Land of dreams (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Land of dreams (Ancient Greek: δῆμος ὀνείρων, romanized: dêmos oneírōn)[1] was a location in the Greek underworld mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey. Homer locates the land past the streams of Oceanus, the world-encircling river, and the gates of the Sun, close to the Fields of Asphodel, where the spirits of the dead reside.[2]

This article is about the location in the Greek underworld. For other uses, see Land of Dreams.
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Oneiros

Personifications of dreams, called Oneiros (Ancient Greek: Ὄνειρος, pl. Oneiroi), had several minor references in ancient sources and would sometimes appear in myths delivering messages to mortals in their sleep. The Oneiroi would dwell on the dark shores of the western ocean[3] and were described by Euripides as chthonic deities with black wings.[4] In a passage of the Odyssey, Penelope references the two shadowy gates of the dreams; the gate of polished horn, through which pass truthful dreams, and the gate of sawn ivory, through which come dreams that are deceitful and find no fulfilment (see Gates of horn and ivory).[5][3]

In Hesiod's Theogony, the "tribe of Dreams" was descended from Nyx and were, among others, brothers of Hypnos (sleep) and Thanatos (death),[6] who were residents of the underworld.[7] In Euripides' Hecuba, the protagonist prays to "lady Earth (Chthon)" calling her "mother of the black-winged dreams".[4]

Ovid

The Roman poet Ovid describes Somnus (the Roman counterpart of Hypnos) as a slothful deity residing in the underworld inside a silent and foggy cave unreachable by the sun.[8] His cave is located near the river Lethe and is surrounded by fields of poppies and herbs. The juices of the plants would spread over the Earth during night hours sending humans to sleep.[8] Ovid mentions the existence of multiple Dreams (Somnia), who were sons of Sleep, moving around him in all directions taking unsubstantial forms and various shapes.[8] Out of the 'thousand' dream deities, Ovid names Morpheus (the 'shape-shifter'), Phobetor (the 'frightener'), and Phantasos ('apparition').[9]

See also

Notes
  1. Homer, Odyssey (Greek) 24.11–14
  2. Homer, Odyssey 24.11-14
  3. "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Oneiros". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  4. Euripides, Hecuba 70–72
  5. Homer, Odyssey 19.559–567
  6. Hesiod, Theogony 211-213
  7. Hesiod, Theogony 755-766
  8. Ovid, Metamorphoses book 11.
  9. Ovid, Metamorphoses book 11.

Sources
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