Hypnos comes from the name of his Latin counterpart, Somnus. (in- "not" + somnus "sleep"), as well as a few less-common words such as "somnolent", meaning sleepy or tending to cause sleep and hypersomnia meaning excessive sleep, which can be caused by many conditions (known as secondary hypersomnia) or a rare sleep disorder causing excessive sleep with unknown cause, called Idiopathic Hypersomnia. 3D model of "Bronze head of Hypnos" via laser scan of a cast of British Museum's bronze. Hypnos In Greek mythology, Hypnos (; , "sleep") is the personification of sleep; the Roman equivalent is known as Somnus. In the
Modern understanding of Greek mythology absent and a single seal impression from Knossos showing a boy beneath a sheep is regarded as a scant evidence for the myth of Zeus' childhood. Modern understanding of Greek mythology The genesis of modern understanding of Greek mythology is regarded by some scholars as a double reaction at the end of the 18th century against "the traditional attitude of Christian animosity mixed with disdain, which had prevailed for centuries", in which the Christian reinterpretation of myth as a "lie" or fable had been retained. In Germany, by about 1795, there was a growing interest in Homer and Greek mythology.