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
Greek mythology libretti for many of Handel's and Mozart's operas. By the end of the 18th century, Romanticism initiated a surge of enthusiasm for all things Greek, including Greek mythology. In Britain, new translations of Greek tragedies and Homer inspired contemporary poets (such as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Keats, Byron and Shelley) and painters (such as Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema). Christoph Gluck, Richard Strauss, Jacques Offenbach and many others set Greek mythological themes to music. American authors of the 19th century, such as Thomas Bulfinch and Nathaniel Hawthorne, held that the study of the classical myths was essential to the understanding of