Portrayed here sleeping, the god of dreams was nephew of Thanatos and the son of Hypnos. His mother, Pasithea, the youngest of the Three Graces, brought rest and relaxation.
In some versions, Morpheus had wings, either from birth or as a gift from Thanatos. He used these to fly to those who needed help with their dreams. On occasion, he used his wings to carry his father Hypnos to the cave of dreams, out of the reach of a baleful Zeus. Morpheus shaped dreams that people had of other humans, and he had many brothers. One, Phobetor, was the bringer of frightening dreams (origin of word phobia). Phantasus, another brother, created dreams that had no basis in reality.
The home of Morpheus was the Dream World, where he slept on a bed of poppy seeds. From his name, of course, come the words related to the poppy-derived drug morphine. Because he was the shaper of dreams, we also get morphic, morpheme and so on from the name of this god.
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