Amazon
Ads |
Maia
Parentage: Daughter of Atlas (1) and Pleione
Alternative parentage: Atlas (1) and Hesperis;
Atlas
(1) and Aethra (1);
Erechtheus;
Cadmus;
Queen of the
Amazons
Biographical
Along with Merope (1),
Electra (2),
Celaeno (1),
Sterope (1),
Alcyone (2),
and Taygete,
Maia was the eldest of the Pleiades, and in a grotto of mount Cyllene
in Arcadia, she became by Zeus the mother of Hermes. Arcas, the son of
Zeus by Callisto, was given to her to be reared. Maia is also the name
of a divinity worshipped at Rome, who was also called Majesta. She is
mentioned in connection with Vulcan, and was regarded by some as the wife
of that god, though it seems for no other reason but because a priest
of Vulcan offered a sacrifice to her on the first of May, while in the
popular superstition of later times she was identified with Maia, the
daughter of Atlas. It is more probable that Maia was an ancient name of
the bona dea, who was also designated by the names of Ops, Fauna, and
Fatua.
 |
Sources
1. Sir W. Smith, ed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1870.
2. Sir W. Smith, ed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 3. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1870.
Families | Lands | Abbreviations and Symbols