MAIA  , in

Greek mythology, the eldest of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione . She and her sisters, born on Mt Cyllene in Arcadia, are sometimes called mountain goddesses . In a cave of Cyllene Maia became by Zeus the mother of the god Hermes . The story is told in the Hymn to Hermes attributed to Homer . She was identified by the Romans with Maia Majesta, an old Italian goddess of spring, to whom a sacrifice was offered on the 1st of May by the priest of Vulcan .