God of Sleep

 

Distinguishing features: Hypnos appears as a young man with wings sprouting from his brow, probably to keep him from doing a face plant whenever he falls asleep. He carries a poppy stem and a branch dripping in water from the River Lethe, which can make you forget anything, even tomorrow’s history test. Sometimes he is seen carrying an upside-down torch. Why? Probably because the flames keep him awake.

 

Now: Hypnos lives in Erebos, deep in the Underworld, but can often be found trying out the mattresses at the Sleep Shop. He is the son of Nyx (Night) and loves putting people to sleep. If you’re lucky, he’ll wait until you are actually in bed before he conks you out. If you’re unlucky, he’ll put you to sleep in the middle of algebra class. He is the brother of Thanatos (Death). But unlike his brother, Hypnos might let you wake up eventually.

 

Then: Hypnos could be good or bad in ancient times. He brought rest and dreams, but he could also sneak up on you and cause you to doze off at bad moments. In his Roman form of Somnus, the god liked to make sentries fall asleep on duty (which was an automatic death sentence) or make ship navigators fall asleep at the wheel. “Somnus made me do it!” is not a good defense when trying to explain to your captain why you steered the trireme into the side of a cliff.

 

Roman name: Somnus