The ideas of night, sleep, and dreams were intimately connected in ancient Greek mythology. Night represented the chaos of nothingness, and sleep and dreams existed within the night, making them dangerous and powerful ideas. Dreams were believed to be divinely sent and were used in ancient Greek medicine to diagnose and treat illness.
Nyx – Greek Goddess of Night
Nyx was the Greek goddess that personified the nights. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, composed between 730-700 BCE and telling the origins and genealogies of the gods, like Gaia, the personification of the earth, Nyx was born from the Chaos of nothingness that existed at the beginning of time.
Representing the darkness and the absence of things, Nyx may even be what is left of primordial chaos after creation. This would explain why in Orphic literature, a Greek mythological tradition attributed to the legendary Thracian poet Orpheus, says that Nyx is the mother of Gaia and Uranus, the first two beings.
In more traditional Greek mythology, she is still a great mother. In the first instance, she is the mother of Aether, the personification of the bright upper sky, Hemera, the personification of day, and Erebus, the personification of darkness. She is also described as the mother of Tartarus, the realm of chaos, with her son Erebus.
She is also the mother of a brood of other personifications, all negative and dark forces including (but not limited to): Moros (doom), Hypnos (sleep), Ker (destruction), Thanatos (death), the Oneiroi (dreams), Momos (blame), Oizys (pain), the Mooirai (fates), Apate (deceit), Geris (old age), and Eris (strife). Many other entities in Greek mythology are described as children as Nyx, though they sometimes also receive alternate genealogies.
Nyx is usually described as a black-robed goddess who drives her chariot across the sky at night. But in Homer’s Iliad, she is also described as greater than all the gods and it is suggested that even Zeus fears to displease her. This lends support to the idea that she represents what is left of the void that all life came from, as the void could devour existence again. Another passage suggests that Nyx will remain when Gaia is no more.
The poets suggest that it is Nyx who gives Zeus the prophecy that he will have a child more powerful than himself, causing him to swallow Metis when she is pregnant with Athena, though the goddess is stillborn.
In the Roman world, Gaia was known as Nox, and they placed great emphasis on her terrifying nature. In Virgil’s Aeneid, she is described as living in the underworld, but she flies across the sky each night dragging the stars and dreams behind her.
Hypnos – Greek God of Sleep
Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, is one of the many children of Nyx. He is described as the twin brother of Thanatos, death, suggesting that sleep was seen as a kind of living death by the ancient Greeks.
Both Hypnos and Thanatos live in the underworld, Hades. Hypnos lives in a large cave near the river Lethe, which means forgetfulness, and which has its source where the night and day meet. His bed is made of jet-black ebony, and sleep-inducing plants such as poppies grow near the entrance to his home. No light or sound can enter his home. He owns half the lives of all living beings.
Hypnos was married to Pasithea, the youngest of the Charities or Graces. He is given to him as a wife by Hera in exchange for putting Zeus to sleep during the Trojan War so that Hera is free to help her side. With him, she is the mother of the Oneiroi, who are the dreams.
In the Roman tradition, the Latin writer Ovid says that Hypnos, known to the Romans as Somnus, is the father of a thousand Somnia. His most important sons are Morpheus, who appears in human guise, Phobetor, known to the gods as Icelos, who appears like a beast, and Phantasmos, who appears as inanimate objects, presumably in dreams.
The Oneiroi – Greek Dream Spirits
In the Odyssey, Homer locates the land of dreams past the streams of Oceanus close to the Asphodel Meadows where the spirits of the dead reside. Truthful dreams are described as coming from the gate made of horn, and deceitful dreams for the gate made of ivory.
The Oneiroi can be sent by the gods to deliver dreams. For example, in the Iliad, Zeus sends a Oneiros, specifically a baleful dream, to Agamemnon to encourage him to continue the fight. The Oneiros travels to him, and when he finds Agamemnon sleeping, he takes the form of Agamemnon’s trusted advisor Nestor to deliver Zeus’ message.
Other Sleep Spirits
Several other supernatural beings linked to sleep and dreams appear in Greek mythology.
Empusa appears in the plays of Aristophanes as a demonic dream phantom who is a shapeshifting woman who can appear in dreams. She is also described as having a bronze leg given to her by Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, presumably to deliver her desired dreams. In Philostratus, she is described as a king of succubus. Seducing young men at night and then devouring them.
The Epiales are personifications of nightmares and should probably be considered among the Oneiroi. They are described by Aeschylus as demons that assault sleepers.
Dreams in Greek Medicine
Dreams were considered an important diagnostic tool in Greek medicine. People who visited the temple of the healer Asklepios might be induced to sleep so that they can have dreams to help determine their condition.
Several Hippocratic texts talk about dreams. In On Regimen IV, dreams are described as a diagnostic tool. For this purpose, they identify two types of dreams, those sent by the gods and those sent by the soul. Dreams sent by the gods are likely to be prophetic dreams, though deceitful dreams can also occur. Those that come from the soul are the result of the soul observing the body and its condition, and it is these dreams that can reveal what is going on inside a person’s body that needs healing.
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