Hypnosis is the god of sleep among the Greeks. He is the offspring of the Night (Nyukta) and Darkness (Erebus), which reigned in the dark spaces of the underworld. He has a twin brother named Thanatos (Death) - a gloomy and merciless deity whose heart does not know pity.
According to "Theogony" of Hesiod, Hypnos lives in a cave, next to which the river Leta (Oblivion) originates. Before entering the cave, where light does not penetrate and no sounds reach, herbs with hypnotic effect grow. Every night, the sleep god rises into the sky in the chariot of his mother Nyukta.
The myth tells that Hypnos fell in love with a young man of incomparable beauty named Endimon. He was fascinated by his eyes and, in order to always admire them, made sure that the eyes of the young man remained open during sleep. According to another version of the myth, Selena, who fell in love with Endimon, asks Zeus to preserve his youth and beauty. Zeus orders Hypnos to immerse him in an eternal dream, so that he remains young always. The sleep god gives Endimon the ability to sleep with his eyes open so that he can look at the moon goddess at night. In another myth, Hypnos, plunging Zeus himself into a deep sleep, helps Hera, who at this time turns to Poseidon for help in the battle for Troy. Poseidon agrees, but with the condition that Hera will promise him the favor of Pasiphae, the wife of Minos.
In art (painting, sculpture), the Greek god of sleep was portrayed as a young man, naked, sometimes with a small beard and wings on his head or back. Sometimes he is shown as a man who sleeps on a bed of feathers, curtained by black curtains. Its symbols are a poppy flower or a horn with sleeping pills, a branch with which water flows from the Leta River, or an inverted torch. The Greek god of sleep has the power to immerse everyone in a deep sleep - gods, people, animals.
Not knowing how to explain the nature of sleep, people of different cultures and religious beliefs created deities and spirits of sleep and dreams, which had a special influence.
The fairy tale “Ole Lukoye”, written by Hans Christian Andersen, was based on a folk story about the mysterious mythical creature Drem, who gently lulls children, but depending on what they are (obedient or naughty), it brings different dreams to them.
Ole Lukoye has an umbrella under each arm: one with colorful drawings on its inside, the other without drawings. He opens a bright umbrella over obedient children and they have beautiful dreams all night, while naughty children may not dream at all if the sleep god in the person of Ole Lukoye opens a dark umbrella over them.
The first information on the interpretation of dreams comes from Mesopotamia. The Sumerians created a book that is considered the world's first dream book. It describes the symbols of dreams and gives them an explanation. The Sumerian model influenced the cultural views of the Egyptians, who recorded their dreams on papyrus, from them - on the ancient Jews, eventually leading to the Greek tradition.
The English word “hypnosis” comes from the name “Hypnosis”, based on the notion that when a person is hypnotized, he is as if in a state of sleep (“hypnosis” means sleep and “-osis” is a condition). Another term - “insomnia” (“insomnia”) comes from the Latin words “somnus” (dream) and “in” (non-). The ancient Romans so called their god of sleep - Somnus.
