Editing Oneiros

{{short description|Personification of dreams in Greek mythology}}
{{For|the son of Achilles|List of minor Greek mythological figures#O}}
[[File:James Heath - Nestor Appearing in a Dream to Agamemnon, 1805.jpg|thumb|"Nestor Appearing in a Dream to Agamemnon" (1805) by [[Henry Fuseli]]]]
{{Greek myth (personified)}}

In [[Greek mythology]], dreams were sometimes personified as '''Oneiros''' ({{Langx|grc|Ὄνειρος||dream}}) or '''Oneiroi''' ({{Langx|grc|Ὄνειροι||dreams|label=none}}).<ref>Grimal, s.v. Oneiros, p. 328; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DO%3Aentry+group%3D5%3Aentry%3Doneiros-bio-1 s.v. Oneiros]; ''[[LSJ]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Do)%2Fneiros s.v. ὄνειρος]</ref> In the ''[[Iliad]]'' of [[Homer]], [[Zeus]] sends an Oneiros to appear to [[Agamemnon]] in a dream, while in [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', the Oneiroi are the sons of [[Nyx]] (Night), and brothers of [[Hypnos]] (Sleep).

==Sources==
For the ancient Greeks, dreams were not generally personified.<ref>Grimal, s.v. Oneiros, p. 328</ref> However, a few instances of the personification of dreams, some perhaps solely poetic, can be found in ancient Greek sources.

In [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', [[Zeus]] decides to send a "baleful dream" to [[Agamemnon]], the commander of the Greek army during the [[Trojan War]]. An Oneiros is summoned by Zeus, and ordered to go to the camp of the Greeks at Troy and deliver a message from Zeus urging him to battle. The Oneiros goes quickly to Agamemnon's tent, and finding him asleep, stands above Agamemnon's head; taking the shape of [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]], a trusted counselor to Agamemnon, the Oneiros speaks to Agamemnon, as Zeus had instructed him.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1-2.34 2.4–22]</ref>

The ''[[Odyssey]]'' locates a "[[Land of dreams (mythology)|land of dreams]]" past the streams of [[Oceanus]], close to [[Asphodel Meadows]], where the spirits of the dead reside.<ref>Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:24.1-24.34 24.11–14]</ref> In another passage of the ''Odyssey'', truthful dreams are said to come through a gate made of horn, while  deceitful dreams come  through a gate made of ivory (see [[Gates of horn and ivory]]).<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:19.544-19.575 19.559–567]</ref>

[[Hesiod]] in his genealogical poem the ''[[Theogony]]'', makes the "tribe of Dreams" (''φῦλον Ὀνείρων''), among the many offspring of [[Nyx]] (Night), without a father. Their siblings include: [[Moros]] (Doom), [[Keres (mythology)|Ker]] (Destiny), [[Thanatos]] (Death), [[Hypnos]] (Sleep), [[Momus]] (Blame), [[Oizys]] (Pain), [[Keres (mythology)|Keres]] (Destinies), [[Nemesis (mythology)|Nemesis]] (Retribution), [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] (Discord), and other abstract personifications.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+211 211–225]. The translations of the names used are those given by Caldwell, p. 6, table 5. Compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' ''Theogony'' 1, which makes Dreams the offspring of Night and Darkness.</ref>

[[Euripides]], in his play [[Hecuba (play)|''Hecuba'']] has Hecuba call "lady Earth" the "mother of black-winged dreams".<ref>[[Euripides]], [[Hecuba (play)|''Hecuba'']] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-hecuba/1995/pb_LCL484.407.xml 70–72]</ref> The second-century AD geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] mentions seeing statues of an Oneiros and Hypnos lulling a lion to sleep. He writes that the statue was surnamed [[Epidotes]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.10.2 2.10.2]</ref>

==Related figures==
Related figures are the ''Somnia'' (Dreams), the thousand sons that the [[Latin]] poet [[Ovid]] gave to [[Somnus]] (Sleep), who appear in dreams. Ovid named three of the sons of Somnus: [[Morpheus]], who appears in human guise, [[Phobetor]], called Icelos by the gods, who appears as beasts, and [[Phantasos]], who appears as inanimate objects.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.165.xml 11.633–643]</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Caldwell, Richard, ''Hesiod's Theogony'', Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). {{ISBN|978-0-941051-00-2}}.
* [[Euripides]], ''[[Hecuba (play)|Hecuba]]'', translated by David Kovacs in ''Euripides: Children of Heracles. Hippolytus. Andromache. Hecuba.'' Edited and translated by David Kovacs. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 484. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1995. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99533-8}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL484/1995/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, {{ISBN|9780631201021}}.
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts., [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]], ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''[[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 Company,  2007. {{ISBN|978-0-87220-821-6}}.
* [[Ovid]]. ''[[Metamorphoses]], Volume II: Books 9-15''. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 43. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1916. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL043/1916/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1867). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]

{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

[[Category:Greek sleep deities]]
[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Legendary dreams]]
[[Category:Children of Nyx]]
[[Category:Sleep gods]]