マイアはアトラス<ref>The alternate spelling ''Maja'' represents the intervocalic ''i'' as ''j'', pronounced similarly to an initial ''y'' in English; hence Latin ''maior'', "greater," in English became "major."</ref>とオーケアニデスのプレーイオネーの娘で<ref name=":0">ヘーシオドス, ''神統記'' 938</ref>、7つのプレアデスの中で最年長である<ref name=":1">アポロドートス, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.10.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=:chapter=&highlight=Maia 3.10.1]</ref>。アルカディアのキュレネー山で生まれ<ref name=":0" />、山の妖精、オリードと呼ばれることもある。ケイオスのシモニデスは「山のマイア」(Maiados oureias)「美しい黒い目の」と歌っている<ref name=":1" />。彼らはアトラスの娘であったため、アトランティド族とも呼ばれた<ref>Simonides, fr. 555</ref>。
== Mythology 神話 ==[[File:Cup Mercury Maia CdM.jpg|thumb|350px|Mercury and Maia<ref>Although the identification of Mercury is secure, based on the presence of the [[caduceus]], the one-shouldered garment called the ''[[chlamys]]'', and his winged head, the female figure has been identified variously. The cup is part of the [[Berthouville Treasure]], found within a [[Gallo-Roman religion|Gallo-Roman]] temple precinct; see Lise Vogel, ''The Column of Antoninus Pius'', Loeb Classical Library Monograph (Harvard University Press, 1973), p. 79 f., and Martin Henig, ''Religion in Roman Britain'', Taylor & Francis, 1984, 2005, p. 119 f. In [[Gaul]], Mercury's regular consort is one of the Celtic goddesses, usually [[Rosmerta]]. The [[Rosmerta#Etymology|etymology of Rosmerta's name]] as "Great Provider" suggests a theology compatible with that of Maia "the Great". The consort on the cup has also been identified as [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] by M. Chabouillet, ''Catalogue général et raisonné des camées et pierres gravées de la Bibliothéque Impériale'', Paris 1858, p. 449. Maia is suggested by the concomitant discovery of a silver bust, not always considered part of the hoard proper but more securely identified as Maia and connected to Rosmerta; see E. Babelon, ''Revue archéologique'' 24 (1914), pp. 182–190, as summarized in ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 19 (1915), p. 485.</ref> inside a silver cup dedicated by the freedman P. Aelius Eutychus (late 2nd century AD), from a [[Gallo-Roman religion|Gallo-Roman]] religious site|left]]
=== Birth of Hermes ===