Mother of Hermes
According to the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Zeus in the dead of night secretly begot Hermes upon Maia, who avoided the company of the gods, in a cave of Cyllene. After giving birth to the baby, Maia wrapped him in blankets and went to sleep. The rapidly-maturing infant Hermes crawled away to Thessaly, where by nightfall of his first day he stole some of his brother Apollo's cattle and invented the lyre from a tortoise shell. Maia refused to believe Apollo when he claimed Hermes was the thief and Zeus then sided with Apollo. Finally, Apollo exchanged the cattle for the lyre, which became one of his identifying attributes.
Read more about this topic: Maia (mythology)
Famous quotes containing the words mother of, mother and/or hermes:
“Q: What would have made a family and career easier for you?
A: Being born a man.”
—Anonymous Mother, U.S. physician and mother of four. As quoted in Women and the Work Family Dilemma, by Deborah J. Swiss and Judith P. Walker, ch. 2 (1993)
“Separation anxiety is normal part of development, but individual reactions are partly explained by experience, that is, by how frequently children have been left in the care of others.... A mother who is never apart from her young child may be saying to him or her subliminally: “You are only safe when I’m with you.””
—Cathy Rindner Tempelsman (20th century)
“Antiquity breached mortality with myths.
Narcissus is vocabulary. Hermes decorates
A cornice on the Third National Bank.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)