The short answer: in the standard Greek tradition, the goddess Maia is the daughter of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, making her the eldest of the seven Pleiades; by Zeus she is the mother of the god Hermes. This family tree appears in Hesiod’s Theogony (lines 938–939) and is the version most ancient sources follow, though a few later writers give her different parents.
Who Maia Is in Greek Myth
Maia is a minor but significant figure: a nymph associated with mountains and caves, one of the seven Pleiades, and the mother of Hermes. She does not appear often in surviving myths, but her role as Hermes’ mother gives her an outsized place in the pantheon. Her name is sometimes linked to the Greek word maia meaning “nurse” or “midwife,” though that etymology is uncertain. In Roman culture, her name was later attached to the month of May (Maius), and she was sometimes conflated with the Roman goddess of growth, also called Maia.
The Standard Family Tree (Hesiod’s Version)
Hesiod’s Theogony is the earliest surviving source to give Maia’s parentage. According to that poem:
- Father: Atlas, the Titan condemned to hold up the sky.
- Mother: Pleione, an Oceanid (a sea nymph, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys).
- Siblings: six sisters—Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope—together known as the Pleiades.
- Consort: Zeus, king of the gods.
- Son: Hermes, born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.
This is the genealogy you will find in most myth handbooks. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4th–6th century BC) also calls Maia the daughter of Atlas and says she lives on Cyllene, though it does not name her mother.
Variations and Alternate Parents
Not every ancient source agrees. The mythographer Pherecydes (5th century BC) is reported to have made Maia the daughter of Atlas and an Oceanid named Aethra, not Pleione. A scholiast on Homer’s Iliad mentions a version where Maia’s father is a different Titan, and some late sources confuse her with the Roman Maia, the goddess of spring, who was the daughter of Faunus or Vulcan in Italian tradition. These are minority variants; the Atlas–Pleione parentage is the one used by Hesiod, Apollodorus, and Hyginus.
Maia’s Role as Mother of Hermes
Maia’s most famous myth is the birth of Hermes. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes tells how Zeus secretly visited Maia in her cave on Mount Cyllene while Hera slept. She gave birth to a son who, within hours of his birth, invented the lyre and stole Apollo’s cattle. Maia appears in the story mainly as a worried mother: when Apollo comes to accuse Hermes, she tells him her son is innocent, and she is often depicted in art holding the infant Hermes. In some versions, she refuses to believe Hermes’ denials, knowing his cunning nature.
The Pleiades and Their Family
As one of the Pleiades, Maia belongs to a larger star-myth family. The seven sisters were nymphs in the train of Artemis, and after their deaths (or in some accounts, after being pursued by Orion) they were placed among the stars as the cluster we still call the Pleiades. Their father Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene, making the Pleiades great-granddaughters of Uranus and Gaia. Their mother Pleione was one of the 3,000 Oceanids. The sisters had other divine liaisons: Electra was the mother of Dardanus (founder of the Trojan royal line), Taygete was the mother of Lacedaemon (eponym of Sparta), and Alcyone was the mother of Hyrieus. Only Merope married a mortal, Sisyphus, which is why her star is the dimmest of the seven in some legends.
Maia in Later Traditions and the Month of May
In Roman religion, the name Maia appears in two distinct contexts. One is the Greek Maia imported as the mother of Mercury (the Roman Hermes). The other is an indigenous Roman goddess of spring and growth, sometimes called Maia Maiestas, who was honored in May. Over time the two figures blurred, and the Roman poet Ovid (Fasti 5.81–106) explicitly identifies the month of May as named after Maia, the mother of Mercury, though he also notes other etymologies. This conflation means that in later European art and literature, “Maia” sometimes appears as a Roman earth goddess rather than the Greek nymph.
How the Family Tree Is Represented in Art
Ancient Greek vase paintings and reliefs occasionally show Maia with the infant Hermes, usually in the presence of Zeus or Apollo. A well-known type shows her seated in a cave, holding the baby while Apollo approaches. In these images she is a mature, maternal figure, not a maiden—unlike her sisters, who are usually depicted as young huntresses. In Renaissance and Baroque art, Maia is often shown as a beautiful woman with the infant Hermes, sometimes with the caduceus or a lyre nearby. She is rarely the central figure; her importance is almost always as Hermes’ mother.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are Maia’s parents in Greek mythology?
In the standard version from Hesiod’s Theogony, Maia’s parents are Atlas and Pleione. Atlas is a Titan, and Pleione is an Oceanid. Some later sources name Aethra as her mother, but that is a rare variant.
Is Maia the same as the Roman goddess Maia?
No, originally they were separate. The Greek Maia is a nymph, the mother of Hermes. The Roman Maia was a goddess of spring and growth. Over time, Romans identified the two, and the month of May was named after one or both of them.
Why is Maia important if she appears in so few myths?
Her importance comes from being the mother of Hermes, one of the twelve Olympians. Without Maia, Hermes would not exist, and her cave on Mount Cyllene is a key setting in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. She also anchors the Pleiades myth, which explains the star cluster.
Did Maia have any other children besides Hermes?
No. In all surviving Greek sources, Hermes is her only child. The Roman goddess Maia was sometimes said to be the mother of Mercury, but that is the same figure under a different name.
What happened to Maia after Hermes was born?
She disappears from most myths. The Homeric Hymn shows her scolding Hermes, and later she is simply absent. Some late sources say she was placed among the stars as one of the Pleiades, but the myth of the sisters’ catasterism is told about all seven together, not about Maia individually.
Is the Maia in the Percy Jackson series accurate?
The character in Rick Riordan’s books is a modern adaptation. Riordan keeps her as the mother of Hermes and a Pleiad, but he gives her a personality and a family life that are not in the ancient sources. The basic genealogy matches Hesiod, but the details are invented for the story.
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