In his work Metamorphoses, the Roman poet of love, Ovid, created a god of dreams, after whom a drug is named. Who was this god?

The figure Ovid described in his epic poem *Metamorphoses* was a son of Somnus, the god of sleep. This particular son was tasked with shaping and forming the dreams of human beings, and his name was derived from the Greek word for "form," *morphe*. This master of illusion was known for his ability to appear in dreams as any person he wished, perfectly mimicking their voice, walk, and features.

This powerful connection to the world of sleep and dreams is what inspired the naming of a potent pain-relieving drug in the early 19th century. German pharmacist Friedrich Sertürner, who first isolated the alkaloid from the opium poppy, named his discovery "morphine" after this very god, referencing the drug's tendency to induce a sleepy, euphoric, and dream-like state in those who took it.

The name has since been cemented in popular culture, most famously by the character in the 1999 film *The Matrix*. In a clever twist on the original myth, the cinematic Morpheus does not bring dreams to sleeping humans; rather, he is the guide who awakens them from the collective dream world of the Matrix and shows them the harshness of reality.