".

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Phobetor (, from ), so called by humans, or Icelus/Icelos (), so called by the gods, is one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep, the Roman counterpart of Hypnos). He appeared in dreams "in the form of beast or bird or the long serpent".

In Roman mythology, Somnus ("sleep") is the personification of sleep. His Greek counterpart is Hypnos. Somnus resided in the underworld. According to Virgil, Somnus was the brother of Death (Mors), and according to Ovid, Somnus had a 'thousand' sons, the Somnia ('dream shapes'), who appear in dreams 'mimicking many forms'. Ovid named three of the sons of Somnus: Morpheus, who appears in human guise, Icelos / Phobetor, who appears as beasts, and Phantasos, who appears as inanimate objects.

In Greek mythology, Epiales () was the spirit (daemon) and personification of nightmares. Alternate spellings of the name were Epialos (Ἠπίαλος), Epioles (Ἠπιόλης), Epialtes (Ἐπιάλτης) or Ephialtes (Ἐφιάλτης).

Progenitor God of the Khuman dynasty in Meitei mythology and religion