Long before he was navigating Neo through a simulated reality, Morpheus was the god of dreams in Greek mythology. One of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep), his specialty was crafting human forms within our dreams, perfectly emulating the "gait, the features, and the speech of men".

It's said that if you dreamt of a person, that was Morpheus' handiwork. Imagine it: while you sleep, Morpheus is busy conjuring up images of your first school teacher or perhaps that cute barista from the coffee shop.  

In Ovid's tales, he even played the role of messenger, appearing in dreams to deliver divine messages, like telling Alcyone of her husband's demise. Unlike the one from the Matrix, this Morpheus (like other gods associated with sleep) had wings.