Without anyone’s knowledge, she gave birth to a son she called Hermes.Įxhausted from her labor, Maia swaddled her newborn son and laid down to sleep. Maia became pregnant following her affair with Zeus. No one suspected that Maia, the most beautiful of all the Pleiades, had become the god’s lover. Zeus was able to keep their affair hidden not only from his jealous wife, but from the rest of the gods as well. While his wife Hera slept on Olympus, Zeus went to the nymph’s home in the dead of night. Maia’s hidden cave provided the perfect hiding place for him. Like many nymphs, including two of her sisters, her beauty attracted the attention of the king of the gods. Her isolation, however, did not keep her hidden entirely. She lived in an isolated cave on Mount Cyllene in Attica. ![]() While her sisters enjoyed the company of Artemis and the gods, Maia kept more to herself. However, she was also the most timid and reclusive. Maia was the most beautiful of the sisters, with deep black eyes and shining hair. While her nephews became kings, Maia would give birth to a god. None of the sisters, however, would have sons who were as renowned and famous as Maia’s. In other versions of her myth she became mortal and faded away after marrying the mortal king Sisyphus. ![]() Sterope was a lover of Ares.Īlcyone and Calaeno were both lovers of Poseidon, with Calaeno also having two sons by Prometheus. One by one, though, the sisters became the lovers of various gods.Įlectra and Taygete both had sons by Zeus. To save them Zeus transformed them into doves. In another tale, the giant Orion pursued the sisters. Heracles saved them and returned them to their father, earning his assistance in one of the hero’s labors. In one story, the sisters were abducted by lascivious pirates under orders from Busirus, the king of Egypt. Their beauty attracted attention, however, and like most nymphs they were often pursued by men and gods alike. They were also sometimes credited as the nymphs who had cared for the infant Dionysus after the death of his mother. In their youth the sisters were companions of Artemis. Maia, the eldest, was the most beautiful of them all. Like most nymphs, the Pleiades were said to be exceptionally beautiful. Because of him the sisters were occasionally called the Atlantides. ![]() Their father was Atlas, the Titan who was condemned to hold the dome of the heavens aloft on his shoulders. The character of Pleione was invented to explain the existing name of the sisterhood of nymphs. Some scholars believe that the legends of the Pleiades actually arose before their mother’s. They were named for their mother, the Oceanid Pleione. Maia was one of the seven Pleiades, sister nymphs of the mountains. In Rome, she even became a revered aspect of Mother Earth. Before and after Hermes was born, Maia was making a name for herself.įrom her beginnings in a mountainside cavern to her place among the stars, Maia became a more major figure in Greek mythology than most nymphs. There is far more to the story of Maia than just her famous son’s birth. As the mother of his son, Hermes, she was elevated to the status of the revered mother of one of the great gods of Mount Olympus. Her discovery by Zeus, however, led to Maia becoming one of the most prominent nymphs in Greek mythology. ![]() While her sisters hunted with Artemis and took lovers, Maia preferred to stay hidden on her own in a secluded cave. With her sisters, she lived away from most of the gods and goddesses of Olympus. Maia’s legend began as just one of the thousands of nymphs that lived in the Greek countryside.
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