In ancient Greek mythology, Maia is one of the Pleiades and the mother of the messenger god Hermes by Zeus. The eldest of the seven daughters of Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, she was a shy nymph of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, where she bore Hermes to Zeus in a secret cave. She was later identified with the Roman earth goddess Maia, the mother of Mercury.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Maia" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Etymology
The name Maia (Ancient Greek: Μαίη) relates to the word μαῖα, an honorific term for older women connected to μήτηρ, meaning "mother." In Greek the word also translates as "midwife" or "nurse," senses that suit her role as both a mother and a nurturer of infants.
II.Family
Maia is the daughter of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, and she is the eldest of the seven Pleiades.
The sisters were born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia and are sometimes called mountain nymphs, or oreads. Because they were daughters of Atlas, they were also known collectively as the Atlantides.
III.Mythology
Birth of Hermes — According to the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Zeus secretly made love to Maia in a cave of Cyllene so that his wife Hera would not discover the affair, and Maia became pregnant with Hermes. After giving birth she wrapped the infant in blankets and slept. The rapidly maturing child Hermes crawled away to Thessaly, where by nightfall he had stolen Apollo's cattle and invented the lyre from a tortoise shell. Maia refused to believe Apollo's accusations against her son, but Zeus sided with Apollo; in the end Apollo exchanged the cattle for the lyre.
On another occasion, when Maia bathed with her sisters the Pleiades, Hermes stole all their clothes. When the nymphs had finished bathing they looked around naked while Hermes laughed, before he returned their garments.
In Sophocles' lost satyr play Ichneutae, Maia entrusted the infant Hermes to Cyllene, the local mountain goddess, to nurse and raise.
As nurturer — Maia also raised the infant Arcas, the child of Callisto by Zeus. Wronged by the affair, Hera in a jealous rage transformed Callisto into a bear. Arcas became the eponym of Arcadia, the region where Maia herself was born.