Who is the mother of the god Hermes?

Maia is the mother of the god Hermes in Greek mythology. She was one of the seven Pleiades and became Hermes’s mother after a secret union with Zeus.

Maia was the daughter of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, making her part of a celestial family remembered in the Pleiades star cluster. She was often described as the oldest of the seven sisters and as a mountain nymph associated with Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.

The Homeric Hymn to Hermes tells that Zeus visited Maia in her cave while Hera was unaware. Hermes grew remarkably quickly: on the day of his birth, he escaped his cradle, stole Apollo’s cattle, and invented the lyre from a tortoise shell. Maia initially dismissed Apollo’s accusation, protecting her infant son.

Maia is sometimes confused with Hera, Zeus’s wife, but Hermes was born to Maia. Semele was the mother of Dionysus, while Leto was the mother of Apollo and Artemis. The Roman goddess Maia was later associated with this name but belongs to a different religious tradition.