Maia’s Family Tree

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Family

• Atlas(parent),Pleione(parent),Electra (Pleiad)(sibling),Merope(sibling),Pleiades(sibling)— Consort

  Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione bore the seven Pleiades — Maia, Electra, Merope, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, and Sterope — who were placed among the stars by Zeus to shield them from Orion's relentless pursuit across the earth.

• Zeus(spouse),Hermes(child)— Consort

  Zeus secretly visited Maia in her cave on Mount Cyllene, fathering Hermes, the messenger god, who was born at dawn and invented the lyre by nightfall.

Guards

• Arcas

  Maia raised the infant Arcas on Mount Cyllene after Hermes rescued him, serving as his foster mother during his earliest years.

Member of

• Pleiades

  The seven Pleiades — Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope — are daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Each sister bore children to gods or kings, founding royal lineages across the Greek world.

Equivalent to

• Maia(Roman)

  Roman Maia was identified with the Greek Pleiad Maia, daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes/Mercury, through interpretatio romana.

  ⚠ Roman Maia was originally an independent Italian earth-goddess of growth (Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.19) before being merged with the Greek Pleiad Maia, daughter of Atlas, through interpretatio.

Associated with

• Callisto

  After Callisto's transformation into a bear, Hermes brought the infant Arcas to Maia's cave on Mount Cyllene. Maia raised Arcas as his foster mother until he became king of Arcadia.