in ovid's "metamorphoses", morpheus is one of the thousand sons of somnus (sleep). his name derives from the greek word for form ("μορφή"), and his function was to appear in dreams in human guise. according to ovid "no other is more skilled than he in representing the gait, the features, and the speech of men; the clothing also and the accustomed words of each he represents." like other gods associated with sleep, ovid makes morpheus winged.