Hypnos

Hypnos was the Greek god of sleep. The Romans identified Hypnos with Somnus, the Roman god of sleep.

Hypnos was the son of Nyx. Hypnos was the brother of Thanatos, as well of Moros ("Doom"), Nemesis and Fates. Hypnos was the father of Morpheus, the god of dreams. Hypnos dwelled in a cave beside the Lethe river.

At Troy, according to the Iliad, Zeus was helping the Trojans. Hera hated the Trojans and was angry when she could not help the Greeks. Hera devised a plan to turn the tide against the Trojans. Hera asked Hypnos to make Zeus fall asleep.

Hypnos was very reluctant to aid Hera, because he had done this all before. The last time he caused Zeus to fall asleep, Hera had Heracles' ship wrecked on the island of Cos after Heracles had conquered Troy. When Zeus woke and found out what had happened to his son, the enraged ruler of Olympus would have destroyed Hypnos. The terrified god of sleep fled to his mother Nyx (Night), where he sought protection against Zeus. The only deity that Zeus truly feared was Nyx.

Hera bribed Hypnos with the promise of allowing the god of sleep to marry Grace Pasithea. Hera seduced Zeus, and with Hypnos' aid, lulled her husband to sleep. The tide immediately changed in favour of the Greeks, and Hector was almost killed by Ajax in the fighting.

Again at Troy, Hypnos and Thanatos carried the body of Sarpedon home in Lycia, when Patroclus had killed Sarpedon.