Maia
deity figure · 7 works · 7 mentions · 10 anchored passages
rich-tressed nymph · beautiful mountain-nymph · daughter of Atlas · lady Maia · queenly Maia · shy goddess · the Atlantid Maia · the daughter of Atlas
in the texts
Stromata
Maia, daughter of Atlas, mother of Hermes by Zeus according to the quoted Hesiodic verse.
"To Zeus the Atlantid Maia bore glorious Hermes, the herald of the immortals, having mounted the holy bed;
Andromache
Mountain nymph, mother of Hermes by Zeus, named only in passing as part of Hermes's patronymic.
what sorrows did the son of Zeus and Maia herald, in the day he came to Ida’s glen, guiding that fair young trio of goddesses, all girded for the fray in bitter rivalry about their beauty, to the shepherd’s fold, where dwelt the youthful herdsman all alone by the hearth of his lonely hut.
Ion
Daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes by Zeus.
Atlas, who bears upon his brazen back the pressure of the sky, ancient dwelling of the gods, begat Maia from a daughter of one of those gods, and she bare me Hermes to mighty Zeus, to be the servant of the powers divine.
Theogony
A daughter of Atlas, mother of Hermes by Zeus.
And Maia, the daughter of Atlas, bore to Zeus glorious Hermes, the herald of the deathless gods, for she went up into his holy bed.
Hymn 18 to Hermes
Maia is the goddess and nymph who bears Hermes after mating with Zeus, living apart from the other gods in a shadowy cave.
And so hail to you, Son of Zeus and Maia;
He was born of Maia, the daughter of Atlas, when she had mated with Zeus,— a shy goddess she.
Hymn 29 to Hestia
Goddess named as Hermes' mother.
And you, Slayer of Argus, Son of Zeus and Maia, messenger of the blessed gods, bearer of the golden rod, giver of good, be favorable and help us, you and Hestia, the worshipful and dear.
Hymn 4 to Hermes
Maia is the goddess and nymph who bears Hermes to Zeus in a hidden cave and rebukes her newborn son's theft and shamelessness.
-->“How now, you rogue!
for on that day queenly Maia bare him.
” --> Then Hermes answered her with crafty words: