Maia

One of the Pleiades; a daughter of Atlas and Pleïone.

Of the seven sisters, the most famous was Maia, because she was the mother of the god Hermes (Mercury). Maia seemed to be the only lover of Zeus who was never persecuted by Zeus’ jealous wife, Hera.

Maia
Musée du Château d'Annecy, France

Most of the myth about Maia is found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, which detailed the birth of Hermes and her son’s adventure of his first two days of life as a baby. These adventures included the invention of the lyre using a tortoise’s shell and guts as strings, the cunning theft of Apollo’s cattle, and gaining several gifts from Apollo in exchange for the lyre.

When Apollo discovered that Hermes had robbed him of some cattle, Maia did not believe her own son’s innocence, any more than Apollo or his father Zeus.

Maia was widely honoured in Greece and Rome as a goddess, where the Romans had dedicated the month of May to her. Maia was frequently worshipped together with her son Mercury (Hermes), and her festival was together with him on May 15.